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St. Croix River Fishing Reports


Joe

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Was out on the river today, a lot of water/slush on the croix by Bayport. People need to slow down before they flood their distributor cap. Ice is still thick though. Didn't mark any fish so I headed up north instead.

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Went out Saturday with a buddy and ended up with 3 nice perch, a sauger and a walleye. Also caught one baby bass. Fish were caught from 12-26 fow.

Took wife (first time ever ice fishing) and dad out Sunday and got skunked for the whole 1.5 hrs or so we fished. Wish we could've caught something for wife as it may have allowed for a longer trip.

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yesterday was a nice day to be out. 7- 10 to 12 inch crappies and 2 bonus legal walleyes and 2 rock bass and a channel cat.

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Haven't been on the Croix for a couple of weeks but did make a trip to Bearskin Lake on the Gunflint trail. Pulled in a few lakers.

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Went out last night 530-800..one small walleye..lots of bites, couldn't hook anything. If you have a permy out there, I would jack it up today or get it off. Lots of water and slush!!. Wisconsin side access pretty beat up...hang a left at the sign, drive down the beach and its smooth sailin.

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Yep the slush is real bad, even saw a car get into a jam on the wisconsin landing but fishing was great!!! WOOT! My buddy and I KEPT 20 crappies 10-12". Realesed a nice 14" white crappie, along with a few more 13". Seems like the white crappies roam the bottom while the black crappies stay a little higher. All of our 10" black crappies where FAT!!!

Here comes the crowd...

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Against my better judgment I fished down by Prescott yesterday. Fishing was great, ice conditions were NOT! Saw two people go through, one of them was my buddy! Both got out quick and were just fine, but very scary. After that we moved to some better ice and it paid off, caught this nice 21'' wally. BE CAREFUL OUT THERE!

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last time i drive on that ice!!!! untill it freezes over good its amazing how fast the ice has gone! i have been out the last 2 days and its crazy to see the changes it made today even without the sun!!! take caution! i know there is a lot of ice out there still, but remeber the top 6 to 10 inches is bad ice. i was crashing through that top layer in a lot of spots this afternoon! 4 wheel drive with a lot of gas!!!

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anyone make it out today? wondering what happend to the ice conditions.

Just got back out of Bayport. Ice was ok until you hit the ruts of old trails. Stay away from the beaten path! The driving was fine as long as I stayed out of the ruts and I quickly learned to go over them perpendically, very slowly. Good sign though becasue the rest was soliid and I did not punch through the bad laye at all. Got on at 4 pm and left at 8 pm. Marked lots of fish and missed a good bite but got skunked. There was only one other shack out there after dark with me. They did not seem to do so well either. Saw them move once and leave the same time as me. 31FOW

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Gotta love the river, one day the bite is hot the next uh....dinky. Haven't been out for a couple of days now but the past few outing has been pretty bad. Caught a bunch of little crappies and white bass. I'm talking bout 2-3 inchers. Maybe tommorow.....

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I fished tonight and had one on at dark. Other than that, nothing. Houses are disappearing down their quickly. gonna have to get my buddies off soon. All i can say is disappointed with the fishing down their this winter.

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Was out today fishing some old early ice spots during the early mornings and was able to catch a nice 12" slab along with a 15" eye. Haven't fished any of the communities on the river this year except for today. Been seeing quite a few folks by the highlines and decided to go see what they were catching. Fished that area for a lttle over an hour and was able to catch another 12"slab and two 10" crappies. Nice....

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how's the travel for you crazie's still driving out there. mark my word some buddy is going to go through in the next week.maybe not if the temp's keep down. but if it keep's going on the trend it has been it won't be long!

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wisconsin side isn't too bad. the landing is getting rougth though. I came off the Mn side tonight and man was it rough. and a long crack from the point south. Water was coming up pretty good.

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Yes the ice is getting pretty bad but the fishing is pretty decent. Fished from 5-8:30 today chasing walleyes on the wisconside side in 15FOW. Managed to catch a few dinky eyes/saugers, lost probably a nice 18+" eye that snapped my line, and 5 JUMBO perches 10-13"! What the!? There was a nice school of them perches swimming in and out. They were pretty dang active too, the minute they saw my bait they darted up and attacked. Most were pretty small but there were some JUMBOs swimming in that school. Gonna slow down on the crappie fishing and target these perches.

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St.Croix hardwater fishing can have you start pulling hair out of frustration at times. Went out the other day pull up eight bigest slab i've seen since redlake. The bigest came close to 2.lbs from 2-5:30. Went back the next day, almost felt asleep,can't even get a bite.

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Was out couple days ago and the driving is bad but the fishing is good. If you trying to get out just becareful, theres a good chance your going to get stuck

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Does anyone know if the ice near shore is still in reasonable shape to walk out? We were gonna give it a go tomorrow but just walk out instead of drive.

Any input would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

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If you stick to the main roadways out on the ice you will be fine. If you venture out in the middle of the river especially out in front of the Bayport beach, well...you may get stuck.

There is a good road close to shore on the Minnesota side and the Wisconsin side that are in good shape.

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Went out yesterday on the Wisconsin side and set up in about 32ft from about 8-5. Caught 5 crappies from 10.5"-12" and missed 3 others. There are a couple of rough packed down trails from either side of the river and the ice is still solid where I was. Saw a couple of vehicles as far south as where lake Malieliu comes into the river. Saw quite a few people up by the highlines as well.

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