St. Croix River Fishing Reports

[Sandmannd]

My bad, I should have said you fish that area. I know you're a runner and gunner!!

[FishonTom]

Herky, that looks like a good shot too. You take good pictures. Your boy is a great subject though.

Keep the treasures, some day he will be big and really enjoy them.

[davidd]

Informal poll... For those of you catching fish regularly on the St. Croix, would you say:

A) I find fish with the fish finder and fish over them.

I use the fish finder to know I'm on fish, but then fish all around that area, regardless of what I see on the finder

C) I don't use a fish finder and just rely on trial/error, past experience with a location, and those areas that "look good"

Thanks,

David

[Sandmannd]

I would say B&C with a little A mixed in.

[davidd]

Does anyone have a report of the river by Taylors Falls? Heading up there this weekend for camping and will be on the river Saturday for some fishing.

Thanks,

David

[Turk]

Informal poll... For those of you catching fish regularly on the St. Croix, would you say:

A) I find fish with the fish finder and fish over them.

I use the fish finder to know I'm on fish, but then fish all around that area, regardless of what I see on the finder

C) I don't use a fish finder and just rely on trial/error, past experience with a location, and those areas that "look good"

Thanks,

David

B and C, more C than B unless it's been a slow bite, then B. GREAT QUESTION BTW!

Turk

[davidd]

Thanks for the replies to the question about the fish finder use. I have to ask my follow up now.

If the fish finder is not used as much, then the question is "why not"? Is it because the fish and the boat are always moving, so easier/faster just to try to catch something first and because it would be too hard to stay right over them anyway?

Thanks again,

David

[tommyk]

I can say that when fishing sharp drops I do not rely on my sonar to determine if there are fish below me. Fishfinders miss alot of fish on sharp breaks.

[DonBo]

I can say that when fishing sharp drops I do not rely on my sonar to determine if there are fish below me. Fishfinders miss alot of fish on sharp breaks.

I just posted a similar response in another forum. Guy said he wasn't fishing down those breaks because he wasn't marking anything there. I think that unless the fish are real active (and up off the bottom) that you just don't see them on the graph.

[Sandmannd]

I use my sonar more for depth and the contour below me. Marking fish is good but I've caught fish when I've marked none and have not had a bite when I mark fish.

[River Dan]

what seems to work for me when locating fish on sharp drops is going up the sharp drop slow and when i see the possible target I'll give it another look from a angle pass but always from the deep to shallow because the sonars angle cone picks up better just my .02

[james_walleye]

I fished the St. Croix for the first time last sunday. The spots we caught fish we saw the fish on the graph. When we didnt see fish we didnt catch any.

[fishwater]

I guess I rely on my sonar more than most to find fish and to determine how I will fish a spot, especially when rigging live bait over 15'. I do rely on my past outings and use that info to search out similar fishy looking areas, but I won't spend too much time if I don't see anything on the graphs. If I mark them on a point or turn, I'll cover a wide swath to hopefully see their domain on the structure. usually I can see how they are staging the area and keep my boat passes to a pretty tight area, sweeping back and forth over the fish.

When I do mark fish that look good, I'll rig over them as fast as possible, only slowing down if I can't get something to go right away. I feel it's easier for me to mark fish going faster. I like to keep an eye on the graphs on each sweep, see how the fish are responding, see if they are moving up or down the break. As pointed out, on sharp breaks and in shallow, you will need to spend more time to see what is up. I would say it's pretty rare for me to be catching multiple fish in over 20' and not show anything on the 2d graphs. SI sonar is genius IMO, cuts down on lots of dead spots. You can know what is under you and off to the sides pretty quickly.

When I'm trolling it is a completely different story. I like to mark fish, but it isn't usually a deal breaker. If I see some good clusters of fish, I lay down waypoints as I troll over to come back later with live bait if necessary.

[Sandmannd]

Got out around 5:30, launched out of Prescott and headed up the Croix a ways. It was a little slow, but still got some nice fish. We ended the day with 9 keepers (8 saugers and 1 eye). There were quite a few shorts that hit the line as well. Had some nice 7" saugers tearing it up today. Got to get out with Andy and Garrett, always good times with good guys.

We were handling the river with crank baits and we were pretty productive.

[analyzer]

a special thanks from me to sandman for hosting today. Nice to meet Andy as well.

[Sandmannd]

Any time Garrett, was great having you in the boat. Thanks for that great Jerkey!! I'll have to get you out again and see if you can catch anything but the salad to go with my fish!!

[RonZ]

My wife and I Put in north of Stillwater(What a zoo,lumberjack days) yesterday morning. We got there at 6:20. One parking spot open and there was a pontoon putting in so we thought we were going to have to move on.

Two guys trying to put in a new pontoon. Put it in the water but couldnt get it off the trailer. Back it out, put it in, about 3 times then swithced driver and boater. Tried a couple more times nothing. Pulled it out,drove passed me said it was too shallow and good luck to me. I said thanks, thinking to myself now I have a parking spot

As I was backing in looked back and saw they were laughing because they forgot to take of the straps..

We went north of the launch first and caught a bunch of smallies. Went down to town to pick up a couple people. Had to dodge all the big boats anchorerd in the river. Went south and didnt do to well. So we went back to the north. The women wanted to bobber fish, so eventually we found a spot with a bunch of minnows jumpin around. There we caught smallies,sunfish,suckers, and sheepies. We ran out of crawlers and went home. Went next to shore to grab a couple bobbers that got snagged. There were thousands of small minnows in there. It was cool,windy,rainy,sunny and eventually warm

First time on the river not fishing sturgeon.

Ron

[FishonTom]

I have an Eagle Cuda 168 that powers up good and seems to work great on simulate. It doesn't work on the water, so I think either the tranducer is bad or the cut in the cord to the transducer is affecting it. Anyway, if anyone wants it they can have it. First come first serve. I will trash it in a few days if no one wants it.

Tom

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[River Dan]

We were handling the river with crank baits and we were pretty productive.

Yeah went out this morning and put a hurting on the eyes boy they sure were hitting a #5 yellow iridescence, got a nice limit of eyes in the box handlining, fried them up for the group this evening and went over great, looking forward to a couple trips this week

[Stratosman]

Good report, thanks. Heading out this afternoon to test out some ideas. Hopefully find a few walters as well.

[Quetico]

Anyone been fishing up north by St.Croix State Park? I'm heading up there this weekend looking for anything that bites.

[davidd]

We were out on the river by St. Croix State Park on Saturday. I talked to a couple guys who hit a couple walleye between 5 and 6 AM upstream a bit from the Wisconsin launch. We tried up there and didn't get anything, so we went down a few miles and anchored. We didn't get much until between 5-6 and then got into some small mouth bass (and suckers). One of the bass was *just* under 14 inches, so no keepers. We could only get them to bite on lindy rigs with whole night crawlers.

The water is *really* shallow (inches in places), so be careful. Watch where the big river cruise boats go.

David

[Quetico]

I haven't been up there in in 8 or 10 years. Last time up in mid summer, you could easily walk down the middle of a fair amount of the river.

[davidd]

Are you planning on putting in on the Wisconsin side or the Minnesota side?

[Quetico]

I'm not sure if the canoe is going to make the trip or not. I'll be shore fishing the MN side for sure.

[Sandmannd]

Took my girls out last night. Had my daughters (12 & 3) and my great niece (12) out. First time fishing for the two 12 year olds. Second time in the boat for my dauther, first time ever for my niece. We started handlining to see if I could get some eyes and then my toddler had to go potty. Took her in and while they got snacks I tied up some bobber rods. My toddler didn't want to fish so just the girls did. After they missed a few fish they got the hang of it. My niece got 2 mooneyes and my daughter got 1 mooneye and a bass. They love the boat, the couldn't stop talking about how pretty it was on the river and best of all.....They LOVED the FISHING!!!!! My niece said "I think I found a new hobby". I loved hearing and had a grin ear to ear all they way home as they talked about it the whole way and were showing each other the pics and vids they took on their cameras.

One of the best outings I've ever had and the best part is they can't wait to go again!!

[DonBo]

Great job Shane. Not many more "Open Seats" left in your boat huh?

Glad the girls had a good time.

[morgan7c]

A group of us are putting in at osceola landing with the canoes this weekend and we'll be heading downstream about 3-5 miles to setup camp. Any info/advice on fishing this section of the river? Any walleyes in this section? We were in there last year and fished the Soo Line Swing Bridge area and wll we caught were some suckers fishing off the bottom from shore. Any info on this section would be greatly appreciated. Thanks guys!

[davidd]

Great outing Sandmannd! It really is something special to see the excitement in kids as they get hooked on fishing and being out on the water.

Quetico - There are some sand/weed bars north and south of the MN-side interstate launch where I've seen people casting out into the deeper water and catching fish. It gets pretty busy right by the launch, although that is one of the deeper areas along that stretch, so might be good if you can stay away from all the canoe action.

David

[Turk]

My niece said "I think I found a new hobby".

One of the best outings I've ever had and the best part is they can't wait to go again!!

Congrats! That's something really cool.

Turk