St. Croix River Fishing Reports

[fishwater]

I got out this morning with a college buddy around Bayport. Just as we got the boat in the water the wind shifted and started blowing out of the north instead of the west as was forecast. We gave up on our hopes of rigging and and trolled most of the morning, picked up 3 legals, a fat perch and a 20+ walleye that we released. Hot bait was the pearl salmo frisky. Fish were mostly in 20-22', many up off the bottom. Got a 4th legal rigging minnows after the wind calmed down and shifted back and a nice 19" smallie over a small point in 20-22'. Big improvement over my last outing where we picked up 14 14" fish and only a single keeper.

While rigging I had a number of shorties take the bait all the way down to their [PoorWordUsage] - seriously. I had to stop feeding line and just dip the rod tip a bit before setting. Probably going to be running bottom bouncers next time out..

[Dale Rueber]

Went out with Andy (TooMuchFun) Thursday evening and hooked up with some large Walleyes. All were caught on #7 Shad Raps or #6 Husky jerk-baits in 22-25 FOW. Caught a 17", 22", 24", 25", and 27.5" Walleye plus a few nice sauger and multiple sub 15" Walleye and Sauger. The 24" and 25" Walleyes were caught at the same time so I was sure than Andy had got tangled in my line and we were fighting the same fish. I was very surprised when when we each had a nice fish, what a double! All fish over 20" are always released so there are some nice Walleyes out there for somebody else to catch.

22" Walleye

24" and 25" Double

27.5" Walleye

[BigWadeS]

Nice report Dale, Andy don't worry they won't bite when your holding them like that...no need to look that scared...

[luv2gofishn]

Good to see that there really are some fish in the river! I couldn't buy a bite today, with the exception of one rock bass. The wind was pretty ugly, but it was still great to be out there. I was mostly trolling with a few attempts with a jig/minnow combo. I didn't even catch a sheepie, which has to be a first!

[Stratosman]

Nice lookin eyes, using snap wieghts or leadcore? Can't wait till Sunday morning.

[fishwater]

Sweet fish Dale and Andy! I was wondering that as well - you guys running the husky jerk-baits and SSR's on handlines still? I've been mostly using SR7's with braid, but have run some sr5's and glassraps and a few other baits with 1 oz snap weights. The fish have been coming up and hitting the cranks pretty well that way. Any hints on speed you we're running at?! I've was going fast last week, over 2 anyway. This week we we're going around 1.7mph - similar depths for sure. Thanks for the info guys.

[Sandmannd]

Nice report Dale and Andy, that looks like it was a good time for sure. Can't wait to get out there tomorrow morning and throw some in the well.

[Dale Rueber]

Nice lookin eyes, using snap wieghts or leadcore? Can't wait till Sunday morning.

We were running them on handlines at 1.5 to 2 MPH.

I will be out Saturday afternoon running snap weights and lindy rigging just for something different.

[Stratosman]

ENjoy the wind!

[Sandmannd]

Was out on Saturday out of Prescott. We fished that area and eneded up not leaving it all day. Had a lot of action and ended up with seven really nice keeper sauger. Lots of little ones along with your normal bag of sheepies, white bass, rock bass and my buddy Rui pulled in a nice 5 lb cat. The wind was a pain in the rear, but the fishing was good.

Got all fish on Shiner minnows, most jiggin' with some coming off a lindy.

[Jeremy airjer W]

I gave Gulp Alive a whirl today. Success! 3" smelt minnow and I had on just as many fish as everyone else. Unfortunately they where all pretty small but they bit consistently and often.

Even ran into RiverRat13 at the launch! Nice meeting you.

[jigginjim]

Sandmannd, Did you get any eye between 16-19" in prescott. I have a guy that says there isn't any good fishing in the river. Which is fine, he can keep fish Bald Eagle lake by White Bear. He fished it 2 weeks ago with me, we had 11 different species of fish, most of them being game fish, only a few sheephead and a 1 large shad. The most caught were small saugers.

[Sandmannd]

We didn't get any eyes just saugers, though I pretty much accept them as the same. I would tell him there are plenty of good fish in the river. But if he prefers to fish lakes, that's cool, just more fishin for us huh?

Course the not catchin eyes was this weekend. I've caught to many eyes to count in that range in that area and bigger.

[riverrat13]

airjer it was nice to meet you this morning! I ended up taking home two nice 19 inch walleyes and a 20 inch sauger.I caught a lot of small walleye and sauger . I had to leave early ,but the bite was good. I caught fish on leadcore and number 5 shad raps,split shot and a crawler and tried a dragging jig and a crawler all worked well today.

[River Dan]

Had a busy weekend, sure alot of fish in the old river just not that many nice ones but there there, put some nice ones in the box yesterday 7 total 16 to 18 1/4" avg. 17" five of which were taken off the croix away from the crowds the ones today were hard to come by as far as nice fish 2 decent ones, fillers and many shorts. Fish came riggin spot tail shiners 4' leader, black hook, green bead and 3/8 weight,

[Wookiee]

That was me needing a lot more hand strength to hold up those piggies Also it was Dale's line that we thought got tangled with mine.

[JRedig]

What kind of water temps are you guys seeing out there?

[Sandmannd]

I showed 57.8 degrees on Saturday.

[Turk]

Really Nice Andy and Dale!!!!!

[WalTerStaLker**]

Thanks for your advise, i actually caught some pulling crawlers just N. of Prescott this past weekend in about 13feet of water. two of us caught 11 walleye in 4 hours, very fun!

[Jordyn Kaufer]

Was out sunday morning and caught 3 eyes..

kept two that were 16inches and 17inches..

caught the 17incher on plastics!

[tunrevir]

Good job Jordyn! Looks like you and your dad are starting to figure out this whole river thing.

Tunrevir~

[Turk]

05/18/09 St. Croix River walleye fishing is good. Walleyes are becoming more active as the weather warms up. Water temperatures are just starting to rise and are 60 degrees. This is the first temperature rise in over two weeks and the fish seem to be responding. Over the weekend anglers reported much larger catches with a 28inches walleye being caught as well as some between 25 and 26inches. These larger fish are not common but, it is a good sign. The size of the St. Croix walleyes is excellent and 18 and 22-23 “inch fish are being caught, plus eaters in the 15 to 18 inch range. Livebait rigs, spinners, and Rapala crankbaits (Shad Raps and Minnow Raps )are all turning fish from 10 to 24 feet. White bass are active and the smallmouth have also started to hit (smallmouth are closed, this is just a report on fish activity and does not condone fishing for smallmouth). Sheeps are also active. Catfish are still an uncommon catch. The Croix is 676.6 feet above sea level, and running fairly clear, very little debris. The weather is fine and it feels like summer.

[magic_minnow]

The sheeps are active eh? I've been meaning to work on those for my master angler certificate.

[Jeremy airjer W]

Gulp alive 3" smelt minnow, Lindy sinker, swivel, and a plain hook slow trolling in 15-21 feet has been working all week! Lots of saugers 12" and under, many in the 13-14" range, one over 15.

[Horned_Swede]

HI guys,

Been a long time since I have hit the river. Is the Hudson bridge area still productive or should we target further south?

[Fisherman For a Lifetime]

I launched at 5AM & fished most of the day Saturday.

Fished the I-94 Bridge area hard, the east shore of the "lake" section & Kinninkinnic.

Did not catch a walleye.

Did not see a walleye caught.

Used 4 colored jigs, crawler rigs, leeches, minnows.

BUT, the WI CO's in the unmarked Crestliner pulled a single guy over who was fishing 2 lines in a small boat in the Kinni. They checked him and he must have had one too small. They took the walleye, brought it in their boat, measured & took a picture. Then they released it.

[Turk]

05/24/09 St. Croix River smallmouth bass are open for fishing. This spring many reports of huge bass have been noted by fisherman, and my boat has been no different, we have landed and released 21, 20, and several 18 to 19 inch smallmouth bass. Look for a great smallmouth bass season this year on the Croix. Topbaits are Gitzit tubes on jig heads (1/8 to ¼ ounce), Rapala DT10’s, flukes (jerkbaits), and buzzbaits. It is no secret smallmouth like rock, however early in the season they are also on sandpoints. (Please release all smallies, they are very slow growing, white bass, walleye, catfish, northern pike, and sauger all eat better).

St. Croix River walleye are showing up in their summer locations and locating on shoreline structure from shallow depths 8 to 12 feet to 19 to 21 feet deep. Walleye are on the move and more difficult to locate than previous weeks. Fewer anglers are getting limits on the St. Croix, but as walleyes locate into their summer haunts fishing should improve. Lindy rigging with nightcrawlers, leeches, and fatheads in the above mentioned depths are catching keepers. Trolling Rapalas are still putting fish in the boat as well, shad raps (SR 07 and 08 shad, yellow perch, and firetiger), minnow raps (MR 09), and original floaters (F11).

Freshwater drums (sheephead) have been biting like mad. I had a trip with a great customer of mine, Mark Cavaleri where he battled a ten-pound sheephead, and that fight in the pure sense of a fight between fish and man was the best of the day, the river holds many surprises (btw Mark won). Sheeps are caught by most without intention while fishing for walleye. Catfish are starting to be reported and should get going strong as the water warms a local expert has already landed a massive 46 pounder. White bass are also in walleye spots with sheepheads, walleye, and saugers and are biting at an average pace.

Have fun and good luck.

[Sandmannd]

I was out yesterday with loos15. We did really well. Launched out of the Bluffs at 6 AM. Went to some normal haunts on the Croix and didn't make a lot of fish so we made our way down to Prescott. Hit a spot that has become very hot for me this spring. We spent our whole morning there. Pink and Gold jigs with a shiner and Lindy's with red hooks and a shiner were deadly for us today. We each limited out by 10:30!! Only a couple of walleye caught that were small. Our limit was of Saugers. Couple of shorties at 14.5" but mainly 16-17" saugers were in the boat.

Was a great day. Loos15 got a white bass, but for the first time since I fished with him, not one sheephead in the boat!!

[AceintheHole]

Nice report shane. I'm waiting till I can get out that way and hit the river with you.