St. Croix River Fishing Reports

[Fuzzbient]

I'll be on the river at sunrise Saturday too. I'm hoping I can wake one of my daughters up early to enjoy a few hours of the morning bite with me. It's fun to get the kids out there.

[water rat]

Just got In from Franconia,And just got worked over by the river gods!!ended up with 0 walleyes and 0 sauger ! some silvers and a few Itsy Bitsy smallmouths.Was a great morning to be out weatherwise, just need my fishing to pick up !!

I finally have some work (YEA!!)so I'll wait til sat am to hit er again.

good luck all!!

[Sandmannd]

Took some clients out last night. Was a tough bite. Didn't manage any eyes or saugers either. Got a rock bass, crappie, sheepie and a few white bass. Oh yea, got soaking wet at 8 PM and hailed on, that was pleasent. Was a decent trip, but with all the fronts moving around the fish aren't tearing it up that's for sure.

[Jethro80]

Went out of prescott today, nothing to write home about but did end up with a few saugers.

[Moses2531]

I read earlier that the crowds thin on the Minnesota Opening weekend?? That common? We'll be hitting the St. Croix for opener for the first time this year outta Stillwater, any suggested times for being there? Planning on launching around 5am, I should get a boat launch spot still by than right? Also, any suggestions or tips would be great, been 2 openers since we've caught a fish! :-/ But hey its about getting out, not catchin! HAha Thanks!

[water rat]

Boomsite launch mught be tough for a sat am,especially If the weather is nice.Alot of people put In there to camp for the weekend and can limit parking (along with any fishing rigs).

Just a little FYI,

Good luck !!

[Fisherman For a Lifetime]

That parking area is WAY too small!

Unless it's a weekday, I just go to the pay ramps.

Good luck out there! I'll be out Sat early AM...

[Sandmannd]

Traffic should be less due to MN being open now, but there are a lot of river rats that call the river home and are there no matter what. I'm usually one of them, but thought I would put myself through the missery of fishing the crowd of Mille Lacs this weekend.

I would think at 5 AM you should be fine to get a spot. Beanies would be my go to for that area though. Good luck out there.

[FWA]

Took some clients out last night. Was a tough bite. Didn't manage any eyes or saugers either. Got a rock bass, crappie, sheepie and a few white bass. Oh yea, got soaking wet at 8 PM and hailed on, that was pleasent. Was a decent trip, but with all the fronts moving around the fish aren't tearing it up that's for sure.

Those hail on Tuesday night hurt when you are going full throttle trying to reach the 94 bridge...

Was that you pulling up behind us at Beanies? My brother and I and my sons were in the black and silver Lund. [PoorWordUsage] that Dave Dahl! I specifically heard him say we were in the clear for the rest of the night at 6:38 PM, and the radar didn't show anymore storm clouds coming. That's why I thought we'd be OK with a quick launch on the river.

[FWA]

I'll be on the river at sunrise Saturday too. I'm hoping I can wake one of my daughters up early to enjoy a few hours of the morning bite with me. It's fun to get the kids out there.

It's tough getting the wife and kids to wake up early for Disney World, but hopefully they'll wake up so we can get on the water early on Saturday, too.

[Sandmannd]

Originally Posted By: Sandmannd

Took some clients out last night. Was a tough bite. Didn't manage any eyes or saugers either. Got a rock bass, crappie, sheepie and a few white bass. Oh yea, got soaking wet at 8 PM and hailed on, that was pleasent. Was a decent trip, but with all the fronts moving around the fish aren't tearing it up that's for sure.

Those hail on Tuesday night hurt when you are going full throttle trying to reach the 94 bridge...

Was that you pulling up behind us at Beanies? My brother and I and my sons were in the black and silver Lund. [PoorWordUsage] that Dave Dahl! I specifically heard him say we were in the clear for the rest of the night at 6:38 PM, and the radar didn't show anymore storm clouds coming. That's why I thought we'd be OK with a quick launch on the river.

Yea, that was me. I think I said the same thing around that time. Sun was shining was feeling good, then BOOOOM! I looked at my clients and said "Well this is pleasant". They just laughed.

[fishwater]

Yesterday I got out by myself and took Turk's advice on working the neck down areas, got 3 nice eater 16" eyes and a handful of smaller ones. Got 5 bouncing cranks off the bottom and 4 rigging with minnows. Today we started off trolling and rigging in the same places, found it to be very slow. No suckers and silvers like the day before either. Only got two walleye from 5am-9am so we headed down river. Found some nice arcs on the graph south of Afton and everything came together perfectly. We got some real nice fish, 3 over 20" in a little over an hour with some others mixed in rigging minnows in about 18'. All the fish were released.

[tommyk]

Beautiful fish. Way to go!

[WalTerStaLker**]

I am new to fishing the St. croix river, or any river, just bought a house in Prescott and a bigger boat since i am so close to river. Any advise on how to fish the river and what to use? Have been out a few times and see other people catching fish but i cant seem to catch any. I mark lots of fish but cant catch. I have tried bottom bouncers/jigs/drop shot with rapala, but no fish. I have been in the area in front of the Prescott launch and under the bridges. Any help would be great for this river virgin, not looking for all your secret hot spots, just what should i look for as far as depth and what techniques work on the river. Thanks for any help, as i need it greatly! Also, any no of any good fishing guides for the river? Thanks again for any responses. Have a good day.

[Stratosman]

Drop shot with rapala? I think I fugured out your problem.. JK.

Hard to beat a live bait rig, crawler, leech, minnow for any time of the year, rig with a 1/4 - 3/8 weight and about a 18" leader. I like to look for fish on sharp breaks, primarily sand, get a map and circle some spots and start learning! No better way to learn the river than by spending time on it. None of us here knew anything about it either until we all put hundreds and thousands of hours out there, and to me, the learning is the funnest part and I wouldn't trade all the hours I spent learning for anything.

Welcome to the best fishery in the state IMO and good luck!

Turk is a pretty good guide, look for him here, I think even this thread...

[River Dan]

Still learning, thousands of hours out there and the river can still humble a person

[jigginjim]

The fish also seem to decide when to bite. There have been several times when everyone has had a poor day. I hope the shiners hold up. I got about 7dozen for the next fwe weeks of fishing.

[RiverChuckNorris]

Hit the river yesterday afternoon from about 4 to 8 with my dad. Trolled 3-ways up the Hudson channel without a sniff. Drifted live bait back down and caught plenty of sheephead and silver bass with one small sauger. Headed south of Hudson and boated a 15" eye, a nice crappie and many more SH/SB.

An absolutely beautiful day and a nice amount of action to boot. Now if only the 2 trolling motor batteries hadn't been dead Oh well, can't have everything go your way on the first trip of the year!

[FishonTom]

Lake Elmo has Cisco. And I think that Square Lake does too. Of course they were planted.

[fishwater]

Me and my buddy trolled for a couple hours this morning and found pretty hot action. We got 6 fish in the boat within the first hour; my buddy got a fat 25"+ walleye to start out his season. We also boated the first couple sauger of the season. I sadly lost a pig that doubled over my rod pretty good. Active fish were suspended in 20-25' around 15' down, best baits were Rapala silver/chartreuse and pearl SR7's and a silver black DHJ10. Got lots of little fish that were probably a little too eager to hit a bait.

[Fishin4aLivin]

Geez I hate breaking in new hats. Anyways great way to start the season Skipper!!! Like fishwater said had a very nice morning bite going today. Boated some nice fish and had another half dozen come unbuttoned. Great fishing with good friends in hard to beat. Fishwater gave you everything but the coordinates out there. The bite is definetly going!! By the way the fish he is holding was not netted and yes it was returned to swim another day.

[Sandmannd]

Great report guys. I'll have to get out there with Sean this year so he can show me how to catch them little guys on the raps!!

[croixflats]

I finally got out on the river. Boat still runs horrible, stuck close to home. Started late afternoon into evening six walleye 4 being keepers caught on all different presentations ( jig and leach, rapalas to lindy rigs)in 13ft to 6 ft of water. Broke one rap on a 6 pound sheep head favorite rapula also. Lots of smallmouth caught. That wind really cut through ya today and I forgot to put the AA jacket in the boat.

Got to use my new 8.3 ft List Creek telescoping rod, MAN O MAN! what a rod, talk about sensitivity don't think I have ever used a finer rod, well the Limit Creek medium heavy is great also but were talking two different styles.

Good fishing for all.

[FWA]

Nice report. I still have to figure out how to troll. Did manage to make it out with my son on both mornings. He had a good time despite that wind. Of all things, the perch were biting....

[analyzer]

Was fishing the shore line just south of the marina, and well north of the railroad bridge/channel, adjacent to 95. There was a doe with a busted back leg. She must have been hit by a car or something. She just stood there 20 yards from me for 20 minutes or so. I debated what to do, and then finally called bayport police. A very nice officer swung by and tried to get a good shot on her. I spooked her up out of the bushes but she never provided a safe shot. It's unfortunate, she's clearly in a lot of pain. Props to the officer for at least giving it a try.

By the way, fishing the rocks off the marina, with a rapala, has provided some smallie action ( i know it's not season) and an occasional walleye. I've fished for an hour each of the last 2 nights before sun down, and connected a half dozen times each night. 3 Walleyes so far. Keep looking for the white bass bite, but they haven't been around.

I also caught some crappies in the back water up by the osceola landing on Friday night. The sheepies were on fire off the south end of the peninsula.

I am currently unemployed and have a fair amount of free time if anyone wants a partner here and there.

[ILLIFIED]

Analyzer,

I would like to take you up on your fishing offer. I live in St. Paul and have been fishing some of the area metro lakes and Mississippi river by shore since I do not have a boat. I have never fished the Croix yet since I dont know any shore spots to fish. I usually fish muskies up north but the season is not open yet.

I was thinking about fishing tonight...

[analyzer]

Umm, you may have misunderstood ill, I was shore fishing. I am looking to partner up with someone with a boat as well. Sorry for the misunderstanding.

[analyzer]

If you want to shore fish I'll go with you though. Today's a little windy for my taste however, and I have to Umpire softball the next two nights. We'll hook up though.

[lunker33]

was out on the croix last night for the beautiful evening. picked up a nice 17 inch eye trolling shad raps in around 15 fow. then ended up doing a little rigging around 8-9pm which also put 2 20 inch eyes in the boat. while rigging we picked up some sheephead, silvers, and smallmouth. they were taking leeches, crawlers, and minnows. and the eyes bit very light and it was around 9 when they did.

chris

[Fuzzbient]

That does sound like a beautiful evening Chris. Two 20's and a mess of others in one hour isn't bad at all.