St. Croix River Fishing Reports

[Sandmannd]

Nice report Sean. Those river eyes on cranks are fun as heck to catch.

[fishwater]

Shane, have you always had the * in your name?

I went out again this morning with Andy, got a few nice fish pulling cranks on 3way setups in 28-30'. We didn't have any luck on the leadcore baits at all today. It wasn't super fast and we didn't get any pigs, but the quality was there again today. Worked one area over pretty good trolling then ended up rigging a good hour in shallower in about 15' picking up a couple more before heading home.

[Sandmannd]

Nope, not sure where that came from at the end of my name. Maybe I'm marked now!!

Nice report guys. I got out with Dan as my trolling motor is on the fritz. We rigged all day. Man were fish shallow. We caught some nice keeper in less tha ten feet of water!!

[Turk]

Man were fish shallow. We caught some nice keeper in less tha ten feet of water!!

What time of day on the shallow fish?

ThanQ,

Turk

[Sandmannd]

We were on the water by 4 AM. But we were catching them shallow up till we left at noon. Pretty much all morning. Caught a couple of keepers in 5 & 6 FOW.

[HookEmHard84]

Went out Sunday evening just south of the Kinni. We ended up with a 3 Wallys, all just short of the 15’’ mark. We also caught a handful of Smallies, a couple rough fish, and a small cat that roughed up my buddy pretty good. While he was trying to get the hook of out the cat, it did a crappie flop and it’s barb stuck right into his foot! He said it made him feel kinda goofy and his foot started to swell up. After he washed it out he was fine, but it gave us a pretty good scare for a minute. Anybody ever had the same thing happen? Is there anything he should do to prevent some sort of catfish fever?

[no bait nate]

yeah that sure was exciting, at least now i should have better luck on the river since i am half man and half channel cat....

[Dale Rueber]

Andy (TooMuchFun) and I were out Monday night pulling crank baits on handlines. Caught 3 or 4 Walleyes with the biggest 23" (CPR'd) and 18 Saugers with 3 over 17". Most of the fish were caught in 25-30 FOW along the shoreline North of Prescott. It was a great day on the water.

[WyoChris]

Just went out last night. The lindy rigs weren't producing much, but a chart deep diving crankbait was killin them

[davidd]

Hello,

I've fished the St. Croix up by Taylor's Falls, but not down by Stillwater/Afton/Prescott. Anyone have any recommendations on boat launches?

Thanks!

David

[Sandmannd]

If you want to fish the Prescott to Kini area go out of the Bluffs or Prescott. Both are nice launches, bluffs is really nice but doesn't open until six. Bluffs work for Afton area as well or you can use Windmill.

[davidd]

If you want to fish the Prescott to Kini area go out of the Bluffs or Prescott. Both are nice launches, bluffs is really nice but doesn't open until six. Bluffs work for Afton area as well or you can use Windmill.

Thanks for the information. Did I read somewhere that there is a boat length limit on the Bluffs launch?

Now the bigger question...

Which has better walleye fishing:

-- the Prescott to Kini stretch

-- the Kini to Lakeland (I-94) stretch

-- the Lakeland to Stillwater stretch

Thanks again,

David

[Sandmannd]

No length limit that I know of.

For your other question,

I fish mainly Kini to Prescott and the fishing there is still solid right now. You will have to work at the fish you catch. Sometimes I head down to pool three if the fishing on the Croix is tough.

I've fished Kini to 94 bridge and that is decent as well. I can't tell you currently how it is but I know Turk mainly fishes that area and is still on the fish.

There really isn't a "bad" walleye area on the river. You have to find the fish and work to get them in the boat. Lindy rigs, jiggin', pulling three ways with spinners, bottom bouncers and pullin' cranks are all good ways to get fish. Finding what will work that day is the key.

[davidd]

Thanks for the information. I really appreciate it.

I asked about the length, because I'll be putting in a 24 foot pontoon. Not as nimble as a typical fishing rig, but it allows me to lure the family out to join in the fun. Kind of a pain to park the trailer at some launches though.

I mentioned walleye, but really, *any* fish is fine, because the main thing is to get something on the lines for my wife and two daughters. Even suckers work for that.

I'll probably try the area between Afton and Kini, maybe a little south. We have something going on in the morning, so I won't be able to get down there until about 2 pm on Saturday. Not the ideal time of day, but maybe I can coax them to stay until dusk.

Thanks again for the info!

David

[Sandmannd]

The bluffs is awesome for that size boat.

[fishwater]

I'll probably try the area between Afton and Kini

Andy got a couple fatties last night in this stretch. We were pulling ssr7's on 3way rigs in about 25'. Hot tiger was the hot color (again.)

[davidd]

Andy got a couple fatties last night in this stretch. We were pulling ssr7's on 3way rigs in about 25'. Hot tiger was the hot color (again.)

Nice fish! What size sinker do you use on the 3 way rigs? And how long of a leader do you use?

Thanks for the tip on the depth and color!

David

[fishwater]

We were using 3 oz pencil weights with a long leg from the swivel to the sinker, about 24-30". The leader to the bait was about 7-9' long. Running with 60-70' of line out at speeds from 1.5-2mph. Continually cutting up and back on the break as I move along is how I usually run these rigs.

[davidd]

Thanks again for the tips!

[Sandmannd]

Nice fish Andy!! Congrats.

[fishwater]

Fishing was a bit slower yesterday for us, mostly all small fish. I got to break in a new net on a pair of nice walleye a bit before 6am, but it was mostly little saugers and a couple shorts the rest of the day. We worked pretty hard to find action - fished until 2pm, wound up all the way down by Prescott.

We stuck primarily to bottom bouncing shallow shads in 24-28', generally 1.4-1.7mph. Andy pointed out that oddly almost every fish we hooked into was caught by the belly hooks, usually not the tail treble at all. We had a good number of missed strikes and lost fish. If fish are biting like that, would that be a good indicator to speed up a bit?? We varied quite a bit, but never made it over 2mph for any duration.

[davidd]

We fished from the Windmill launch down to the start of the Afton State Park on the Minnesota side from about 2:30 pm to 6:30 pm, drifting with the current along the Minnesota shore. We were using a variety of shad raps, spinners and jigs with worms and leeches. We didn't get any bites.

The highlight of the day was when I got a large rubber back turtle on the line. Couldn't figure out *what* the heck I had on.

We ended by anchoring and fishing on the bottom with chicken livers, leeches and worms straight out from the Windmill marina in about 90 feet of water for an hour. No bites there either.

[Sandmannd]

I'm with you Sean. Fish from 4 AM to a little after noon yesterday. Lots and lots of small eyes and saugers but struggled trying to get keepers. Lots of smallies and channel cats to. We did manage a huge carp and two very big channels. We did mainly lindy rigs yesterday.

[Herky2002]

Fished the Minnesota side from 8:00 to 1:00 today, and it was a slow bite for us. Mostly sheepers and small bass. My son did manage to land a nice 19" smallie on a leech, however. Here's the pic I snapped before we released her:

[Sandmannd]

Very nice, that makes the trip all work it. Congrats to your boy!!

[FishonTom]

Herky, great shot. You know how to take pictures, make a 21 incher look like a 15lb. Smallie. Should have you take pictures of the walleyes I have been catching, might be able to put some in the well. Nice Fish!

[jigginjim]

Great looking photo, Fishing buddy for life.

[zooks]

We stuck primarily to bottom bouncing shallow shads in 24-28', generally 1.4-1.7mph. Andy pointed out that oddly almost every fish we hooked into was caught by the belly hooks, usually not the tail treble at all. We had a good number of missed strikes and lost fish. If fish are biting like that, would that be a good indicator to speed up a bit?? We varied quite a bit, but never made it over 2mph for any duration.

Yeah, I would try it, probably up to about 2.2-2.4 mph with your 3-ways, especially if you got alot of aggressive bites. Usually hook-ups on the bottom hook indicate to me that the fish T-boned the lure and missed the hooks, which could account for your empty bites and lost fish. Speed it up and they'll more than likely hit the hooks instead of the lures when they bite.

BTW, thanks to everyone that are keeping this thread up to date with current reports. I haven't been able to get to the Croix since early June and this has been really helpful for keeping up with the bite. Good luck everybody!

[Herky2002]

Herky, great shot. You know how to take pictures, make a 21 incher look like a 15lb. Smallie. Should have you take pictures of the walleyes I have been catching, might be able to put some in the well. Nice Fish!

Thanks, but I don't think it has anything to do with my photography skills. My son is so skinny and small for his age that he makes everything he catches look huge. This sheeper he caught yesterday looks like a whale next to him!

[Turk]

I've fished Kini to 94 bridge and that is decent as well. I can't tell you currently how it is but I know Turk mainly fishes that area and is still on the fish.

Sandmann,

Actually I wouldn't say mainly that area, I fish north (Bayport area) all the time, and south of the Kinni as well. I have a 175 so I go. In the summer though I am not on Pool three much, so I don't usually go south of Prescott.

Keep catchin'

Turk