St. Croix River Fishing Reports

[CrappieFshr651]

Might have to get out there for the first time this year tomorrow morning before the crappy weather gets here. Ice thick enough across the basin to drive a grand cherokee on?

[esox54]

today we did the best we have in three weekends, 11 crappies & 1-9 inch sunfish, crappies were 9 to 13 inch from 8 to 1130am north of crappie town, demons & jiggle bugs to bad northland quick making the jiggle bugs

[CrappieFshr651]

ICE???

[GeluNumber1]

Are there any spots on the MN side of the river? (I don't have a Wisconsin license.)

Tight lines.

[esox54]

don't need a Wis license to fish the st croix and there is some spots on the mn side

[klee]

Old timer, i tried with my spring bobber and without. At times i could feel the quick nibble but couldn't set hook quick enough. We did good the two times we went out last month but those were 11-6pm bite. Today, Our flashers would light up on the bottom like crazy every now and then. I think it could be a school of bait fish only . There were big red marks once in a while which i tried to catch them with he minnows with no result. Tried everything we had the first time we went out but they just wouldn't take. I got tired of switching bait. The ice was scary to drive on. It was our first time driving on the river. I saw the little shack town north of bayport and was thinking about going up that way but the ice cracking beneath us was too scary. No fish but Not giving up yet. Thanks for the advice.

[GSP4ME]

my flasher would do the same thing and all I caught out of it was those little white bass. Hundreds of them down there by the look of it . I would love to get into some pound and a half ones like that. Going to try waxies next time. Sad thing is I dont have a day off until next Saturday

[MNPIKE]

Was out yesterday with my daughter. Drilled about 10-15 holes away from the Crowd in the basin....and then setup some dead sticks and started jigging. Jigging spoons pulled in the first 3 crappie, but small jigs with subtle jigging action pulled in the rest of the keepers. Stayed out til 9pm with constant action and could have stayed longer. Light bite....needed spring bobbers for all but maybe one or two. Kept some 10 and 11 inchers....rest went back. White glow fatboy jig and and orange gill pill jig were the best producers. CRAPPIE FOR BREAKFAST!

[DonBo]

Nice to hear some positive results for a change. I'd pretty much given up on the Croix, but now.....

[esox54]

today same spot 730 to 1100am 7 crappie 10 1/2 to 11 inch, getting ready to leave I caught a 31 inch pike on 2 pound test great fight release her for someone else to catch. I suppose now with all the snow falling it will will shut then down just like a couple years ago.

[Moses2531]

Do walleyes get a breather in the winter out here then? I have never fishing the St. Croix hardwater, but it sounds like a crappie show due to the deep basin having the only safe ice? Maybe taking a season off is why the St. Croix can be a quality metro walleye fishery!? Works for me! Haha! Not even a mention of Sauger down in that deep water?? In the summer Ive pulled Sauger from 35-40 FOW..

[esox54]

today same spot 730 to 1100am 7 crappie 10 1/2 to 11 inch, getting ready to leave I caught a 31 inch pike on 2 pound test great fight release her for someone else to catch. I suppose now with all the snow falling it will will shut it down just like a couple years ago.

[GSP4ME]

i dont know about the Croix but i made it out in the snow last night on a small local lake dureing the snow and it was one after another on the crappie. had a riot

[LeeY]

Made it out last saturday from 6:30am -7pm and didnt get jack beside 1 whitebass and 2 crappies. Total fish overall was an addition of 1 smaller whitebass, 2 walleyes around 10" and a 2.5' sturgeon. Lost 3 big fish that never maded ashore. Thinking it might be catfish. The 3rd missing fish was huge.Hooked it with a 2lb test leader; that darn thing was massive and wouldnt come up so it dragged all my line until it snapped at the leader.

[shiltsy]

And that's what keeps us coming back for more! (possibly with 6 lb test)

[LeeY]

Yeah I keep telling myself im better off going to local lakes but somehow ended up in the middle of st. Croix everytime.

[big gills]

To the crew that ventures south ( towards the swing bridge ). I never see any reports about what is happening down there! Anybody know info on this area, I always see guys headed down that way, are you targeting crappies, or something different, I've always been to scared to drive down there

Had decent action north of shanty town on Sunday, minnows small jigs Morning till 9:30 ish

[slipperybob]

36' and 15-16" of ice in the main river channel. Ended up with a hot hole of channel cats and white bass. My 3# Pline floroclear broke on the very next bite after I pulled in a a 23" or so channel cat. So I whipped out the catfish rod with 6# Gamma ESP ice and the baitcasting combo with 6# Gamma copoly and begun to haul fish in. There was like a 10-15' of vertical sonar of schooling fish under me at times. Thought it was just shad and was ignoring them for most of the time. Then I decided to lift my lure like 10-15' above then saw how they followed the lure. Eventually triggered some reaction bite and turns out they were white bass. All of that was just before the Sunday noon storm front rolled in.

[GSP4ME]

downjust it from the dam lots of little white bass

[Fisherman For a Lifetime]

Did fair this morning.

Crappies got bigger the later in the morning it got, again.

[Ishikawa]

Nice, last time I was there in the morning I ran into two feeding windows in the morning ;-)

[Fisherman For a Lifetime]

Yep, pretty typical.

[old timer]

38 FOW,

fiskas, minnows, light bite, 9:00 am and 10:00am, anywhere from 6 to 10 feet off the bottom.

[Sinker]

Pretty good trip..........and eatin'.

[rough_rider]

re: "light bite"

I'm new to icing the Bayport area but is there ever an aggressive bite? Most fish this year, on different days, different temps, morning, evening, overnight, all sorts of front variations, have come from micro jigs, with fatheads occasionally taken.

anyone notice different patterns this year or past years?

[Fisherman For a Lifetime]

Crappies had extreme lockjaw today.

Started north of Shantytown for 3 hours, nothing.

Went farther north for 1 1/2 hours, nothing.

Went much farther north for 1 hour, nothing.

Went far south of ST for 1 hour, 1 little one.

[GSP4ME]

dump and I was thinking of heading out today

[GSP4ME]

headed on out to the Croix this morning and did better then before. Caught 9 really nice crappies and the biggest mud puppy I have ever seen. Was south of shanty town by a half mile at least. Had fun and the weather was great. Got them on a red fiskars jig and waxies minnow caught only the mud puppy. Thanks for the tips guys finally got it right today

[slipperybob]

re: "light bite"

I'm new to icing the Bayport area but is there ever an aggressive bite? Most fish this year, on different days, different temps, morning, evening, overnight, all sorts of front variations, have come from micro jigs, with fatheads occasionally taken.

anyone notice different patterns this year or past years?

Aside from the typical morning feed, the most aggressive crappie bite I've experienced on the St.Croix is usually the mid afternoon bite. If there is one usually somewhere between 2:30pm and 3:30 pm. for maybe a window of half an hour at the most. Then again the only pattern I've learned on the St.Croix is that expect to change up. Sometimes the fish want small micro plastics, sometimes they want a fathead...Sometimes they want it deadstick, sometimes you gottat lift them up to 15 fow.

[lewyong]

Hot pink has been the color for me. Lots of crappies (25 plus fish days)and the bite usually start around 9 am- 1130 and start back at 230-530 PM. Plastic is the ticket for bigger fish. "GET AWAY FROM SHANTY TOWN" if you want great action. DNR guy said all the guys who were away from crowds been doing better!!