St. Croix River Fishing Reports

[Dale Rueber]

Hit the river by Prescott today with Rui (Loos15) and had our limit in 1.5 hours. A good mix of Walleye and Sauger. A few Walleyes were shorts but we managed to hook up with several in the 17-18" range. Caught many White Bass also. The weather wasn't the best but the fishng was great, made it a fun outing. Pulled crankbaits the entire time. Rui had multiple doubles including one the put 2 nice Walleyes in the boat. Not a single sheepie was caught all day. Tried the drop-off below the Kini and only picked up 1 short Walleye.

[MN English]

Fun fish,will be on the river this weekend early Sunday morning, mind telling me what you were pulling for cranks and what speed you were going ? I have been out on the Croix a few times this year and not had much luck but am hoping that now the weather has changed my luck will with it. Thanks for any pointers that can be given. MN-English.

[Dale Rueber]

We were pulling #7-#11 Original Floaters and Husky jerk-baits on hand lines. We caught fish on all colors that we tried.

Most of the fish were caught between 1.5 and 2 mph. Usually run about 1.5 against the current and 2+ with the current.

[KeepLearning]

FunFish, I'm a river rookie but hope to get out this Sunday. Lacking hand line gear, would the next best method for me be a 3-way rig with those lures? If so,having never fished a 3-way rig, what lengths do suggest for the dropper and leader?

Thank you, and all others who offer their insight on this forum, very much for your help.

[Dale Rueber]

I was running 3-ways last week and had good success. 16 to 24" dropper and 5 to 10' leader in front of the floating Rapala. The speed you run will be completely dependent on the weight of the dropper. To get to 1.5 mph or higher you will probably need to use a 4oz or greater weight.

[Go Gators]

When I was running 3 ways I was using 5oz and if I got over 1.7mph the angle would flatten out too much. I was having a lot better success maintaining an accurate depth with snap weights and leadcore. Snap weights especially are simple to use, not too expensive and can be used with the same gear you use to three-way. This time of year I usually use a #9 shad rap but if you're going after the big girls don't be afraid to put on a #14 shad rap. Let out 50' of line, snap on the weight and let out line until you feel the bait hitting bottom. At that point let the fish tell you what they want. FunFish is obviously a smart man and knows where the fish want the bait but I would start out in the bottom 2' of the water column unless your electronics are telling you the fish are riding higher.

[fishwater]

I wound up relying on 3way'd SSR baits yesterday to put the fish in the boat. Leadcore and snap weights running similar SR baits just didn't work out as well (yesterday) for myself. 3 ways are great, you can run them superslow along side a live bait setup without too much difficulty and impart action on the lure by pumping it as you leisurely troll along.

I'm so excited!!

[Go Gators]

Fishwater has a great point. If the fish want the bait moving slow and you don't have a handline set-up it's tough to beat a 3-way for precision trolling. Love to talk more but I'm heading out to the river.

[budboy]

How do you set up for 3-way

[Luck e 1]

Went out today to try to find some crappies...couldn't find them.

Tried in the power plant discharge (Bayport). Tried the deep mud flats. nothing.

My buddy did catch a 30inch sturgeon. Those things fight hard.

[Dale Rueber]

Fished Saturday with Quetico. Lots of boats around Prescott and not a lot of fish when compared to Thursday. We did fairly well dragging Rapalas but not great. Most of the Walleye and Sauger came in on the left side of the boat (Quetico's side). Not sure what the secret was since we were using basically the same lures and he would not tell me. All of the Walleyes were less than 15" and we only had a few saugers the were over 15".

With all the traffic by Prescott we ventured off to some areas to the North including 2 above the Kini. Very little to report from all of the other places we tried, mostly shorts and a few White Bass.

[fish4funonly]

Walters been hot the last week and a half on the river for me.

Would of limited out a few times last week.

Tons of smaller (13-14.5") fish as well.

Best day was 16 fish over 15" for the 3 of us.

Cranks early and jigging leeches later.

A few days where I would of limited out within an hour if I was fishing by myself.

Nothing huge though...a few 20" and a 23" to top the chart.

Have pics of my catch but I believe it may violate the pic posting policy.

[Go Gators]

Another gorgeous evening to be on the river. One other brave soul decided was on the river with me. Got on the water about 4:45pm and was back in the truck by 6:15pm. Ended up with 4 fish (3 eyes and one sauger) that were all 19-20". Changed up the presentation a bit today and tried a little bobber action to start off with. That produced one and then instead of tossing the shad raps I threw a Yozuri which seemed to get a bit deeper and they apparently liked the action.

[Turk]

Late October. St. Croix River walleye fishing is going strong! We are catching many nice walleye (16 to 18 inches). Most of these fish have been males, and I think with the current warm trend and the fact that the water is still in the forties, real chance exists to get some hog walleyes very soon. These walleye are preying very heavily on shad right now, and gorging on them. On a side note I am seeing the shad to start to die off. Saugers are also on the chew and caught mixed in with the walleye. Jigging plastics and trolling three ways with cranks have been very successful in 25+ feet of water. The water temp is 46 degrees and this week the water level is scheduled to rise by a foot. The river is clear and low floating debris. Leaves are changing color and bright and beautiful.

[fishwater]

I got out the past 3 days for a few hours each day. The fishing has been pretty good. I've been finding fish in 24-28' along points and turns, getting them mostly trolling cranks on 3ways. Orange/gold floaters and jointed firetiger floaters have been my go-to bait for the past two weeks. I've been mostly running 1.3-1.5mph.

Today was without a doubt the best few hours fishing all year for me, my dad came down for a visit and he wanted to get out on the water. It took us about a half hour to find them, but once we did we couldn't keep the fish off the orange/gold, wound up only running one rod each and had plenty of action.

Here's a couple of pics from today. We got a couple toadlike saugeye and some nice walleye, released all the obvious female and anything over 18". I'm really excited about next weekend, the traffic should be low with everyone out chasing deertail.

[DonBo]

Say, those are some nice sauger. Sounds like a great day!

[Quetico]

Nice job Sean.

[Turk]

Sweet!

[Quetico]

If anyone has an open seat during this week let me know. I would love to get out during the week. email me at [email protected]

[jdog]

i probably will on weds

[Quetico]

Jdog email me. I am not working Wednesday and have the day open.

[jdog]

Quetico sorry i wont be making out weds something came up but if you have another day next week off id be game to go im not working at the time so im pretty much free after the weekend of deer hunting

[Quetico]

Jdog my work is ending for the season so I should be open a few days during the week next week. Let me know what days u plan to head out.

[fishwater]

Got out this morning with my buddy Jason. We landed around a dozen fish, mostly smaller sauger. Trolled using 3 way rigs 1.5mph or so in 22-28'. Jointed firetiger was the leader most of the morning, the orange/gold floater made a solid run later in the day. Got one 21+" sauger. Water temp was bouncing right around 40 degrees. It was WINDY.

[croixflats]

Thanks for the report fishwater. Was going to try to get out today but that wind scared me off and was waiting for a client to give a go head, no luck on dry land better off battling the wind I guess. Be out there tomorrow probably the afternoon.

[WalleyeChaser]

Finally made it out this morning for the first time in about a month. Just so much to hunt and do and not enough time in the fall. Fished the 94 bridge area and came up with a 16" walleye, 2 sauger and a lot of short hits on fat heads. Lazy bitters to say the least. Then moved down to the flats with lots of short hits and a couple that got off before makin it to the boat. Headed out waterfowling in the morning then i'll be back out there for a good chunk of the day hopefully!!

Good luck out there!!

[croixflats]

Did not get out till 1:30 few shorts around Afton and a couple of 16 inches on the way up to the flats. And nothing on the flats. Stopped in Afton for one last stop before heading in, just after sundown, and tried casting the shallows buddy lost a pole bender but that was it. Fish we caught earlier were maked and caught between 25 + 30 ft

Little rusty being on the water so things didn't go to smooth but tomorrow will be better organised.

Funny we launched out of Afton only one boat in sight, started trolling and I turn around 7 boats showed up. I guess it looked like it was slow all over and people were searching.

[WalleyeChaser]

Made it out yesterday afternoon again from 2:30 till dark. Slow bite in the area i tried. Came up with 1 17" sauger and a few shorty eyes and lots of missed hook ups. All fish caught this weekend were full of shad to the point of pucking them out in the live-well. So i figure they were just so full they were out and out lazy. Saw a few fish caught but most went back.

[Pumkinseed]

Lazy bitters to say the least.

was out today from 11 to 1:30 no fish but missed two it was almost like their just nibbling very lite bite for me. be back at sunrise if anya see a silver boat with one guy and a yellow lab dont be a stranger.

[Dale Rueber]

Today fishing started out slow, started by Prescott but there didn't seem to be much going on. Moved up river a few spots and finally found active fish below the Kini. Tried many prsentations; handline, snap weights, lindy rig, and split shot rigs. Handline was the most productive with snap weights second. Snap weights produced the only Walleye for the day but it was a short. Most all of the Sauger were caught on handline. Caught several White Bass on the lindy with fat heads and the split shot rig caught White Bass and a couple of Channel Cats. The Channel Cats really seemed to like the slower presentation of the split shot rig. All of the Walleye/Sauger were caught in about 23' on breaks that had a slow rise. Breaks that had a steep drop didn't seem to have any fish even when there was a lot of bait present.

Overall a good day on the water.