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St. Croix River Fishing Reports


Joe

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Looking forward to this weekend. I will be heading out early Saturday morning and giving the WI side a try for the first time this year. This is as long as the ice is safe enough to drive. Otherwise, I will be on the MN side again.

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We used to catch a lot of crappies after Dark out there. Maybe it's just because we were young and stupid?? Would go out to the drop between the NH dam and the trestle after being at the bar for a while. Get to the shack about 10pm and fish till 1 or 2. They would come through in waves, nothing for a while then it was non-stop, nothing again, then we would hammer them. Some of the best times to fish are when everyone else is in bed!

Tim

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I tried to send you and Craigum's a PM and but your PM's are disabled.

Ya, I don't get PMs but can be contacted through my email which I check often. Got out on Mille Lacs and founds a couple nice perch, went on the river a few days prior to that and didnt catch anything, but my sonar was lit up like a xmas tree. I imagine it was all bait fish however. Anyways my Auger ran into some issues on Mille Lacs and I will be out of operation until I can get it fixed frown

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That's the biggest I've seen. You SHOULD be proud. You can call yourself the Mudpuppy King if you like. grin

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I'm looking to catch some Walleye on the St. Croix, near the Hudson area. Any suggestions where I should try?

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I often fish for walleye, focus in the dawn/dusk periods for the most part. I either setup on a good break near a point or turn in 12-20', I've had some luck fishing the flatter areas too. There's a pretty obvious window of opportunity - some times it's a couple hours, some times it's 20 minutes. If I'm fishing all day, I'll head out into the basin deeper usually.

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Is this ice safe near Hudson?

There's rarely any safe ice right near Hudson, that's why everyone fishes the Bayport area.

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Does anyone know where I can get a mudpuppy mounted? Can you harvest them? Can you EAT them? Does it count toward your DNR Master Angler certificate? (just kidding bout the eating part smile )

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A little late with my weekend post but thought I would throw it up. Braved the cold and was fairly decent out there. Set up early in the shallows and both days popped two saugers within the first 30 minutes. Then nothing. Moved deeper and ended catching aprox. 6-10 crappies both days. All in all not too bad. Headed up to the big pond this weekend so we will see how that goes.

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I was out last weekend and we had 10 inches of ice. We went on in N Hudson at Ferrys Landing and went North on the River. There are a lot of shacks out across from Bayport.

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Is this ice safe near Hudson?

Thats a pretty wide area, any specific area you are looking for ice conditions? Hudson downtown area, south of the 94 bridge, North Hudson, south of Hudson ????

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first time we went..caught 1 but then we went today in the morning..no luck...can someone tell me where to fish...

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I dont think you will get a spot on the spot answer but here's mine:

I dont know if you have a flasher or not but it really pays to have one when fishing on the river. If you are on the Croix and cant figure out where to fish, stop for 1 minute and look at where ALL the shacks are, those large clusters of shacks are in that area for a reason. If you are having trouble icing fish you need to up size or down size your bait, change your jigging presentations and always have a dead stick. 90% of my fish iced on the Croix come from under a bobber. I was out today and thought the bite has improved greatly since ....lets see when was I out last...oh yeah...since Tuesday. I dont know what kind of bait you are using but I always use med-small fatheads and bigger crappie minnows. Dont give up yet and put your time in and you will be rewarded. Take a little time to meet some people that are out fishing and ask what jigs/baits they are using, ask depths that the fish are at and mostly dont waste your day staring down the same hole those crappies are constantly roaming the basin and are on the move so you should be as well, if your fishing a dead hole or area it's time to move.

I hope this helps you, Good Luck

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Saw a bunch of vehicles out there the other day, how is the ice thickness? Hoping to make it out there this weekend, looking to drive a midsize pick up out there in search of fish. Thanks~

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Got out for a few hours today. Fished the warm water discharge, got a couple of looks but that was about it. Had a big clump of frozen rotted shad drift up through my hole. A lot of people out today, ice thickness was around 16".

All and all from everyone I talked to, fishing has been pretty slow. Think I'm gonna hit a lake this next weekend and give the Croix a break until the bite picks up again.

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Fished most of the day, caught two perch. Considering the reports I've been hearing, it could have been worse.

Ice ranged 16"-17" everywhere I went on the Minnesota side.

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Same here, 1 12" White Crappie, one big silver. 17" of ice. Lot's of people everywhere!

I moved a few times, the last spot (100+ yards from any other shack)gave up the two fish and lot's of marks that I just couldn't make commit. So many bait fish up at the highlines that just marking your jig was a chore.

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went out yesterday with the wife. Her 1 mud-puppy, me 1 small sauger and one miss. Some jack a$$ in a white pickup truck came driving through 3 feet from my shack and almost ran over my tip ups. I looked out the window and saw he had a liter bottle tipped back. The guy was actually chugging it. I was so mad I almost called the cops.

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Finally iced some crappies. It took me, 2 buddies and 4 of our kids to do it, but managed 7 fish. No pattern to the catch. Jig with minnow, frostie with minnow head, dead stick, 2 rattle reels. Kids had a riot out there (4 to 7 yrs old).

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