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St. Croix River Fishing Reports


Joe

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Nice one Chris. Was out yesterday and caught 2 ten inch white crappies. Fished in 30-35 ft of water and marked fishes all day but couldn't get them bite. Gonna try again tommorow.

does that not sound framiliar !

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yes gman I was hoping that since its early ice they would pick up the bite but its the same ol thing.....EXCEPT FOR TODAY!

Fished 25-35 ft of water and caught over 20 crappies. Most were on the NICE size. Took home 12 of em ranging from 10-12 inches. Yummy.

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went out of bayport yesterday. 5 or 6 inches of ice. Caught a few small ones. about 10 other shacks out there. most were caught on a buckshot spoon.

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Hats off to all those that were ice fishing yesterday.... all i can say is wow! Had to drag the sled in knee high snow and took me over an hour to get to my truck and another hour just to get home!

Did alright yesterday, caught two small walleyes, five crappies with one that measured 13.5 inches!

Fisherman For a Lifetime, i usually fish around the Wisconsin side because that is where I catch most of my big crappies. My tip is to try to stay away from the crowd because these crappies/fishes are easily spooked, even in 30+ ft of water I've notice that people drilling holes makes them run away from the area. Try to avoid using a sinker because once they see that they tend to just run away. But the real secret to my semi-success is the color of my jighead and the column of water i set my bait at. Figure that out and I gurantee you that you'll catch more fish.

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Hats off to all those that were ice fishing yesterday.... all i can say is wow! Had to drag the sled in knee high snow and took me over an hour to get to my truck and another hour just to get home!

Did alright yesterday, caught two small walleyes, five crappies with one that measured 13.5 inches!

Fisherman For a Lifetime, i usually fish around the Wisconsin side because that is where I catch most of my big crappies. My tip is to try to stay away from the crowd because these crappies/fishes are easily spooked, even in 30+ ft of water I've notice that people drilling holes makes them run away from the area. Try to avoid using a sinker because once they see that they tend to just run away. But the real secret to my semi-success is the color of my jighead and the column of water i set my bait at. Figure that out and I gurantee you that you'll catch more fish.

Unfortunately, I was one of those people out there. We tried to set up but the wind and snow was so bad it snapped my buddy's command post shack and bent his anchors. Didn't even get to drill any holes or put any lines down. Needless to say after that, we just gave up and went home. all that work to get out there for nothin! That had to be the most brutal time I ever had on the croix.

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I'm afraid all the snow will really put a hurtin' on our ice season. Probably be a long while now before there's anyway other than on foot to reach those hot spots. frown

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good job luvin , yea its a blast when you get into them. seems like the last 5 years or so that doesn't happen to often though.

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Thanks, luvin... I hear ya, I stay away from the crowds too & change up the colors quite a bit with varied pre-rigged rods.

Hummm, we may need to find walkable places for new hot spots. Will be interesting, could be rewarding...

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I dont know about ice thickness but i saw several people who walked out and a sled today as well. Where do you park to walk out?

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Just an update from the ferry landing......7" of ice, 2 crappies both 11" has anyone ever try right in front of the mn side drive in acces? I might try it one of these days

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Fished from 10:30 to 4:00pm today in front of Bayport Park. Caught 6 crappies, 5 were in the 9 inch range and 1 was 11 1/2. Seemed gold was the color was in 28 fow, ice was about 10 inches. Missed about 3 too.

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Caught around 15 crappies today 7-11 inches. They really turned on at "certain times" cool couldn't even fish with 2 poles. Fished deeper 30-35 ft.

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When you say Bayport Park do you mean Lakeside Park in Bayport? I've been wanting to fish the Croix this winter so I was looking at Bing Maps and it seems I can only find one park (Lakeside) right on the rivers shore.

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how are the morning bites?

Morning bites are alright as long as you can locate them. I normally find them a little shallower around 15-20 ft.

Had another great day on the ice. Took home 10 crappies all 10+ inches, 4 white bass, and 2 15 inch saugers. They have really turned on these pass few days.

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are you fishing the wi or mn side?

I fish both sides and catch on both sides. Gotta find the fishes to catch em.

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that's the hard part is finding them and getting around on the deep snow/slush.

have had limited success on river so far this year but can't seem to find nice size fish.

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Conditions getting around were very difficult. 8" of good ice with 4-8" of water/slush on top of that. Also many snow drifts 12+" deep. The catching wasn't good enough (for me) to look forward to heading out there again anytime soon.

There were a couple ATVs and sleds out, but I also saw a few spots where ATVs got stuck.

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has anyone ever try right in front of the mn side drive in acces? I might try it one of these days

If its the one by the appartment buildings im like 99.9% sure you can only park on the ice. You go over the train tracks and take a dirt road then theres a sign on the right like 15ish feet from the river that says no parking or turn around.

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Dale's right. You can fish there (most fish north of there) but you can not park there, and it doesn't look like anyone will be driving on anytime soon. frown

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Me and a buddy got out yesterday out of Bayport. We picked a spot in about 32' and went to start up the aurger and I pulled the cord right out of it. Luckily my bud had a hand auger in his truck that we used and needless to say, we weren't too mobile. We set up where we thought the crappies would be and caught a few in about an hour and then about one every couple of hours, biggest one was 12". In the middle of it all, my buddy hooked into a nice sturgeon, 42", so it made the trip worthwhile. We also ventured out a little farther during the day and the farther you got out, there was plenty of slush under the snow. We marked fish out deeper, but couldn't get them to bite and got too cold to keep trying--line and holes were freezing too quickly. IMG00093-20101219-1038.jpg

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