st cloud St Cloud Fishing Reports

[Rick G]

Made it out yesteday afternoon for a bit. The strong SSW wind we had blowing made finding a place to fish intresting to say the least. Picked a small sunken hump that topped out around 6ft, threw anchor on the up wind side and setteled in 8 ft of water. We rigged with small plain hooks and a float set at 4ft. Was hoping to find more of a mixxed bag of fish, sunfish seemed to be the dominate species here.... got a couple close to the 10in mark. All are still swiming :-) 

[monstermoose78]

Great Gills Rick and Andrea

[Team Bobberdown]

The longer cooler nights should help the fishing pick up and should have them moving just a little bit deeper for more oxygen. But then again fish don't have fences so they go where they want.

[Rick G]

Made it out again today, western lakes of the chain. Water temp droped to 67-68 on the main lake, warmer in the backwaters. Found a decent mix of fish today, got bass, walleyes, gills, crappies and even a few larger perch, no cats though....strange. most everything bit a 1/16 oz jig tipped with a chunk of nightcrawler. We were working the outside edge of a pretty thick weedline, set up in 8ft of water casting to the weed edge. Most of the fish bit within a couple ft of where the vegitation quit growing. 

[Coleman]

I went out yesterday on the river above the Sartell Dam.  Fishing was pretty slow, and the bite was extremely light.  I found that just dragging the jig very slowly was a much better technique then jigging.  I used minnows and night crawlers.  Both worked, but it seemed like the night crawlers worked a little better.  Ended up catching 4-5 smallies, 4 cats and had a keeper walleye shake himself off when I tried tossing it in the boat in a few hours.  Hopefully the weather will hold a bit and these fish can start waking up a bit.  

 

Here's one of the giants of the day.

 

[Stick in Mud]

Nice report, Coleman.  

I've been out a few times pulling leadcore above the Sartell and Blanchard dams.  I *cannot* find any decent sized walleyes.  All dinks.  Lots of them, but all small.  The smallies are getting pretty aggressive, but they're not exactly what I'm going for.  Hopefully we get some cool days and cooler nights to get those water temps dropping a little more.  

[eyeguy 54]

Nice report, Coleman.  

I've been out a few times pulling leadcore above the Sartell and Blanchard dams.  I *cannot* find any decent sized walleyes.  All dinks.  Lots of them, but all small.  The smallies are getting pretty aggressive, but they're not exactly what I'm going for.  Hopefully we get some cool days and cooler nights to get those water temps dropping a little more.  

I have a camera and a net

 

[Stick in Mud]

Leadcore is probably the least engaging way to pull in a fish.  Heavy line, 10 ft rod, huge reel....walleyes are a drag (literally), but the smallies do put up a tussle in spite of the equipment.  Unfortunately, in the big boat, I don't go far enough upriver to get into the best bass water. 

And if you want to use that camera and that net, you'll need a pretty good zoom to make these fish respectable. The 'eyes aren't big enough to need a net, unless you bring a minnow scoop.   

[Coleman]

Nice report, Coleman.  

I've been out a few times pulling leadcore above the Sartell and Blanchard dams.  I *cannot* find any decent sized walleyes.  All dinks.  Lots of them, but all small.  The smallies are getting pretty aggressive, but they're not exactly what I'm going for.  Hopefully we get some cool days and cooler nights to get those water temps dropping a little more.  

Getting the same thing here.  I'll catch one keeper walleye to every 12 I catch.  Not complaining that I'm catching fish...but it would be nice to see some bigger fish.  I've even caught them down to 4-5", crazy how slow the growth rate is in this river considering all the bait.  

 

Maybe I'll see you on the water tomorrow Stick..haven't decided if I'll stick around Sartell or head a bit north.  

[Rick G]

Nice report, Coleman.  

I've been out a few times pulling leadcore above the Sartell and Blanchard dams.  I *cannot* find any decent sized walleyes.  All dinks.  Lots of them, but all small.  The smallies are getting pretty aggressive, but they're not exactly what I'm going for.  Hopefully we get some cool days and cooler nights to get those water temps dropping a little more.  

stick, top side of Blanchard, look for walleys on the down current side of the sand bars, or in submerged brush piles.  Jigs and minnows or jigs and plastic are almost always productive. I have never done very well on larger walleyes pulling cranks on that section of river for some reason. 

[Naturboy]

Found a few keeper walleyes deeper yesterday pulling spinner rigs just off the drop in 19 - 22 feet.  A lot more fish were marked than caught. 1/2 Crawlers was working good going about 1 mph. 

[Stick in Mud]

Thanks for the tips, Rick.  We've tried pretty much everything out there.  Our best bet for bigger fish has been using a Jiggin Rap, but they're few and far between doing that.  Oddly enough, my best non-trolling walleye bite has been on drop shot rigs and pork/plastic while fishing for bass. But the trolling bite has been outfishing everything 15 to 1.  I haven't tried spinner rigs, though that might get them to go, too.  I might also have to give that brushpile bite a try.  

[Team Bobberdown]

Got out a little bit this weekend and you really couldn't ask for better fishing weather. Now if the fish would be on the same page that would have been nice. Me and the wife did get a few nice crappie trolling small cranks or a spinner with a minnow. Nailed a northern or to also. All in all a beautiful day on the lake with the family.

[Naturboy]

I spent most of my fishing trips this summer on local lakes trolling the Beatle spin type lures to check the panfish sizes before ice season. Now I guess it's time to target those walleye dinners.  

[Coleman]

Hit the river above the Sartell Dam again.  Noticed that the temps are at 65...so about 3 degrees cooler then just a couple days ago.  I went up river a bit and found some rock piles.  Worked the edge of the rock piles and found many rock bass and a few cats.  Cats had some decent size.  While I was putzing around with a tie up I noticed a shadow on the bank, and threw a crank at it...wham really nice smallie.  While reeling it in I noticed a bunch of other smallies following it...which told me forget this jigging crap, lets hit the bank for smallies.  Got some jerk baits out and worked about a 40' stretch of bank, and hit about 6-7 smallies, all pretty good size.  Biggest was around 19".  I also missed a few short strikes on the crankbait or jerkbait...once that happened the fish seemed to get wise on me, so I moved on for a while thinking I'd come back later.  Just went up stream and worked some banks...not much going on.  

So, I'm assuming the smallies were right on bank to soak up some of the heat from the sun.  They were literally right on the bank.  Haven't been finding the smallies on the major rock piles yet.  Should be pretty quick.  

I wish I could find some decent walleye action that scored me a fish over 14".  Anyone have any hints?  

[Stick in Mud]

No hints for big 'eyes on the river, Coleman.  All I can find are cookie-cutter 13-14''. 

Fishing in the Stick in Mud boat has been much, much improved over the last few weeks. This is usually the time of year when I'm trolling Mille Lacs after dark; alas, that's not an option this year.  Thankfully, there are some big fish out there, some of which are in lakes much closer to home.  The bite for us has really picked up.  Good numbers of fish on the traditional fall spots (sharp breaks near deep water, points, inside turns, etc.) both during the day and night.  I still haven't figured out how to make a big walleye actually look big, but the one in this pic was a hair under 29''.  

It's time to get out there.  

 

 

Edited October 5, 2015 by Stick in Mud

[pushbutton]

Your elbows are too bent.....and your fingers actually look like....well.... normal sized fingers  Nice fish! Gonna go hit Green, Rice, and Osakis in a few days and hopefully/should get me a few of those....... yep, tis the season!

[Stick in Mud]

I've always blamed it on the photographer's 1) lack of framing...who needs all that dark space above my head, 2) lack of a quality zoom, and 3) lack of an ability to put me on truly big fish.  

[Team Bobberdown]

Nice fish Stick. These cool night flip the trigger. Hoping to get on fish this week and weekend. Fish on.

[JeremyCampbell]

Nice one Stick...

 

[Stick in Mud]

The challenge this time of year is to figure out which species to go after.  Largies on topwater?  'Eyes?  Smallies in the river?  Heck, as the crappies start schooling up over deep water, I'll actually give them a shot, too.   

[Naturboy]

The last time I was out the snot rockets decided that for me. Do they ever not bite?

[Coleman]

I went out yesterday, and it was a great day of fishing....and overall just a nice day.  I worked the river again, and it didn't disappoint.  Started working an exposed rock pile with a nice drop, stagged 4-5 swoll up rock bass.  Then started working the corresponding rock bank.  Didn't see the fish right on the bank like the other day, but I knew they were there because they were't fully committing to my jerk bait.  One pike and a few bass.  Ended up hooking a really nice smallie, but as they do so well he got away on a jump.  Looked like it could have been 4+.  Decided that was enough, then started throwing a spinnerbait upriver a bit, caught a decent pike, smaller pike and a nice smallie.  Decided it was time to throw the crank again and worked the bank down river. I worked the deep side of the river, which seemed to work best.  I have no clue how many smallies I caught, but I ended up wearing out my crank.  Only caught one smaller fish, about 14", rest was 17"+.  Very fun, and they were smacking the baits as well.  So, shallow running cranks and spinnerbaits seemed to work really well. Shallow flats seemed to hold the pike, and the deep rocky bank seemed to hold the larger smallies. 

 

[Stick in Mud]

Nice report, Coleman.  Bummer about the crankbait, though. Seems like Rapala is having some quality-control issues (or has just gone cheap).  Oddly enough, I fished more or less all afternoon yesterday and only caught two smallies, both of which were under 12''.  

A buddy and I headed out to the river yesterday for a marathon trolling session.  We were hoping to find some bigger fish after dark, but it didn't really work out that way.  The *good* news is that we finally found some fish over 18'', all of which were caught during the day.  The bad news is that we only had two bites between 8 p.m. and midnight, one of which was a tanker eyeball that came off at the boat, the other of which was a nice little keeper.  That's two fish in four hours of trolling...Not exactly hot and heavy.  Fished deep, shallow, rocks, sand, weeds, shorelines, and basin.  

[Stick in Mud]

I'm probably not making any progress towards a promotion at work, but the fishing is too good to spend time earning money.  Went out today and whacked 'em, including a big girl that was a hair (one of mine, at that) under 30''.   Sharp breaks + deep water nearby = fun.   

 

 

[Coleman]

Nice fish Stick.  If you caught that on the river, then I may have to change up my techniques for walleye.  That's a horse.  

[eyeguy 54]

Dandy Stick!

 

[Stick in Mud]

Alas, no, I didn't get her on the river.  Switched it up today and went to a local lake somewhere within a three-hour drive of home.   

[Borch]

Nice eye stick!

[Coleman]

C'mon now, we're fisherman.....not need for secrets and lies.    Or is that exactly why we have secrets and lies?