St. Croix River Fishing Reports

[TRZ II]

For whatever reason the Croix is never good late ice. I have actually caught more walleyes on crappie tackle late ice than crappies. Just like so many things on the river it does not make sense but it is always the case.

[Big Jeff]

like others said lock jaw.... tons of marks tons of sniffers but only one tiny crappie bit. Travel was a little iffy even in my Tahoe in 4X4. Some snow drifts almost stopped us dead in our tracks.

I will not be back until open water.

[Pary]

Any reports and ice conditions? Still drivable? Was thinking about heading out there one last time with a friend....

[Joe_Musky]

Good Luck I have not had any, last fri I tried with only one dink crappie, But I can tell you the was plenty of ice 6 more inches and i would need my auger ext, as for travel I have a 4x4 and it was fine as long as you can avoid drifts, like everybody else I cant wait for open water, If you make it out let us know if things have changed

[jBohmer]

Gonna try and get one more time this season. Anyone know how the ice is out of Bayport? Would like to go on the river but I have not been out for few weeks and am a little nervous about it. Seems that it has been cold enough to sustain the ice this month.

[jBohmer]

Sorry just saw the previous post, sounds like snow is the only issue now unless someone has a newer report.

[Joe_Musky]

ya snow and Big Ruts is the issue plenty of ice and ppl getting stuck out there!

[Joe_Musky]

Well i was out today my father met me out there with his front wheel drive car so its not too bad did manage about a dozen crappies none that where real nice but at least no skunk

[flyman42]

New to the forum,

DOes anyone have an open seat for the opener this weekend willing to help with gas and bait let me know .Thank You

[fish_4_fun]

went out yesterday and caught only carp in the still water area. does not look like much activity from anyone. dont know why, but no walleye to be seen. oh lots of mud puppies too.

[RippnLipps]

Went out on on Saturday (5/4) out of Prescott. I caught a decent smallmouth drifting with a hair jig by the old Steamboat Inn. You could tell the water was cold because the fight was like catching a bass during ice fishing.

We also caught one sauger drifting in front of the boat launch on a sonar. We saw a few people netting fish but overall the action was pretty slow.

[water rat]

Went out and battled the wind for a couple hours tonight/evening,fished out of Log cabin landing.missed one solid bite on jig plastic and caught 1 chunky lil 16incher...

[tunrevir]

Hit the river for a few hours this morning and found active fish in 7-12' of water. Fish were actively taking cranks. Hot steel and bleeding olive did well today and firetiger and purpledescent each took a few fish. Ended the soggy morning with 6 shorts and a few whitebass and a 16, 17 and a 19 in the well.

Tunrevir~

[BigJakeL]

Went out yesterday out of Osceola Landing. Managed two Smallies and a decent northern. Was real nice out there after all the rain. Too bad I couldn't stay till dark!

[B-man715]

Fished not too far from Osceola yesterday and caught 11 walleyes.

Had a lot of fun vertical jigging, but everyone of them was between 13-14 3/4"

Also caught a few nice sheepies and some baby channels too.

It was a little chilly out there

[1eyeReD]

Had a lot of fun vertical jigging, but everyone of them was between 13-14 3/4"

Appears to be a bumpercrop of those this year. Been catchin em all over that river.

[1eyeReD]

Found some eyes and saugs during yesterday afternoon's quickie. Mostly small fish. 2 keepers for like 5 or 6. Missed several others. Some sheepies caught as well. Wife caught her 1st SMB ever. Most fish caught in 18 ft in and outside of current. Fish were caught on gulp minnows, worms and minnows.

Recreational traffic was off the chain.

Some interesting highlights: Today, there were two instances where I caught something that seemed like "dead weight" which turned into fish.

Instance 1) The first one, I thought I was pulling up a log. As soon as it appeared out of the shadows it was a pretty big sauger 20+ inches, looked like a walleye but I know a sauger when I see one.. Wife grabs net, gets ready, jig flies out of mouth. Sauger casually swims into deep. "Noooooo!!!!"

Instance 2) Something took my jig and minnow as it hit the water near shoreline and dove straight down. Came right under the boat and to the other side. Just wouldn't turn. No head shakes no quick runs. Just kept goin and goin. Almost felt like just dead weight that was going away from me (like a snag), but every so often, it would give up and I'd get it halfway in before it started slowly peeling drag. Then the hook straightened out and there she went. Whatever it was, it knew how to swim because it went under the boat and around, but very slowly. Just seemed very heavy and not interested in turning. I've pulled up 15lb catfish out there that gave in faster than that. I will say, however - that was how my most recent big cats on the St. Croix behaved. Caught about a 15lb channel last year while rigging for eyes and another one bout the same size was foul hooked down by Prescott while trolling. Had to take it easy too wih 6lb test flourocarbon (jigging and crankbait spinning setup)... Wonder what that was. Wish I would've at least ID'd it.

[lispeej]

Found some eyes and saugs during yesterday afternoon's quickie. Mostly small fish. 2 keepers for like 5 or 6. Missed several others. Some sheepies caught as well. Wife caught her 1st SMB ever. Most fish caught in 18 ft in and outside of current. Fish were caught on gulp minnows, worms and minnows.

Recreational traffic was off the chain.

Some interesting highlights: Today, there were two instances where I caught something that seemed like "dead weight" which turned into fish.

Instance 1) The first one, I thought I was pulling up a log. As soon as it appeared out of the shadows it was a pretty big sauger 20+ inches, looked like a walleye but I know a sauger when I see one.. Wife grabs net, gets ready, jig flies out of mouth. Sauger casually swims into deep. "Noooooo!!!!"

Instance 2) Something took my jig and minnow as it hit the water near shoreline and dove straight down. Came right under the boat and to the other side. Just wouldn't turn. No head shakes no quick runs. Just kept goin and goin. Almost felt like just dead weight that was going away from me (like a snag), but every so often, it would give up and I'd get it halfway in before it started slowly peeling drag. Then the hook straightened out and there she went. Whatever it was, it knew how to swim because it went under the boat and around, but very slowly. Just seemed very heavy and not interested in turning. I've pulled up 15lb catfish out there that gave in faster than that. I will say, however - that was how my most recent big cats on the St. Croix behaved. Caught about a 15lb channel last year while rigging for eyes and another one bout the same size was foul hooked down by Prescott while trolling. Had to take it easy too wih 6lb test flourocarbon (jigging and crankbait spinning setup)... Wonder what that was. Wish I would've at least ID'd it.

Prob a big cat or sturgeon.

[Herky2002]

My son and I spent the day yesterday fishing around the islands north of Stillwater and had a lot of fun. We boated 44 fish in total, but 33 of which were sheepers. We had to switch from nightcrawlers to leeches because the sheepers were so thick the walleyes couldn't get to our bait. Also landed 8 walleyes (all but three were shorts), two smallies and a rock bass. What a fun day!

Continuing the story of the big one that got away, I was fishing a current break when something big slammed my jig & minnow and started heading upriver. I had no chance of turning it before it got wrapped around some underwater brush and snagged me up. I'm guessing a big catfish. That's what I love about river fishing: you never know what that next bite will be!

[Turk]

Instance 2) Something took my jig and minnow as it hit the water near shoreline and dove straight down. Came right under the boat and to the other side. Just wouldn't turn. No head shakes no quick runs. Just kept goin and goin. Almost felt like just dead weight that was going away from me (like a snag), but every so often, it would give up and I'd get it halfway in before it started slowly peeling drag. Then the hook straightened out and there she went. Whatever it was, it knew how to swim because it went under the boat and around, but very slowly. Just seemed very heavy and not interested in turning. I've pulled up 15lb catfish out there that gave in faster than that. I will say, however - that was how my most recent big cats on the St. Croix behaved. Caught about a 15lb channel last year while rigging for eyes and another one bout the same size was foul hooked down by Prescott while trolling. Had to take it easy too wih 6lb test flourocarbon (jigging and crankbait spinning setup)... Wonder what that was. Wish I would've at least ID'd it.

My guess would be a muskie or big pike.

[Ishikawa]

Was out couple of days ago with not much to show except for sheeps and oh yeah, a sturgeon pushing 50in! Biggest I have ever caught :-) So lucky it took the medium heavy setup and not my ultralight setup lols!

[akoonjb]

how are the eyes and wb lately? is anywhere on the shoreline fishable? boats not doing so hot..

[Turk]

Hudson levee and Stillwater levee areas are good shore spots.

Soak a crawler or leech on the bottom.

Good luck.

[akoonjb]

hudson levee? im not to familiar with that spot. could ya give me an idea on how to get there from 94? thanks!

[Buck_Hunter04]

Got 5 tonight. 2 shorts and 3 keepers. Leadcore was the ticket for me.

[Buck_Hunter04]

6 more this morning. 4 on one pass.

[Turk]

"hudson levee? im not to familiar with that spot. could ya give me an idea on how to get there from 94? thanks!"

Go to Hudson WI, then park near the river the levee is very long.

[Skhots]

Hey guys,

I've been fishing lakes my whole life and recently heard of some good fishing on St. Croix.

How do you guys find a spot to fish on the river? I'm not looking for exact spots, just would like to know what to look for on the river.

I'm reading that the walleyes are around 15-20 FOW, on a contour map, looks like that's near the shore.

I also read that the fish are deeper on rivers.

What part of St. Croix are the anglers at? "Lower st. croix" keeps getting thrown out a lot, what part is classified as "lower st. croix"?

Thanks for the help!

[DonBo]

Everything below St. Croix Falls is considered "Lower St. Croix", but mostly they're talking about the stretch from Stillwater to Prescott. There can be good fishing anywhere in between.

[TruthWalleyes]

Hey guys,

I've been fishing lakes my whole life and recently heard of some good fishing on St. Croix.

How do you guys find a spot to fish on the river? I'm not looking for exact spots, just would like to know what to look for on the river.

I'm reading that the walleyes are around 15-20 FOW, on a contour map, looks like that's near the shore.

I also read that the fish are deeper on rivers.

What part of St. Croix are the anglers at? "Lower st. croix" keeps getting thrown out a lot, what part is classified as "lower st. croix"?

Thanks for the help!

It's pretty much a lake below stillwater, so fish it as you would a lake.

Just head out and enjoy the scenery. Fish where you mark em.