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St. Croix River Fishing Reports


Joe

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thanx river newbie. i hear u on the mid winter blues and tying hair jigs and new combinations are endless. great satisfaction comes from your own creations that produces. gives you a since of pride. the wind wasnt much of a factor for us as much. but i do like to feel every rock or log. or if im jigging on what feels like sand or gravel with every twitch of the pole. the wind will do you no justice with these types of presentation cause u know-u need to feel EVERYTHING!!! ive noticed they were hitting the jigs on fall as my line goes limp as you pause for a second and then its game on. would of liked to get out today but with 20mph winds......yea there will definitely be a better day.

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went out in the a.m. shorefishing the upper st croix and found a pretty good bite...

Stupid question here, where is upper st croix? Is it past Taylor Falls?

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Anyone know water temps above stillwater?

We had 47 degrees just south of Taylors Falls, fishing was a bit slow.

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Stupid question here, where is upper st croix? Is it past Taylor Falls?

Generally I think anything North of the Kini narrows is considered the "Upper Croix" and anything below is considered the "Lower Croix", Probably depends on your perspective. Some people may consider Catfish to be the divide between upper and lower.

Andy and I were out again today (Sunday) in the wind and ocassional snowflakes. Fished 12:30PM to 5:30PM and just like yesterday we caught 30+ Walleye/Sauger. Today most fish were caught in 24 to 30 FOW which is a deeper than yesterday and deeper than I expected for this time of year. Dragged crankbaits on handline and snap weights. Both methods produced fish equally well and we even found a couple of legal Walleyes with the biggest being a healthy looking 23" that was was released.

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I think most people consider the upper Croix as anything above Stillwater.

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Fished sat from copas down to the highbridge and back....SLOW..Picked up sub 15" fish here and there,didnt even get a silver! a few sheephead(big surprise!) all of my early season go-to spots disappointed me! never caught more than 1 fish In a given area,seems the high water has the fish a little scattered? I jigged plastics and meat and pitched some cranks but did not troll...gonna pull some cranks around later this week.

Good luck!

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Saw alot of people out there this weekend keeping undersize fish and taking fish out of season... Where's the DNR when you need them? People need to read the regulations a little better!

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I couldn't make it out Saturday due to pictures with the baseball team and we had a game sceduled and nighttime activities so I got out for a few hours yesterday afternoon. Found the bite to be tough but managed a few fish. Found fish in 18-20' and they wanted a jig and minnow sitting on the bottom or just hovering. Tried a few shallower trolling passes but had a hard time keeping the grass off my cranks. Did pick off a couple fish casting plastic, paddletails black and silver versus the fancy ones Dan has grin Water temps were 46 degrees where I was at. Wind made it really difficult to control the boat and the cold didn't help much either! Did I miss summer? Anyways it was good to get out on the water.

Tunrevir~

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It was a cold, wet and WINDY opener..... only caught one 'eye but it was well worth it!! My overall PB measured 26 inches didnt get to weight it though... anyone have a good guess-timate? This guy came off a jig/4 inch minnow gulp... my net man was pretty confused at the time lol one guy had a huge bass on while i hooked up with this guy, we both were yelling at him to get the net grin

fcd70d42-1.jpg

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measured 26 inches didnt get to weight it though... anyone have a good guess-timate?

Probably around 6 lbs. I usually figure 26 = 6, 28 = 8, 30 = 10 although the bigger they are the more the individual fish can very from those length/weight charts.

Nice fish and thanks for posting, my personal best is 26 also I've caught maybe 5 at that number but just can't seem to beat it.....maybe this year.

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They walleye bite has been great this opener. Try to let those fat females go they still got eggs in them for sure.

Caught over 10 walleyes on opener fishing the shoreline using crankbaits/mimic minnows. I even caught a few that slammed my bait topwater. WOW

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Fished Tuesday morning 6:00 to 10:00.....picked up a couple of 18" walleyes in the Bluffs launch area, then while trolling down to Prescott picked up 22" & 24" walleyes. Caught mostly small sauger in the Prescott area. All fish came on leadcore.

Never....

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Great job! Thats what I love about the river, at any point in time many different tactics will work to put a fish or two in the boat!

Tunrevir~

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Had my first time out on the St. Croix for the year and boated 4 walleyes and on nice smallie. I missed two other fish. It sure felt good to be back out on the river and even better to catch some walleyes! The biggest was 18" inches, two at 14", and one dink. The smallie was 15".

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I went to the st. croix last night from 5-8pm and caught about 6 at 13inches or smaller. Then finally caught an 18 incher. All on shore and caught them on my flies. Minnows worked too, but you really got to work them while avoiding your line getting stuck in the rocks.

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Went out yesterday afternoon for a couple hours. A nice 17" and a smaller 14". Trolling cranks around the boomsite.

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Went out today by Prescott, bouncing the bottom with a jighead/fathead and. Caught 14 saugers (15 to 18 inches) between the three of us, best depth was at 19 to 22, it's funny because two days ago I was around the same area but couldn't catch anything until I hit 27 to 32 foot of water.

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My overall PB measured 26 inches didnt get to weight it though... anyone have a good guess-timate?

I agree with muskie junkie. 6 to 6 1/2. 24 is usually right around 5lbs. My sister caught a 27 and it was 7 1/2 lbs. My son's girlfriend caught one in your range around 26 1/2, and it was about 6 1/2. Looked a little fatter, but pictures can be deceiving.

That's a real nice fish. I don't think I've caught one over 4lbs on the river, and my PB is also 26. Kinda funny.

I've been fishing the same lake in the boundary waters for 35 years. I am approaching 1100 hours, and have never caught a walleye over 6lbs, or a smallie over 4 1/2 lbs.

My sister fished the lake 15 minutes and caught a 27 inch walleye. My son's girlfriend fished it about 2 hours and caught one 26 1/2, and my wife has perhaps a little over 150 hours on her, and she caught a 22.5 inch smallie. Go figure.

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Fished out of william o'brien on friday. Pretty slow through most of the day, but ended on a high note smile Caught 4 small pike, and a small walleye. At the end of the day we finally found some white bass, and it was FUN! All of them ran between 1.5 to 2 pounds, also caught two pigs that were 2.75! Had they been a few ounces heavier I think I would've sent them to the taxidermist. Kept all 18...gonna be a tasty Memorial day wink Overall was just about a perfect day!

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Is there anybody having any luck by the Osceola Landing from the bridge North?

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Yesterday was great fishing and great company had two guys out in the boat, one for half day and one for the day, even finished the day flying solo, good times. Caught lots of fish easy boxed the three man limit and some. All fish came on plastics once again, dragging seemed to work the best, here is a pic of a 24" releaser got to love the color of this one

IMAG0402.jpgST CROIX GOLD!

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Fished out of william o'brien on friday. Pretty slow through most of the day, but ended on a high note smile Caught 4 small pike, and a small walleye. At the end of the day we finally found some white bass, and it was FUN! All of them ran between 1.5 to 2 pounds, also caught two pigs that were 2.75! Had they been a few ounces heavier I think I would've sent them to the taxidermist. Kept all 18...gonna be a tasty Memorial day wink Overall was just about a perfect day!

What were the white bass hitting on?

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My sister fished the lake 15 minutes and caught a 27 inch walleye. My son's girlfriend fished it about 2 hours and caught one 26 1/2, and my wife has perhaps a little over 150 hours on her, and she caught a 22.5 inch smallie. Go figure.

One of the reasons why i dont like women on the boat.... they catch all the big fish and rubb it in when you are around your guys after!!! just kidding smile the other day my girlfriend took a hour nap on the boat and 2 mins. after she woke up she had a fish on.... while i was on the trolling motor the whole time trying to find them lol

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Fishing the Prescott area have been producing keepers eyes and nice sauger. Haven't pull any hogs yet but nice limits of fish. The little guys are in by the dozen, alway fun and good to see last year hatch.

Haven't try plastic too much due to rain and cooler temps but hearing that draggin' plastic been really good as well.

Go to setup has been 3-way with minnows. Been fishing the sand flats and hitting the deeper channel when it is slower/not crowded.

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