St. Croix River Fishing Reports

[Dale Rueber]

Out again today (Sunday) working the split shot rig a lot and it produced 18", 19", and couple of dink saugers. Lindy riging din't work well for me but snap weights and hand line worked did produce. Most fish today were caught in 28', primarily on gradual breaks but a few fish were to be found around the steeper breaks. My guess is that the fish were deeper today becuase it was much sunnier. Only caught 1 short Walleye again with the rest being Sauger. Had a hard time lately locating any Walleye of size but the Saugers are fine by me. All of the Saugers I have caught lately have had huge bellies. The 19" was much closer to the shape of a football than a fish.

[Quetico]

Nice job Dale

[redLUNDrebel]

hey dale and other FM'rs, i have never use a split shot rig b/4.

Questions on the split shot rig?

1. how do you set up a split shot rig?

2. do you cast the thing or just throw on the side of the boat and let it drift..

3. what is hyour favorite split shot wt.

thanks in advance

[Dale Rueber]

I have only started splitshot rigging this year so I'm fairly green, please take that into consideration in my opinions. The primary reason I use split shotting is to slow the presentation way down.

3 ways that I use split shot rigging:

1. Still fishing - don't do this much because I like to keep moving.

2. Slow trolling and keeping the bait near the bottom or dragging the bottom at a constant speed.

3. Slow trolling and moving the bait forward 4-5', letting the bait sit still while the boat moves forward and repeating.

Option 3 is where I have had the best luck. Many times the fish will hit while the bait is sitting idle or right when it stops.

Split shot rig consists of a hook, bait and a small splitshot 2-4' up the line. The weight needs to be heavy enough to get you to the bottom but not much more. Not positive what size shot I have been using but I would guess 1/8 oz or less. I troll at .5 mph or less and would estimate that I have out 60' of line to get down 25'. I have been using flouro line because it sinks so if you are using mono you may need to adjust the weight slightly. I started using this because I wanted and method to present the bait very slowly. You can achive the same basic results using a very light jig but I have alway disliked jigs with live bait because of having the weight so close to the bait. I think it takes away from the natural action.

[redLUNDrebel]

thanks Dale for the great info. i will give it a try next time out, maybe this week end.. thanks for the info.

[GudeMN]

Have been down to the confluence and up the Croix a few times in the last week. It's been slow but I've been putting sauger in the boat along with a few nice white bass and some crappies.

The confluence bite is nothing like it was last year. Strikes are more tentative and the fish have been smaller on average. I've done my best with jig/plastic v. jig/minnow.

I was able to fish yesterday from 2pm til 4pm. Caught 6 sauger and kept 2 at 15inches to eat. Might try again tomorrow afternoon. Blue/White Crestliner 1950. Say Hi if I'm down there.

Brad

[Dale Rueber]

Out with Andy (TooMuchFun) this afternoon handlining. Tried by Afton first and only found 1 short Walleye and a few Smallmouth Bass. Headed down South of the Kini and found a bunch of Saugers. Caught 18 Saugers between 12" and 18". Most of the fish were caught in 27 FOW but we caught fish from 21 to 30 FOW. Most of the larger Saugers were caught shallower in about 23 FOW. All but 1 of the lager fish were caught by Andy. Andy was running Husky jerk-baits and I was using Original Floaters, not sure if that was why he caught more of the large fish or if it just luck of the draw. Probably just luck.

At about 3:30PM the bite stopped dead, we tried shallower and deeper to no avail. Nice day to be out on the river, no traffic and almost no competition.

The days of being able to fish the Croix from a boat are numbered so I'm trying to make the most of them.

[fishwater]

Thanks for the report Dale. I'm starting a 10 day vacation starting Friday, hope to get out most of them. BTW, Andy out-fishes me too..

[GudeMN]

Got out again today 3 hours....missed on 7 strikes!! Boated nothing. Pretty frustrating but at least I was on fish. Same pattern as Monday, jig/plastic but the bites were lighter and short. Many fish coming undone on the way to the boat. I didn't see anyone else boat a fish either. I'm off to Iowa next week for Thanksgiving but I'm not putting the boat away until December so I may get back down there. Keep the reports coming. Tight lines.

[Wookiee]

I can't help it the fish they dig me! Although Sean trounced me today!

[fishwater]

That orange/gold floater did land a few.. Firetiger took the gold though..

[Quetico]

Nice eye Sean

[Go Gators]

Got out Saturday afternoon around 1:30pm for about 3 hours out of Hudson. Decided to jig some meat up by the power plant and did pretty well. Ended up with 5 sauger and 1 walleye all between 15-18". Fished between 18-24 fow and a slow lift drop of about 6" seemed to be what the fish wanted. All the fish were caught within the first hour and a half and apparently at some point I blew a fuse and was running on only one battery. Unfortunately with yesterday's wind that didn't last very long so we had to anchor and just couldn't find the right spot after that. Oh well, I had to keep fish for the mother in law and since I hate keeping and cleaning fish the fact that I didn't catch any more didn't bother me. Kind of a win-win, she will be getting fish and I didn't have to spend another hour in the garage cleaning more fish.

[croixflats]

When out today and ended up with seven nice sauger in the boat. A lot of short bites. Most were caught between 1:30pm and 3pm. Breeze picked up then some drissel ounce that was over at around 2:30 things shut down with a few light bites here and there.

Fished real slow with a three way tipped with a red hook and fat head. A few hit really hard but most were just grabbing softly.

Looks like last time out as the motor started acting up again. About ready to make this motor a lawn ornament.

[MN English]

Mind telling me what size weight and what length of line you were using from the 3 way ? I made it out Sunday afternoon just North of the Kinni but didn't have much success fishing jigs and fatheads. Had my 7 year old boy with so wasn't too focused though, going to try again saturday afternoon and am hoping for some better luck. Any advice you can give would be appreciated. Good luck with the motor, last week, my fuel line sprung a leak, a battery terminal shorted off and my transom bar broke. All fixed now and good as new but it's always something : ) Happy thanksgiving to all the fishemen out there,I have an 92 16.5' blue and white Alumacraft tiller with a 60hp Merc, if anyone see's me out on the river say hi. English.

[croixflats]

I was using a 18" dropper with a #6 red hook and a 4 ft leader

I forgot to say I caught most of fish in 30 to 28 ft of water. Had fish at 21 ft also, top of the ridge. Kind of zigged zaged over the ridg area. Trolled at a crawl .5 just enough to control the boat. Tried jigs starting out but switched over when buddy was getting hits with a plain hook.

Have a great thanksgiving also.

[MN English]

Thanks for the info, what size weight were you using ?

English.

[croixflats]

Whoops I mist that 3/4 oz pencil weight. I guess my fingers were listening to my brain.

[Jordyn Kaufer]

Thinking of heading out in the morning but from what i hear, ducks and geese are on the move like crazy right now... maybe tomorrow night..

anyone give me something to go off of? depths, riggin/jiggin, or trolling?

[croixeyes]

I think if you read these posts it pretty much responds to all of your questions.

[Dale Rueber]

Made the last trip in the boat for this year with Andy (TooMuchFun) and fished between Prescott and the Kini. On the way out we had to do a little ice breaking in the marina in Hastings. We did fairly well for eating size Saugers (20) and caught 4 short Walleyes. Less than 1/2 of the Saugers were under 14" with none of them over 18". Most of the fish were caught in 27 to 33 FOW. Dragged Rapalas around the entire time so can't tell you if they were hitting on anything else but the #7 Rapalas and #8 Husky jerk-baits were working well.

Side Note: Last year I was ice fishing on 11-28 (tomorrow), not on the Croix of course.

[jigginjim]

I was ice pulling my small shack out on Buffalo Lake last yr. I'm going to take the boat out tomorrow, don't know where yet!

[MN English]

I am heading out tomorrow as well, will be on the river around 1.30pm. Picked up a couple of small firetiger jointed floating rapalas today at Dick's, they have them on sale right now. Will try 3 ways and also with a plain hook and a fathead on the same set up. Say hi if you see me out there, Blue Alumacraft Dominator with a 60hp Merc Tiller. Good luck.

[Turk]

Made the last trip in the boat for this year with Andy (TooMuchFun) We did fairly well for eating size Saugers (20) and caught 4 short Walleyes. Less than 1/2 of the Saugers were under 14" with none of them over 18".

Nice!

[River Dan]

Hi Buddy, heading down to prescott right now

[Turk]

Good luck!!!!

[River Dan]

Went out handlining this morning, started off at prescott channel picked up just a couple shorts, went up river and hit another area and picked up a couple stripers and a sheep, headed out to another area and boy did I find some active smallies, they were really smacking that blue xrap did however picked up a couple saugers worthy of the oil nice morning out took some picture for a winter painting project, handlining at this time of the year is cold on the hands

[jigginjim]

Dan, I was thinking of 3-way rigging with my musky rod. I could use a 6-8oz weight, I do have a 1 & a 2lb cannon balls. How long of a leader are you running? Give me a call.

Jim

[fishwater]

Dan, I was thinking of 3-way rigging with my musky rod. I could use a 6-8oz weight, I do have a 1 & a 2lb cannon balls. How long of a leader are you running? Give me a call.

Jim

Jim, that's pretty much how I've progressed in my 3 way rigging. I run a pair of MH modfast 7' casting rods dragging 6 and 8 oz pencil weights as my front rods. My leaders have been around 5' lately, kinda short for me. The heavy setups have been doing really well; so much so I've started running at least one heavier setup when I'm out alone. Don't get me wrong, there is a place for a more finesse and slower approach, I just haven't seen it lately.

[River Dan]

Been runnning a 8' and 12' at 1.2 saturday looks like it will be alittle chili