St. Croix River Fishing Reports

[Turk]

Great images with the boys and fish!!!

turk

[FshBloodRiverMud]

Really slow for me tonight.

1 channel on shad and a few missed.

[OnAFly]

Watch out for debris. Water came up a few inches last night while I was out. A full tree was floating down by the boomsite launch. Beginning of the dock was underwater too.

[mpester]

Only got a few saugers yesterday fishing down near St. Croix Bluffs Park. Do keep an eye open for the logs and debris. I saw a lot of floating stuff yesterday.

How do the big pleasure boats miss that stuff all the time? They seem to have a hard time seeing me in a sixteen foot boat floating way above the water. They like to come flying by within 25 yards all day long. How do they not hit the floating logs all the time?

[Buck_Hunter04]

Well I don't know what I'm doing wrong this summer but dang, fished for 4 hours this afternoon til sun down and NOTHING! Started in the channel by 94 bridge and the current was smoking. Went all around the y camp and hardly marked a thing. Tried all my usual spots and marked some fish but no takers. Never saw a school of bait fish on the locater the whole time I was out. Tried from 19-35fow. Figured I would try deep and look for some bait fish. nothing. Water was between 59-62.

in the next few weeks does the bite go shallow or stay a little deeper. I guess I could use a little help and encouragement. LOL Pretty bad season fish wise for me. But still happy to be just out there.

[FishonTom]

I'm Having the same luck you are. However haven't been skunked yet. may switch to Sturgeon for a while till they put the feed bag on. Haven't seen any reports on the Sturgeon fishing yet. Any action?

[FshBloodRiverMud]

Lots of sturgeon being caught right now. Size has been good too. I'm headed there tonight for some sturgeon action.

[cldboater]

Any one having much luck getting them in the box this weekend??.. Went out a couple times this past week. Good thing I don't have to rely on catching fish for a meal !! 2 nights out and all I had to show for it were a couple shorts and one crop... Tried everything from 10-25 fow. Temp was about 61 give or take.. Hmmmm

[FshBloodRiverMud]

It was a tough weekend. I had some go saturday night. Channel cats are on a tear right now though. Cut sucker was preferred by the channels, flats, and sturgeon this weekend over shad or worms. Caught 25 channels, about 6 over 10# with 13# biggest.

They're doing a lot of tasting right now, so just let them nibble until they decide the double the rod over.

[Croix1959]

Hi guys, Ive been fishing the lower St Croix for thirteen years now (mainly bottom fishing with a crawler or cut bait) and this summer began to target walleye with no luck. I have tried trolling #7 shad raps and over the last four days been lindy rigging a fat head with one orange bead with no luck. Ive tried the depths and some of the locations/ techniques of the local bait shops with only a small sauger and a fourteen inch crappie to show for it. Any advice would be much appreciated.

[lunker33]

learning the river took me a lot of years of trial and error. with that said, im sure you could learn a lot of good information fast by fishing with someone who has already put there time in and knows how to catch river eyes. Turk is a local guide who could shorten your learning curve and put u on the eyes. I know for a fact that the eyes are crushing shad raps and lindy rigs. what time are you fishing?....mornings are best on the river in my opinion.

[Croix1959]

Ive heard mornings are the best for summer as well as winter walleye. Ive been going out from 5:30- dark and have fished in/south of the kinni and on the WI side just south of the kinni. Ive tried different depths each night too. 12-18 and 18-25, tried different speeds. When using cranks I troll 3-4 mph and when lindy rigging around 1 mph. Ive been using number 7 shad raps, crayfish, Helsinki shad, blue, minnow colors etc. Caught an 8 in sauger and a 13 in crappie so far.

[lunker33]

croix 1959...Pm sent

[32inchEye]

any panfish reports on the river so far for the fall bite?

i've not had much success..one or two crappies here and there.

[tunrevir]

I was out Thursday last week and found active crappies in 15-21' using a 1/16th flu flu with fatheads. cast towards shoreline rubble letting it hit bottom and slow pulls and hops back to deeper water. light pickups more just weight when you went to pull the jig. managed a few for the frypan 11-12 inches with some 13-14" and 9-10" fish tossed back. Transition areas from rubble to sand seemed to hold fish. Caught some bonus eyes and a 3# channel cat while poking around for crappies.

Tunrevir~

[rosspj59]

Ive heard mornings are the best for summer as well as winter walleye. Ive been going out from 5:30- dark and have fished in/south of the kinni and on the WI side just south of the kinni. Ive tried different depths each night too. 12-18 and 18-25, tried different speeds. When using cranks I troll 3-4 mph and when lindy rigging around 1 mph. Ive been using number 7 shad raps, crayfish, Helsinki shad, blue, minnow colors etc. Caught an 8 in sauger and a 13 in crappie so far.

try slowing down, 1.5-2 for trolling and .5 for less for lindy rigging. 3 ways and cranks should start producing now. Troll them at .5 mph to 1 mph using shallow shad raps with 2 to 3 ounces of lead as the dropper in 15-28 fow. Are you marking bait or fish in the areas you are fishing? Another good color to add is firetiger or something chartuse and maybe black/gold or black silver. As the water gets colder the jig bite will start going.

[Croix1959]

I was out last night trolling a num 7 tiger fire shad rap in 19-27 fow at 2-2.5 mph from 5:30 til dark. I was marking bait fish and what I assumed(hoped) were eyes and still no luck. Im starting to think my presentation is not effective since I don't yet own a nice gps/finder combo and lack of rigging knowledge/experience, so Im having a difficult time following a break line with a sub-par finder and the navionics iphone app. I will probably take the fat heads with me tonight and give that a shot.

[spotfish2]

Your too deep! Start at 22'(deepest) and work shallower as you move into the evening. Don't discount suspended mark either, but concentrate on less water and the break lines...

[Croix1959]

Last night I tried drifting a fathead on a #6 red hook, 4ft snell with a 3/16 weight at .5-1 mph in 17-24 fow. Notta thing...

[goat704]

I too am new to the river. The rig you describe is close to what I used for my break-thru day Saturday. I use probably a 1/2 oz bullet with a 3' or so snell but I add 2 or 3 red beads in front of my red hook tipped with fathead or crawler. The thing I finally caught on to is the bite is very light, sometimes just a heavy feel vs normal feel. Also I try to work the breakline very slowly, keeping my rig as straight down under me as I can almost not moving. I'm still trying to crack the crank-bait routine everyone is doing also. I've been fishing 6 times now over 2 weeks and it finally came together Saturday. I caught at least 15 walleye-sauger with 3 nice keepers for the pan. I'm on this forum trying to pick-up tips from the river rats.

[DonBo]

Thanks for the report goat congrats on the success, and welcome!

[cldboater]

firetiger or something chartuse and maybe black/gold or black silver. As the water gets colder the jig bite will start going.

For Rap jig colors on the river, you need the holy trinity in you tackle box for sure!

Firetiger

Orange Craw

Perch

Works every time.. Well for me any ways

[john.wells]

I too am new to the river. The rig you describe is close to what I used for my break-thru day Saturday. I use probably a 1/2 oz bullet with a 3' or so snell but I add 2 or 3 red beads in front of my red hook tipped with fathead or crawler. The thing I finally caught on to is the bite is very light, sometimes just a heavy feel vs normal feel. Also I try to work the breakline very slowly, keeping my rig as straight down under me as I can almost not moving. I'm still trying to crack the crank-bait routine everyone is doing also. I've been fishing 6 times now over 2 weeks and it finally came together Saturday. I caught at least 15 walleye-sauger with 3 nice keepers for the pan. I'm on this forum trying to pick-up tips from the river rats.

The rats are a crusty bunch, normally lock-jawed. Sometimes, though, they will part with some wisdom

[john.wells]

I can guarantee you are well on your way to becoming a rat... Once you fish the river and begin to crack the code, lakes will lose their appeal.

[SPEC]

I can guarantee you are well on your way to becoming a rat... Once you fish the river and begin to crack the code, lakes will lose their appeal.

I don't think I've heard truer words spoken!

[goat704]

Thanks for the comment. I can already feel the river pulling me away from the lakes. I'm already crusty so I'm on my way.

[FshBloodRiverMud]

I can guarantee you are well on your way to becoming a rat... Once you fish the river and begin to crack the code, lakes will lose their appeal.

That's how it works for me...Except i think it has more to do with they type and size of species available in the bigger rivers...and lakes just offer the standard walleye/dinner species.

[john.wells]

Yep, the river owns its own mystique. Doesn't matter which river, they all have the same draw-a sense of adventure and discovery that a lake can never quite offer.

[Croix1959]

Have tomorrow off and going out on the Croix. Fatheads or cranks?

[iiccee63]

Wondering where all the recent fishing reports are. Hopefully people will post some fishing updates. We fished last Sat. pm from 3 to 6 and had 2 bites with 4 people!