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St. Croix River Fishing Reports


Joe

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Craigums

I like your diagrams. I don't have a clue how you post or color them, but I like them.

When fishing crappies, what worked for us yesterday was I drilled holes while "croix walleye 6" walked behind me telling me the depth and if he is marking baitfish, suspended fish or fish on the bottom. We didn't wet a line until we saw consistent marks.

Yesterday we got on them after burning 3/4 of a tank of gas...which is pretty good. Burning two to three tanks a-day can get tiring if fishing alone.

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The jig I was taking about earlier was the U.V. Tungsten Pannie Pill size 8. Went out again today and it was a completely different story. I was only able to muster 2 11" crappie the whole time I was out. Fish were very finicky. Time to try some new techniques I am thinking.

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For the next week or so work will be keeping me off the ice during the day. Anyone ever fish in the evening after dark and have any luck???

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Usually very spotty and poor fishing after dark. Some get 'em, but there's better options in the area.

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Finally decided to try again after 3 weeks of fishing elsewhere due to lack of activity. Just couldn't take the frustration. But there have been some decent reports as of late so I guess it was time to try again.

Set up away from any other shacks in 38 FOW and actually put a few fish on the ice! Wish I could tell you the pattern that worked, but as was the case so often last year every fish came on a different presentation. My dead stick seemed to get a bit more attention than anything I put on my jigging rod. I have been useing the new Venom bobber lately and really like it. The buoyancy is adjustable so you can change jigs/hooks etc quick and easy without screwing around with cutting the bobber, or adding/subtracting weights to get it set just right. Another tool to add to the arsonal.

Probably be out again in the morning with a renewed confidence.

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fished bayport area today for first time ever!! i was little nervous driving on river for the first time. we didnt catch much even tho had tons of looker and mark alot on vex we caught mayb 10 fish with 2 nice crappies and my friend caught 5 mudpuppy.. i actually freaked out the first time i had seen them and are still nervous everytime buddy caught them those little slimy scary thing. i guess i will have to add mudpuppy to my phobia list now..

it was also beautiful out tonight with full moon out. good luck everyone.

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Finally decided to try again after 3 weeks of fishing elsewhere due to lack of activity. Just couldn't take the frustration. But there have been some decent reports as of late so I guess it was time to try again.

I made it out yesterday for a few hours and it was nothing like it was on Wednesday.

The first hour I caught five small crappies. White bass kept me company for most of the day. Some small some large. Ended with three keeper crappies. I was test driving a macho minnow with a hali chain dropper and minnow head. After landing some hard fighting white bass my hali chain broke on a nice crappie below my hole mad My minnow set line just sat there in the corner like a beaten step child. On a scale of 1 to 10 I would rate yesterday afternoon as a 3.

My buddy said the fish were much more active earlier in the day.

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Fished today from 7:30 to 12:30 500 yards north of Shanty town in 34-36 fow. Had a lot of lookers missed two on the dead stick. I threw the kitchen sink at them in the other hole, jiggin raps, buckshots, down to waxies and euros got nothing but lookers. Marked baitfish every once and awhile and since there was usually fish on the vex we never moved. Frustrating but I'll try it again as soon as I get the chance.

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Yet another frustrating morning for me. mad One silver in 4 hours. And after last night I thought it was finally gonna pick up. frown

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Funfish and I were out today from 930 to 330. He got a tiny perch and a tiny eye. I didnt get a bite. We were on the WI side just north of Hudson. Tried a few spots and varying depths. Marked very few.

All in all not an exciting day.

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Gee guys, perhaps the fish moved away from that area, or maybe so many were caught in that area over the past so many years that they haven't infiltrated it yet.

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We fished away from the crowds today. There were some permanents in the one are we fished, but that was a long way from any shanty towns. The other spots we fished just had other portables.

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Marking fish hasn't been a problem in any area I've fished. Making them bite, that's another story.

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It looks like I picked the perfect day to fish another body of water. I gotta tell you...it was fun seeing active feeding sunnies and crappies on the flasher. My spring bobber rig really got a work out.

DonBo I feel your pain. Fishing the river can be real frustrating at times.

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Was out today from 1-430. par for the course, got a few White bass to hit the deadstick, but as others have said, threw everything at them with little success. Almost worse than not seeing them on the flasher, makes it hard to move when your always flashing fish.

DSC_0496.jpg

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Pretty much the same story here. Fished south of 94 caught 1 10" sauger missed a couple and marked many more! Then moved up to bayport fished 6 diff. locations caught a handful of small crappies each spot and some sunnies to my suprise that all went back. Fished from 9:00ish till 4:45. Mainly in search of sauger and eyes. Got lots of fish to rise off the bottom! Assuming they were small sauger or perch, little taps and that was it.

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Ah the toughest question you will ever have to deal with on ice. To move or not to move when marking fish but not getting them to bite. Do you move to find active fish or do you stay put since you have found fish?

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Quetico - That is my biggest struggle. Lately I have just been using the mentality of if I move, I move to somewhere new or area that I have not fished yet that day. Sometimes this works in finding active fish, most of the time, as of late not so much.

river-newbie - I have been having the same issue with getting fish to come off of the bottom and not commit. If you figure out the trick to get them to bite, let me know smile

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Ah! it comes down to bait offerings. This is what you gotta do. Go to your local meat market and get yourself some dry aged tenderloin, never mind the cost at $13 a pound a pound goes a long way. Cut the meat into minnow shapes, garlic helps, and put it on your dead stick with a gold hook. And most importantly have a sign above the hook stating free tenderloin with an arrow pointing down. Oh, dont substitute meat they will just laugh at you. grin

These river fish are spoiled with all the bait fish in there they just need a differant flavor.

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And remember not to use the entire pound of tenderloin because you'll need something to eat when this doesn't produce anything. smile

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After fishing for a few hours today on the river...that gold hook is sounding pretty good.

SKUNKED!!! I would rate todays fishing a -5 on a scale of 1 to 10.

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Yup, pretty slow. 4 hours of fishing and only one silver bass to show for it. Lots of lookers and no takers. Fished about 36 feet of water. Oh well, better luck next time.

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Guess it was my turn. My wife looked at me kinda funny when I told her I was going to the river, again. I swore off it yesterday I was so frustrated. frown

Best outing of the year for me. smile Fished from about 3:00-5;30 tonight. Kept only 3, but they were 10 1/2 - 13+ inches. Also caught one smaller one and a short walleye that I tried very hard to will into a sauger. Missed a bunch of 'em. At least 10-12 mad that I just couldn't get hooks into.

Tried a new spot, way away from anyone else, and though I didn't mark as many as other spots I fished, the ones I did were very agressive. Best luck was with a larger glow Diamond Jig with a white plastic tail and a couple red eurolarvae. (thanks for the tip SM)

All in all after yesterday I was very excited about the action today.

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Also caught one smaller one and a short walleye that I tried very hard to will into a sauger.

Haha. I've tried this many times this year and no luck yet:)

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Ah the toughest question you will ever have to deal with on ice. To move or not to move when marking fish but not getting them to bite. Do you move to find active fish or do you stay put since you have found fish?

I usually throw the tackle box at 'em. If they dont bite within a minute or 2 time to switch it up. Then if they still dont bite that pod of fish is in-active and it's time to not even think twice about moving. It's not even a tough question, fish not biting= time to move.

Usually I see people pull up to a spot, drill enough hole for the shack and then set-up. Is this wrong? I dont think so if you have 100% confidence in that spot. What I like to do is drill alot of holes starting shallow and working my way deeper. I hole hop these holes until I find the most active fish and thats where I set-up shack. Alot of times there might be fish in 30FOW but the ones that are active and feeding are in 27FOW. That 3 foot depth change could easily make or break your day of fishing.

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Usually I see people pull up to a spot, drill enough hole for the shack and then set-up. Is this wrong? I dont think so if you have 100% confidence in that spot. What I like to do is drill alot of holes starting shallow and working my way deeper. I hole hop these holes until I find the most active fish and thats where I set-up shack. Alot of times there might be fish in 30FOW but the ones that are active and feeding are in 27FOW. That 3 foot depth change could easily make or break your day of fishing.

Lately I have been pulling up to a spot and drilling 2 holes for my portable but that is mostly because it has been too cold for me to hole hop. Granted these are spots I have saved on my GPS. My shack is not the easiest to be putting up and taking down also. Depending on the time of day, I will fish shallow to deep in the mornings and vice versa in the evening.

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Incogneato, I am interested in your "ownership of all of these holes that you drill. Real estate is a frequent topic on these forums. If you drill holes across 100 yards of ice, do you consider that your "marked" territory?

I have seen posters complain about people fishing in "their" holes.

Just curious?

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Funny you should ask. I dont "own" any piece of water. I was using this method on Mille Lacs a week or 2 ago and had some guy come and set up his shack and actually use the holes I drilled. First of all I thought it was really funny because he got out fired up his auger and went to drill thru what he thought was a froze over hole but it was mine with less than 1/8" of ice and when he put that auger in that hole and went to start to drill he about fell on his face, funniest thing I've seen on the ice so far this year. I think that some people need to use a little common sense while others need to use a little courtesy in a situation like this. 98% of time you will not see me fishing an area where I have to worry about others and the rest of the time....well they came and invaded where I was fishing and it's public waters so what do you do? I usually try to strike up a conversation you never know who you will run into. You are both fishing so the small talk is over and the chat session starts. The next thing you know you could have a new friend or someone you hope you'll never talk to again. I hope this answers your question.

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Now I don't care who you are....that's funny!! I can just picture the guy falling over his auger. LOL. Anyway..well said in regards to sharing your extra holes. I like to think that I am fishing out of the better of the holes I drilled anyway so if someone else wants to use them then go ahead. I would rather they do that than fire up their auger during a hot bite and spook the fish I may be catching.

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Not to many territorial people out there on the Croix. Ive helped out and I have been helped out.

Early in the spring we set up in front Bayport well I drilled maybe 20 holes found the rock pile I was looking for and set up 20 ft away maybe 10 ft deeper than the rock pile. I would fish in the shanty and head to the rock pile and jig that for a while then go back to the shanty.

We were sitting there in the shanty and two guys walk up and plop down on those holes and fished. This didn't bother me I waited a while then went out and talked with them for a while then went back in the shanty. What I did get nervous about was when one of them decided to walk around the entire house looking through my stuff I had laying out there. After an hour they picked up and left to go fish the other side of the river. Oh, when the left they thanked us for letting them fish there.

I just laugh and be grateful I met someone new as you never know when you may run into them again and strike up a conversation.

That's me though I love meeting new people on the ice.

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