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St. Croix River Fishing Reports


Joe

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cool!

I wish I owned either one of those boats we were in. I was just a passenger. John caught the biggest one last night at 58"!

100_1689.jpg

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Went out this morning for a few hours, I knew it was going to be good when on our second pass we hit a tripple! After a little fine tuning of our presentation we ended up keeping 9, mostly saugers but a couple of walleyes in there. We where using minnows and crawlers, but the biggest walleye came on a small piece of Gulp! I was experimenting with. All in all a great day, off the water by noon.

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out fishing this morning, sorry no photo's as my photographer

was down with a cold. that's the first time I've fished alone

in forever. I ran into several people from this web site this

weekend and I'd like to say thank you to all of you for the kind

words and the compliments on the photos. now to the report, it

was a little slower today than it has been, but I still managed

7 walleyes in about 2 hours. could have probably caught more if

I would have gone with a minnow and a jig but I was looking for

bigger fish and stuck with the old shad rap. caught and released

a 23.5 incher near the green sign north of the kinnie and kept

an 18 incher for the pan. the rest were right at the 15 inch mark

and went back in to finish growing. as always good luck out there

and may your rods get bent and your lines stay tight.

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I was out last night with the crowd at kinnie and I didn't see a whole lot of fish being caught between 3-5. Is this more of a moring bite or have you been having luck all day? Also, I was trolling just about every #7 shad in the box and nothing was hitting. Any tips on color selection?

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Best advice is to stay away from the crowd.. You will find both more fish and more peaceful fishing avoiding crowds. This time of year it seems the eyes and bigger sauger like stick baits and the action they produce. Tie them up on a three way and start working sharper breaks. Use enough weight to keep the weight at about 20 degrees from vertical, I normally use about 2 oz. and run about .7 - 1 mph.

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Jen and I hit the Croix the 16th-17th and had a blast! We aren't the best or most serious fisherman out there but we caught fish the whole time smile Jen caught her 1st walleye in 20 years, not to mention her first Sturgeon. We were struggling a bit at the Kinnie and a guy was nice enough to tell us they were biting on bright green/yellow shad raps. We didn't have any but I had plenty of that color in Smithwicks. We hooked into an 18" after 2 minutes and caught 4 more before deciding to go go back to adventuring. That night we anchored right out from camp (Kinnie) and through some sucker minnows out. We caught a nice Blue and Channel and Jen hooked into her 1st Sturgeon, what a trip! We carelessly missed 4 other fish:( The next day we just fished for anything that would bite around the Hudson area. Caught a bunch of Stripped Bass, and a few sunnys. We had a blast by the Anderson plant. Here's some pics.

IMG_1393.jpgDSCN0022.jpgDSCN0005.jpgDSCN0017.jpgDSCN0021.jpgDSCN0040.jpgDSCN0033.jpgIMG_1400.jpg

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Stratos, are you pretty much bumping the bottom with a 2 oz at that speed? I will try sticks next time out. Thanks for the info.

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Don't be afraid to go heavier too. I mostly use 6oz bouncers for running 3 way cranks; that kind of weight keeps them ticking bottom really well! We've been having good luck running floaters and husky jerk-baits 1.7-2.2mph the past couple days. For the most part we were using all shad style baits up till this weekend.

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first just let me say, I can only speak as to what works well for me.

there are as many opinions as there are lures at cabela's, and

I'm not here to get into all that. shad raps come in many colors

and sizes, I prefer to use one as close to natural as possible. the last time I checked shad (real live ones) are black and silver

with a black spot about 1/3 of the way down their sides. knowing

this makes color selection, at least for me a no brainer. as to size and

how I rig them I enclosed some photos instead of trying to explain

everything as it can be confusing. now to the speed, bottom contact

is the determining factor, faster speeds or faster current require

more weight, the important thing is to maintain bottom contact.

1 ounce is a good starting point, and you can vary it from there.full-34906-2311-shadraps006.jpg

full-34906-2312-shadraps007.jpg

full-34906-2313-shadraps009.jpg

full-34906-2314-shadraps014.jpg

I hope this helps, and if I missed anything please let me know.

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Yeah, staying in close contact with the bottom, I personally don't like to drag the bottom as the silt might interfere witht the fish's ability to eat the bait. THis is probably debateable though... Start with two oz and adjust. Some great info from fishwater and the pix from the last post are good info too... But remain versatile and adjust for depth/speed ect. As far as colors, experiment and let the fish tell you what they want... I have had the best luck in glass perch HJ's in the late fall but shad or tenessee shad or heck whatever. It changes hour to hour sometimes.

I ALMOST wish I wasn't hard into bowhuntin because I miss alot of excellent fishing on the river every year....so keep the pictures flowing!

Good luck

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Thanks for all the info. I am heading out again in the morning so hopefully the crowds have subsided. It's funny you mention the bow hunting. This the first year I am not bowhunting to free up time on the river. With the full moon coming, this is the best week to bowhunt in Oct...I can't believe I will miss it.

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community spots are fun for conversion and a good way to burn up bait but if your looking for real quality fish getting away from the pack is the key and you'll have all the fish to yourself, just remember toss the big ones back. Right now it seems about any shore line with steep breaks or rocks are holding quality fish and can be caught on about whatever you want to toss at them, I really love this time of the season, I put away the handlines and break out lindy rigs and its all about finding good ones, lots of 20+ eyes have been boated in the last week along with the trip out tonight. Nice to see the St Croix fishery is going strong!!

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Yeah, I never have real good luck seeing much for deer movement during the full moon, they move more at night.... so we are heading to mille lacs to troll up some hawgs and jerk some perch...The river should be goin good from now till Thanksgiving so good luck.

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Went out today from 7 to noon. 1/8oz jighead with a fathead, caught 3 walleyes and 6 whitebass, walleye ranged from 17 to 19". Husky how did u do?

Lots of boats for a weekday

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I use a 7 foot MH baitcasting rod when dragging 3 ways. Although my next rod will be a 7 foot M for lighter lindy rigs.

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Do you use a fast action? I don't think a traditional crankbait rod with a slower action would handle the heavy weights as well.

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Dan so you put away the handlines and decided to do some real fishing! Lol! Solid bite today boated over 24 legal eyes and nice saugers including 5 over 20"s. I will do a report with pic soon. Keep catchin' turk

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Today was just one of those days where you couldn't keep them off your line. We did really well and had a lot of fun. full-36053-2415-fish.jpg

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congratulations, glad to see you took the boy with you.

my favorite part of guiding was when I had a chance to

fish with kids, that look on their faces when they catch

one is priceless !

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tonyburr, how did you do fishing today ?

anymore 25 inch walleyes ?

nice profile pic, who's your photographer ?

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Okay, so I just created a profile after just reading for a few months. Been years since I've been fishing, until this year I bought a boat. Found the St. Croix to be most productive as well as most peaceful. Consistency has been a problem, not for me, for my wife and my 11 yr. old boy. Looking into next yr. I'm looking for any tips to put more fish in the boat to keep them satisfied enough to sit out there with me. I found small-mouth to be most enjoyable, but still inconsistency was a problem. A couple times out near Stillwater, a bunch north of the Lions Park in St. Croix falls and once near Franconia. Above the dam is my preference. Again, any tips will help. Please speak in lay-mans terms I'm just getting back after 20 yrs., so I'm not familiar with the fancy terms. Fishing everything, mainly Smallmouth and cats, but ya never know, we've also had sturgeon, crappie, Walleye, Carp and yes I even had a clam grab my hook as it bounced by. full-36004-2460-getattachment.jpg

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Fished at Prescott and joined the community spots north & south of the bridge. It was sort of slow, but still able to catch one here & there, although they are mostly short saugers and small white bass. No quality fish, prob because it's the community spots which appear to have been fished out. Used fatheads until I ran out, then switched to trolling rapalas and did about equal. Ended the day with 2 saugers between 14-15". Everything else was too small.

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Fished a few spots South of the Kini and picked up a couple of nice Walleye and found a few Saugers by Prescott and this beast, a 25lb 7oz Buffalo. THe buffalo was caught on a shad rap. Really didn't put up a big battle but we were sure it was a snag at first.

full-20378-2524-25lbbuffalo.jpg

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