St. Croix River Fishing Reports

[Skhots]

Thanks Don. Pleasure boater activity pretty high on weekends out there? I was planning to get out there on sat morning around 7am. Do you guys have a hard time parking at the boom site access or do you guys pay at a marina?

[DonBo]

Lots of pleasure boaters. The earlier you go out (and get back) the happier you'll be. Boomsite fills pretty quickly, but get there early and it SHOULDN'T be a problem. I like to launch at Windmill's in Afton and fish from there south, but there's plenty of fish from Stillwater to Bayport if you want to use the public launch.

[Skhots]

Went out there all day yesterday with some high expectations. Due to passengers being late, didn't get to boom site access until about 830. It was full. Went down to beanies and paid to launch.

On the lake by 920. Probably missed peak feeding time but we saw what looked like a bunch of bait fish breaking the water surface about 20 ft away.

Three of us tried everything we could to get a bite including spinner, senko, lindy rig with a half and full crawler, quarter crawler on slip bobber setup, and shallow shad raps.

Other than pulling up a couple planks of wood, we got one bite as I was retrieving my lindy rig with half a crawler. Set the hook and must have ripped it out but they were strong nods.

Other than that bite, I kept losing the crawler on the bottom or it was getting eaten without me knowing.

Went up and down the river following 10-20 ft contours looking and staying near drop offs, no dice all day until about 7 when a spinnerbait hooked a muskie until it was 5 ft from the boat and it shook loose.

Sigh...

[huskyguy]

Good morning everyone, it's been quite a while since my last post...

recently I switched over to lead core line while trolling for walleyes,

with great success I should add, my only problem is I haven't had much

luck with finding the best knot to link the mono leader to the braided

end (lead removed) of the lead core line. I've tried uni knots and they

just keep breaking off at the point of attachment, now I know a swivel

is the simple solution, but that limits the length of the mono leader to

the length of the rod and I've found that too be less productive then when

I run a longer leader (15 to 20 feet.)If anyone has any suggestions on

this matter I would be very grateful, thanks and good luck out there !

[Never Enough Time to Fish]

Use a simple overhand knot.....been using it for years w/o any issues.

Never Enough.....

[B-man715]

Good morning everyone, it's been quite a while since my last post...

recently I switched over to lead core line while trolling for walleyes,

with great success I should add, my only problem is I haven't had much

luck with finding the best knot to link the mono leader to the braided

end (lead removed) of the lead core line. I've tried uni knots and they

just keep breaking off at the point of attachment, now I know a swivel

is the simple solution, but that limits the length of the mono leader to

the length of the rod and I've found that too be less productive then when

I run a longer leader (15 to 20 feet.)If anyone has any suggestions on

this matter I would be very grateful, thanks and good luck out there !

Use a tiny swivel like a size 16 or smaller. Then you can reel it in right through the guides and onto the reel.

-Hope this helps

[Peter]

Check out this video on YouTube:

Sent from my iPad

[Mike_Bennewitz]

I 2nd B-man. When I used to troll walleyes with my dad up near Clearwater, MN and we used mainly Fireline but never got walleyes until we used mono leaders that were double or triple the rod length. I typically got the smallest swivel I could get away with (5# test) and would get a rod with huge guides or have someone I know replace the guides so they would work. I believe I only saw a broken guide when my dad caught a 48" muskie on that 10# line setup.

[huskyguy]

I wished I could use the overhand knot method, but I'm running

that Sufix 832 (18 lbs) and even with the aid of a magnifying glass

it's all but imposable to thread the mono into the braided. I gave

up and picked up the smaller swivels then put away the G-loomis for

a less expensive Shakespeare, if I tear up the guides on that one

then so be it. Thanks for the input gentleman, see ya out there.

3 keepers this morning biggest was 17.5

released several little ones too...

[UncleKes]

Husky Guy: Get into You Tube and look for something called a "Willis Knot." Supposedly it is used for Lead Core! I have have only used Lead Core once and I have very little success with it.

Mostly I had trouble with it wanting to "slinky" off my spool and I spent most of the day unsnarling the stuff.

However, I do know guys who swear by Lead Line. I just am the opposite. I prefer to swear at it!

[Turk]

Husky Guy,

Here is the knot I strongly recommend:

Remove 6" of lead,

Tie an over hand knot on the lead line so there is 1/4 tag end,

Snell (really a uni knot) your leader material onto the leadline above the overhand knot.

Pull both knots together and trim tag ends.

Good luck,

Turk

[huskyguy]

Thanks Turk, I'm intrigued by the combination of those two methods.

It should be noted that yesterday I switched from a mono leader, over to

Sufix 832 advanced superline (green in color) with mono I probably lost a

dozen Shad raps getting cut off by what I believe are them pesky Zebra

mussels or perhaps clams..., either way it was becoming quite costly.

Fished for 5 hours yesterday morning with the advanced superline leader

and did not lose a single lure, most importantly fish didn't seem too mind it

one bit, we boated 6 "nice" keepers and must have released a dozen +

shorties before the tuna boats made the sand flats all but UN-fishable !

Gonna give that knot Turk suggested a test run "real soon" I have a few meetings today that I just can not weasel my way out of, not for a lack of trying I might add, Lol, tomorrow... now that's another story that's still too be written .

Unclekes, I had that same issue at first, lots of thumb action involved

in spooling that stuff out, I can't really argue with the results though !

[huskyguy]

Thanks Turk your the man, that knot held fast and I landed (bent net and all) this nice 24 7/8 incher!

The young fellow from the D.N.R. who's been taken surveys lately witnessed me catch it and he came over so we measured it on his "official" board. I caught and released a larger and quite a bit fatter "but un-Measured" fish about 10 minutes before I landed that one, of course... no photo as I had forgotten my camera.

Fortunately a good friend came along with his camera in time for that second fish or this would all be hearsay.

"Pictures or it never even happened... right."

See you out there,

Huskyguy.

[gdog]

You need to teach that dog how to snap a picture. Maybe a disposable camera it holds in its mouth....

[TruthWalleyes]

Waves aren't helping any but aren't slowing me down too much tonight. 54,40,40,30,34,34,41,31

Worms fatheads.

[TruthWalleyes]

[Turk]

[huskyguy]

Very nice there Mr. truth, good numbers too !

[TruthWalleyes]

Don't let the weather slow you down. The cats and sturgeon have been biting. Since 5 yesterday I've boated 29 sturgeon, biggest only 46.5" but many over 40". Channel cats are busy. Easily a bakers dozen torpedo shaped healthy cats. Of course the sheephead will always keep you busy. Flatheads have been on a scavenging tear. Boated a 25", 32", and this brute 47x29".

In going to call the sturgeon season a success and sleep in early tomorrow instead of chasing the night bite again in the wind and 40°temps.

I've been on the Croix Friday through Sunday 7 of the last 8 weekends... Here's today's beauty.

[huskyguy]

Bit chilly out this morning, but the walleyes didn't seem to mind it.

Mostly 17 & 18 inchers today must have caught 15 of them until a boat

full of "Gentleman" decided I apparently had caught enough and anchored

right on the point I was trolling all morning... then they even had the

audacity too give me a dirty look when I trolled on by as If I was some

how bothering them, I guess that's how it goes with the weekend warriors !

Mighty skinny water I might add...

[eyeballs]

Hey Huskyguy,

I was the guy that was "trolling the line" with you early this morning and couldn't agree with you more about the boat that parked on the point. If they saw me coming, they tried to cut me off. Very irritating after fishing the spot for over an hour and then he came up like he paid taxes on the spot. I didn't want his exact spot, just wanted to turn the corner. It was nice to pull a couple fish out from under him though. I don't want to call the anyone out, but I know I would NOT recommend Waynes Guide Service. On a good note the Walleyes went good in the morning and better in the afternoon! This has been an excellent year!

[huskyguy]

Afternoon Huh... well there's the excuse I needed too stay out later, lol !

[huskyguy]

Fished for 3 hours this morning... 16, 17, and an 18, with lot's of shorts too.

Then I gladly relinquished my "Hot Spot" to a man fishing with his young son,

eager for the day my grandson is old enough too tag along with me...

Karma has no menu, you get served what you got coming.

[RiverChuckNorris]

Hey husky, mind saying depth range you're fishing? Pulling live bait or artificials? I don't get out on the river fishing in the summer anymore, but am curious more than anything. I know we used to do quite well pulling artificials on 3-ways in the fall while most folks were rigging & jigging.

[huskyguy]

Hey husky, mind saying depth range you're fishing? Pulling live bait or artificials? I don't get out on the river fishing in the summer anymore, but am curious more than anything. I know we used to do quite well pulling artificials on 3-ways in the fall while most folks were rigging & jigging.

18' to 30' pulling this stuff on 8' rods with Penn GTI 320 reels...

You'll notice the Berkley flicker shad has a textured surface with a

slightly different bill, while they both dive 5' to 10' the Berkley version

is out fishing the Rapala 8 to 1 on average and it's 1/2 the price @ $3.99

Good luck and I'll see you out there !

[huskyguy]

[DonBo]

Nice before and after photos.

[RiverChuckNorris]

Thanks for the info Husky. Fascinating info about the Berkley baits! Nothing like a little fish fry after to enjoy the fruits of your "labor".

[rosspj59]

Nice work and thanks for the reports Huskyguy. I'm thinking the flickers work better since they have rattles and the shad rap probably doesn't unless it is a rattling suspending shad rap. Most shad rap floaters don't have rattles.

[Skhots]

Gave it 8 hrs yesterday with Lead core trolling where ever I spotted the fish. No walleye boated. White bass were easy with jigging a particular sandbar.

We got to this location that I seem to always see a fish jump/break water surface. They are fairly large... What are they? Some would be right next to the boat and I never get the chance to see the full thing. They looked slender and long, white bellies but walleye don't jump out do they?

They jumped every 30 seconds or so around 5pm. Couldn't catch a single one with worms, fathead, twister grub, or various crankbaits.