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St. Croix River Fishing Reports


Joe

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There is a post at the top of this forum on how to access the ice, and another on what lures/techniques work best. There is more ice on the river right now than I've seen on any of the area lakes. Just stick to the tracks/shacks that are out there and you shouldn't get yourself into any trouble.

South of the river access a ways is the RR Swing Bridge. People die there, stay away. The water is open all winter. Just east of there, the Willow River dumps into the St. Croix at the Mallileu Dam. There's open water there. Most stay north of the ice road that goes to the WS shoreline.

To the north a ways is the Excell power plant. There is open water here. It is well marked and easy to spot. Between the ice road and the highlines that cross the river at the Excell plant, all the ice is safe, except for the backwater area right up from the Bayport Beach area. Again, stick to others tracks and you'll be fine. 99% of all icefishing on the St. Croix is done between the Ice Road and the highlines at the power plant.

That being said, the fishing on the river has been mostly very poor this year. We all hope it will pick up with any kind of stable weather because it has such potetiall to be a great fishery. The crappies are big, the walleye and sauger are plentifull and the ocassional "extra species" fish always make it interesting.

Good luck!

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Hey Guys,

Just thought I'd share this information (although not recent) considering I just made this account yesterday. A few weeks ago a buddy and I were out by Bayport. Fished about 400yds from the crowd and in 20-25 FOW. Managed to catch 3 saugers 10-14 inches on one spot picking them up in about 15 minutes, only later realizing they were actually saugeyes. After that frenzy caught nothing else, marked a lot of finicky fish and bait fish, and one dinky crappie later at that end. Fished from 9am till roughly 3:30pm.

Anyway, how often is it to catch saugeye on the river anyway? I was quite surprised since it was my first.

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Yeah, 3 in a row. They must have schooled up there or something, but sorry! No pictures. But that rarity may have explained why we no longer caught any 'eyes after, lol.

When I first caught them, I noticed the slight splotches on their skin with the dorsal find being spotted. After I took them home to fry up I also noticed a slight white tip at the tails and worried for a second I may have brought an illegal fish home only realizing they were saugeyes, lol.

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Honestly I would not know how common suageyes are, if it looks like a walleye and over 15 inches I go color blind with visions of fillets on the plate. laugh mean this politely minninum is 15 inch can be an easy over site if you dont fish the croix

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My bad guys 15 minimum for walleye no minimum for sauger or saugeye apparently. I just traned myself not to keep anything under 15, not saying anything under is bad just less confusing.

Them small can get to you at times cant they?

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lol, you got that right slipperybob

Was today 8-noonish not very active fish, only 8 takers total and 4 keeper crappies.

Nothing like last week at all.

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The walleye on the river can get kinda blotchy even up on the dorsal fins. White tip = walleye is the best rule to go by.

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Honestly I would not know how common suageyes are, if it looks like a walleye and over 15 inches I go color blind with visions of fillets on the plate. laugh mean this politely minninum is 15 inch can be an easy over site if you dont fish the croix

I've caught SaugEyes down in Red Wing by the dam but never in Bayport.

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fishwater have you tried those purple jigs yet laughlaughlaugh

Don't start that again!! SM post got deleted last time. It did make me laugh my _____(butt) off though. If he writes it again he will probably be banned man!!

By the way I like your post on the other site, he also told me about that one so i had to go read it!!

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Lol! Well, if you really like walleyes, I know by Hudson there there's a pretty good spring run of walleyes in the evening to night time. Just waiting for that prime time... and most of them are eaters, too! 15-19 inches...

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10282006-20%5Esaugeye2.jpg

If this works, it looked pretty similar to this. The white tip was so small it was barely noticeable. Barely even one millimeter in width.

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Saugers will sometimes have a small white fringe on the tip of the tail fin too. Best way to identify them from walleyes is the black spots on the dorsal fin. Saugeyes are more rare than people think they are, and to catch three in a day is a pretty impressive feat. But if that's what you say they were i believe you, i don't fish sauger waters enough to be an expert. Did they have a bigger black splotch at the base of the dorsal fin? That would definitely make them saugeyes.

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Lol! Well, if you really like walleyes, I know by Hudson there there's a pretty good spring run of walleyes in the evening to night time. Just waiting for that prime time... and most of them are eaters, too! 15-19 inches...
Oh! and I think that's where they are sitting now but a boat is needed.
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True. Which reminds me, there's a lot of open water there. Some of it is accessible by shore, especially through downtown of Hudson. It seems like if you walk all the way down that long walkway there's open water all the way at the end. I wonder though, has anyone ever tried open water fishing there? I know during the spring/summer there's bait fish there. And with the open water, probably more oxygen for the fish to thrive in to. I've pondered about convincing myself to try there a few times this season already.

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You know I was just thinking the same thing. The oxygen is a good point and the current might be a bit of help also. I dont know if they plow that out or not I never looked. Feel like giving it a shot I'm up for it? Ive been wanting to walk down there to take pictures of the swans and birds down there anyways.

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fishwater have you tried those purple jigs yet laughlaughlaugh

Knew I was forget'n something! grin I just started rolling an orange demon; gotten a fish both times I've used it, hard to change with those numbers... smirk Might have to break down and deadstick both rods..

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Yeah, a smaller version of that would be good eats. I'd say it was a walleye; we'd need a better picture, likely genetic screening to argue otherwise. The dorsal looks more blotchy than spotted.

10282006-20%5Esaugeye2.jpg

10282006-20%5Esaugeye2.jpg

If this works, it looked pretty similar to this. The white tip was so small it was barely noticeable. Barely even one millimeter in width.

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Haha. Great minds think alike! I really should test out my Shimano Sahara again to see if I want to ship it in before the warranty is done anyway. I won't be back in town till next week though, but maybe if you want to we can try meeting up or something. I've tried ice fishing by the docks earlier there this season cause I know crappies school up there sometimes (no luck) but the walkway looks pretty plowed out. Guess a lot of folks like to walk there.

Also, maybe there's always some fish starting to move in to get ready for spawning. And you know what they say! Usually the big boys move in first. lol

Might be worth a try though, since it seems Bayport's got such picky fish.

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That would great we can meet up next weak. I dont live far away just across the river in St.Croix beach. Email me when you get back into town brickandsand at live com.

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Sorry. Try that again. Your email didn't make sense. Tried sending you a message but it said the email was invalid. Thanks!

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talk about slow and non-existing bite going on the last week and half. even the silver's have quit bitting you know it's bad when that happen's buttt i keep trying thinking today's going to be the day grin

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I'm hitting it after work tomorrow despite the slow reports! The weather is just to nice not to be out there! CW6-I'll bring the luck, you bringing the fish? I hope tomorrow is THE day. My whole ice experience has been like that all year so far, so I don't have my hopes too high. We'll see how it goes

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Regarding the St Croix...I'm waving the white flag.

I decided to drive to some area lakes where I can get my limit of nice crappie and sunnies within a few hours. It's nice to see the fish I'm marking actually move up and hit what I'm offering them.

The St Croix is a very frustrating place to fish.

Little do a couple FM's know, but I'm using them as "remote" bobbers, to get daily fishing reports. CW6....let me know when you are tired of banging your head against the wall.

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