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St. Croix River Fishing Reports


Joe

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I'm looking for some HELP! I'm fairly new to seriously fishing the river this year, and am looking for some pointers as far as location goes. I have a gps with the lakemaster chip in it which covers the croix. Anyways I've been fishing it hard usually for hours on end I drill holes deep and shallow up the breaks and try and fish any structure that I can find to be out of the ordinary i.e. points, flats, inside corners etc. I usually put a tip up shallow or deep and hole hop to see if I can't make something happen, but I just can't seem to mark fish on the locator. I've noticed the most popular spot to be out closer to the current, by the bridge nearer open water - there's always people fishing there, but I've never tried it and focus more on the structure that's closer to shore. Is this my problem?

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I'm looking for some HELP! I'm fairly new to seriously fishing the river this year, and am looking for some pointers as far as location goes. I have a gps with the lakemaster chip in it which covers the croix. Anyways I've been fishing it hard usually for hours on end I drill holes deep and shallow up the breaks and try and fish any structure that I can find to be out of the ordinary i.e. points, flats, inside corners etc. I usually put a tip up shallow or deep and hole hop to see if I can't make something happen, but I just can't seem to mark fish on the locator. I've noticed the most popular spot to be out closer to the current, by the bridge nearer open water - there's always people fishing there, but I've never tried it and focus more on the structure that's closer to shore. Is this my problem?

What part of the river are you talking about, and what species are you targeting? Most of the icefishing on the St. Croix revolves around the Bayport area, and most of the people fishing here are targeting crappies. There's dozens of pages on this thread that you can gleen all the info needed to be successful here, but basically, anywhere in the basin area can hold fish.

You mentioned the "bridge". I'm ASSUMING (?) you're talking about the Hwy 94 bridge at Hudson? That's a whole 'nuther ball game there. The few people seen fishing here are after walleye/sauger. Seriously changing ice patterns in this area make it a spot most of us would just as soon stay away from.

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I fish in Prescott because it's only minutes away from my home. I target anything that swims!! mostly walleye though. I've been reading ALOT of the threads on here, there's tons of useful information on here that can make us all better anglers.

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Finally got out on the river last night for the first time. Caught a bunch of crappies, but the size structure sure is below what we've become used too the past few years.

Had better luck this morning, icing about 2 doz fish. Kept enough for a couple good meals, but nothing over 10 1/2".

Fished out in the deepest part of the basin, away from most of the other shacks. Best bait today was a red hook and smaller crappie minnow under a venom bobber about 4' off the bottom.

Also did pretty good with my jigging rod with a green/orange Fiskas Jig with a plastic tail. (red or white) This caught more fish than a jig tipped with minnows.

Yes, the landing is holding up okay, and there's still 16" of good clear ice.

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Don-

It was nice talking to you after we were done fishing today. Hope to see you again. Had to check to see if you posted anything after seeing your hat this morning. Best of Luck!

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It is pretty evident that this year is a minnow year. The last couple weeks a minnow has been the steady producer, usually catching about 70% of the crappies, compared to other techniques.

However, the last couple days, I had stellar luck with the 5mm fiska's tipped with maggots. Like Don Bo said, most fish are the cookie cutter 9 to 9 1/2" with an occasional 10 to 11" with some going bigger.

On Friday, I noticed a lot of fish movement and all I was catching were the 9 to 9 1/2 " with the fiska's maggot combo, so I pulled out my walleye rod that had a #5 glow jigging rap and tipped with maggots. I then began to ice many 10 plus inch crappies along with some white bass.

I think the key to icing a lot of crappies on the Croix is to fish efficiently, if the bite is slow, you can take the time and set out the minnow sets, but if the fish are on....go to the techniques that fish quickly. In my case it's the #5 fiska tipped with maggots. And if the fish are really aggressive, I'll move up to the jigging rap.

Yesterday morning was slow compared to Friday, but I managed to ice 7 crappies with Fiska's before my buddy was able to get his minnow lines set. After I threw the 4th crappie in the bucket, he said to me "Why don't you slap me along side my head when I do something stupid like this."

When the "bite window" is open, take advantage of it.

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Yeah, Friday was a good day for the river. I drilled a good number of holes and sat on top of a small hump and once I got through the school of white bass, the crappie bite was consistent. A green bro bug with eurolarva was the ticket for me and needed to be jigging. I kept enough for a meal, and other than splintering a pole on my Eskimo (called them for a replacement from the ice)...it was a good day to play hooky!

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Another good morning for me. Although the minnows were still producing those 9" fish, I did much better with plastics today. One 14 1/2" (my personal best) two 12 inchers and a few 10, ALL on a Fiskas jig with white plastic tail.

temp.jpg

Couldn't agree more with SM about getting a bait back down quickly during a hot bite. The Fiska jig drops so much faster than my minnow set, that when both were out of the water at the same time, it was a no-brainer which to drop back down the hole first, especially when the jig was catching much bigger fish.

Iceboat, nice chatting with you yesterday! You know where I got these fish.

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Nice tips SM and Donbo. Those are some nice looking fish. I have been pre-occupied on the lakes with my 3 year old, and haven't even made it out there yet this year. Been doing fairly well depending on the day. I may sneak out there soon to see of I can trick a few eyes and sauger to bite since I had limited success for them last year.

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I got out this afternoon and picked up one small walleye and two 9" crappies, released them all. Couldn't find DonBo's holes. wink

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WARNING:

Saw several people this weekend parking on shore at the Bayport landing. They ALL had tickets on their windshields. There are signs posted saying "No Parking". They mean it.

The ice is safe, park on the ice, not on shore at the landing.

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Might finally hit the Croix this weekend if I dont go to The Pond.

Hows the ice for driving a small pick up? For those that have watched the ice form this season any spots to watch out for? Probably trying spots between the high lines down towards the swing bridge. I hate fishing the river when I have to hoof it.

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I was out this afternoon. Ice seems OK right now. Drive slow though, no need to go fast, it isn't a far drive anywhere out there... I marked plenty of fish in the couple of hours before sunset, but couldn't get them to bite...

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The evening bite continues to be non-existant for me. Much more fishing than catching tonight. Think I'll be spending my free evenings on other bodies of water for a while. frown

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Cheets and Don or anyone else out this morning - Were there guys still driving well south of the Village this Morning south of the Sconnie access ? I plan on taking the wifes Mini Van to lighten my load a litle and going a little south in the morning, But in the Dark so i was hoping to know if you saw vehicles driving in that area- Thanks

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I saw people a long ways south on Sunday afternoon, but I don't remember if they had full size vehicles or not. This afternoon I only remember seeing people maybe only a couple hundred yards south of the ice road. There weren't many people out at all.

Going out in the dark with a minivan I personally would stay closer the main ice road and try there first. I marked plenty of fish so I don't see it being worth the risk going out into no-mans land.

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klee

Most people fishing the Croix are using 5mm Fiska's. I have been having really good luck with most of the glow epoxy jigs. Your Bobbers Down has free shipping right now on fiska's which really saves a lot of money. I'm fond of the glow white, green, red and spotted yellow. I also had good luck in the past with 6mm Fiska's in glow white. Some days plastic tails are hot, some days maggots are what they want.

If it's a minnow day, I'll find the smallest minnow in the bucket and hook it lightly on the Fiska and watch the minnow swimming on the spring bobber. Good Luck SM

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Thanks Alot Cheetah ! Your Prolly Right On a Thursday Morning , Id be better off Sticking a liitle south of the road. Thanks allot for the advice. You Guys are great

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Can anyone confirm if there are full sized trucks driving up north of the powerlines (in bayport)? Is the open water at the powerplant average, or does it extend way out towards WI and further south than normal years?

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warm water extends way past normal there is also a big pressure ridge up there be carefull not many people travling that far in vehicles

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Cold out there this morning! Wind picked up and the bite shut down about 9:30 for me. I could get some to chase but they wouldn't bite. I released everything I caught, nothing super big, two mooneyes just before sunrise, one little white bass and a half dozen or so crappies 9-10". Left just before 10am since I wasn't having fun trying to hold my house down on the bare ice with the wind trying to give me a ride...

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Same luck here. I did catch several fish, but none of the bigger ones like last week. Bare red hook with a small crappie minnow out-produced everything else today.

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I rented a house on the Croix last year. I since lost the contact information for the guy. I think I'm going to try the bayport access area tomorrow morning. I had a great time out there last year.

-rc

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Was out yesterday fishing the Croix and had a disappointing day frown Alot of activity on the Vex at the bottom but nothing would bite. Moved to a different area and same thing but only thing biting were small crappies and sunnies! Guessing we were marking lots of the smaller fish because all they would bite were waxies and wouldn't even touch the crappie minnow.

Is the MN side starting to heat up or something? I've notice the shanty town is starting to clear out and a new one starting up lols!

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What's the scoup on the Minnesota side? I have always targeted closer to the Wisconsin side out from bayport. Iam still learning how to target crappies on the croix.

Rc

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Awsome weekend we had a great morning there on Sat seems like not that much people out there where we were at. Was marking fish in 20 to 30 FOW

using the bro blood worm and bare hook with minnows catching crappies and the whitebass. But only morning was good towards the afternoon it was like lunch time for us instead. Crappies was aggresive early morning you can see on the vex where they will come up quickly and take the bait.

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