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St. Croix River Fishing Reports


Joe

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Went after some Smallies yesterday. It was fast and furious when we first got there. They were busting shad on the surface like crazy and when you threw a fluke into the swirls it was game on with a couple doubles. No big girls but a couple nice 15-17" jumpers. As soon as the sun cleared the trees they went deep and were a lot tougher to locate. Deep cranks in a shad color got us a few though. Was a beautiful day to be out though!

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Fished the croix today, 5-7pm or somewhere in there. Boated 5 fish, mixed bag. Leeches were better than crawlers. Lindys outfished jigs. Fished from the Kinny down to the bluffs launch.

Erik

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  • 3 weeks later...

Fished the croix. 8-25-12 launched at 7am, loaded at 10:30. very slow. fished from the kinny down to within 2 miles of prescott. caught one rough fish. had one lindy out and one jig. both with crawlers. fished from 8ft down to 30ft. Apperared to be a thermocline at 30 ft so didnt try deeper. Did not have my trollimg rigs with so couldnt try that. Fish must be north of the kinny?

Erik

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Found my first croix flathead last night, 41 inches. Put a little more time into this this summer hoping to find some nice cats closer to home so it feels good to get a decent fish.

Sorry for you sturgeon guys that can't wait to get out there, not seeing any sturg activity the last two nights I've been out.

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Found my first croix flathead last night, 41 inches. Put a little more time into this this summer hoping to find some nice cats closer to home so it feels good to get a decent fish.

Sorry for you sturgeon guys that can't wait to get out there, not seeing any sturg activity the last two nights I've been out.

What's funny; to me at least, was the last two years on the Croix i've caught many sturgeon, but i also never saw one jump out of the water. This spring on the Rainy, they were jumping left and right...when they were biting. Ya drown some worms, ya never know what might bite.

Good luck on muskies this fall. Check them knots!

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  • 2 weeks later...

The heck with the stureon...

I love waking up to the sound of bells and clickers in the morning!

1:30am sunday, St. Croix.

46x31

9" Creek Chub in 12fow

full-26433-24260-img_4325.jpg

full-26433-24262-img_4327.jpg

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What a great morning!

Hit the lower section of the Croix this early morning.

Caught several 12" Crappies and many 9" Sunfish.

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Pulled crankbaits south of Kinnie on Tuesday. Found lots of small walleye and sauger 12" to 15" in 20 to 30 feet of water. Found some big white bass and a few cats in about 20 feet. Perch colored #5 shad rap out fished everything. Water temp was 69 degrees. Will try to find some bigger fish today.

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Fished the Lower St. Croix Sunday morning & did well on the panfish. Lots of White Bass early. Water temp = 60F.

My Holocaust surviving Wife was SO excited I caught this, biggest she ever saw, so we kept just one big one. Put a lot back C&R. smile

5yvyu1.jpg

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Fished the St. Croix yesterday out of the bluffs launch. Ended up catching 10 or so walleyes with 3 of them 15.5", 17", and 18". Most of the walleyes were caught pulling leadcore along rip rap and areas with current.

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Crappie abundance between sillwater and bayport on the MN Side of the river. Focus on 12-20 fow on rocks. Big boulders have been holding nice schools. I managed quite a few crappies in the 10-12" range by dragging a jig/minnow this weekend. Few white bass mixed in. Find a big boulder and stick tight to it and your bound to catch a bunch of crappie.

Sturgeon was slow this weekend, mostly because the wind didn't allow for much fishing. Did manage a season buster 61" on shad saturday night. And lost what had to be a 33" channel trying to lift it in the boat minutes later.

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  • 2 weeks later...

The last couple days there have been a lot of fishing boats south of the 94 bridge, did the walleyes decide to cooperate?

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Hey I'm new to the area and have fished the discharge spot of the King Plant in Bayport, I have caught a few sheepies (no surprise! haha) and some small largemouth and smallmouth bass on minnows, along with a good sized channel cat I lost at the shore on a rock. I have seen quite a few small groups of shad swimming and jumping along the shoreline during the early morning and evening, I was wondering how I can legally catch them because I know they make good bait, but I don't know if I can use the cast net I purchased in Panama City, Florida on a week long fishing trip. Any suggestions?

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Shad can NOT be harvested for bait on the lower Croix legally. Not by net, not by seine, not by hook and line, and not by any other means. You'll have to get a few extra college degrees to decipher the DNR bee-s in regards to trying to fish with bait.

Imported dead bait* can only be used if it is: (1) from water bodies with

negative fish health certification; or (2) preserved under a Minnesota DNR

bait preservation permit. All imported dead bait must be labeled, and the

labeling must be retained on the person when angling until the bait is gone.

*Bait includes fish (examples: smelt or cisco), aquatic worms, amphibians,

invertebrates, and insects that are lawful to use for bait.

• Dead bait originating in MN harvested under a commercial minnow license

(smelt, cisco, and VHS susceptibles species** only) must also be labeled.

Labeling must be retained on the person when angling until the bait is gone.

For specific regulations pertaining to Lake Superior, see page 33. For additional

information about dead bait, please contact DNR information at 651-296-6157.

** Visit www.focusonfishhealth.org to learn more about VHS, including which

species are susceptible to VHS.

• Only preserved rainbow smelt and cisco may be used as bait, unless harvested,

packaged, and labeled under a commercial license from certified VHS negative

waterbody. Freezing is not a preservation method. Preservation can only be

done by permit from the DNR. All labeling from the preserved smelt and cisco

must be carried on the person when angling until all that preserved bait is gone.

Hey I'm new to the area and have fished the discharge spot of the King Plant in Bayport, I have caught a few sheepies (no surprise! haha) and some small largemouth and smallmouth bass on minnows, along with a good sized channel cat I lost at the shore on a rock. I have seen quite a few small groups of shad swimming and jumping along the shoreline during the early morning and evening, I was wondering how I can legally catch them because I know they make good bait, but I don't know if I can use the cast net I purchased in Panama City, Florida on a week long fishing trip. Any suggestions?
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I pat fish on the back, kind of like your burping a baby; just to let the fish know that i appreciate em. Every now and then a Shad pops out...

Thats how them shad ended up in my boat Officer wink

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was hoping to get out, shore fishing, this Thursday.

Looking at the forecast. What do 15-19 MPH feel like. Will it just drive everything out deep?

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Fish the windy shoreline if possible. It will stir up food for baitfish and they will come feed causing the predator fish to follow them into shore! Good luck!

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You may want to find some shoreline near the deeper water. The water level in Prescott is very low near shore. Fished from the Kinni down to Prescott on Sunday and could only mark fish in 25 feet or deeper. One large sheepshead and a rock bass is all I could catch.

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Pulled cable around prescott last night and caught a bunch but only got 2 walleyes and a sauger that made the cut, #5 bleeding charteuse was the hot color

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  • 2 weeks later...

Got out on the St. Croix again with Andy last Sunday. Tried by the Prescott bridges first and only found 1 small white bass. Didn't see any other boats getting much except little Saugers so we moved up river. After only a few minutes of searching along a fairly steep breakline we found the Saugers and they were snapping. Had a few small fish but most of the Saugers were in the 15-17" range and the few Walleyes we caught were mostly in the 14" range. Trolled the entire time with handlines and snap weights. Speeds were between 1.8 and 2.5 so the fish were very active. Changing speeds did not seem to make a big difference as I initially thought it would. When the water gets colder slowing down usually helps but not this time. Andy had lots of luck with blue color baits and most of my fish were caught on hot tiger. It was great to be on the St. Croix again.

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  • 1 month later...

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