Crow river experience???

[MNfishtrapper]

I was in Watertown yeasterday and noticed the crow river. It's flooded now but I know that the level drops considerably other times of the year. I've always considered fishing it but haven't gotten around to it. I was talking with a guy I work with that fishes it occasionaly. He's gotten some nice fish in there. Does anyone else fish it much? I thought It might be fun to drift it this summer and search for some action once the opener hits. We fish the upper mississip for smallies with the fly rod and thats quite a bit of fun! Thought I might give the crow a go in the same fasion.

[hookie]

My brother-in-law and I have floated down it a few times but we started off over by Howard lake area. Get a few cats and some red horse. A couple of my nephews went last year when the water was up but not nearly as high as it is now and tipped their canoe over and lost everything. Lots of low hanging branches to watch out for. We always go during July when the water was down a bit.

[blackdog1101]

It has good fishing for a nice variety of species. Well worth checking out. I would personally not eat fish from the river though, it gets a lot of agricultural chemicals in it.

[eyebjim]

I've eaten a lot of eyes out of there. They taste great. I can even see them better with the third eye I now have.

[Wookiee]

I have had great luck on the crow at times. According to the MN Dept of Health fish consumption guidelines the fish in there are better for you than the ones out of Lake Waconia.

[deadeye]

I have floated it too. Its a pretty nice trip to the big miss. We got a ton of fish, none of them really big but lots of action.

[BuckKiller]

I fish it every spring before the lakes open up... catch a ton of fish out of it such as; carp, bullhead, suckers, catfish, northers, walleyes and redhorses

[MNfishtrapper]

cool guys thanks!

[crappie carpet]

What is everybody using? River type rigs? Cranks? Just Curious.

[Wookiee]

Depends on where you go but there are panfish in there as well with some pretty darn nice crappies. Use jig and plastics or livebait if you like roughies and cats. Cranks work too. As with any river there are plenty of snags.

[BuckKiller]

I use a night crawler and just leave it sit on the bottom

[LPCrowRiverFisherman]

I know the Watertown area a bit, caught some walleyes, caught more northerns out of that part though. Couple of crappies. Good thing to try when water is down, usually during fall, lindy rigs with big spinners and crappie minnows. Some nice walleye, a few decent crappies, and I even got a northern as big as 5.5LBS out of Watertown.

I know Lester Prairie part like I know the LP roads. I can tell you where it is deep where it's not where the fish are, and where you should be careful. I've caught, 21" Walleye, 26" Northern, 28" Catfish, 30" Carp, Few different kinds of Redhorse, and on rare occasions I have caught crappies. There are very few sunfish, I have caught a couple of creek chubs, and even a Perch.

But I have never caught a bullhead.

Just kidding

If you ever want to head down to LP in the summer I could show you around.

[MNfishtrapper]

Thanks for all the info guys!

[iFishMN.YT]

My only spring experience in watertown on the Crow was watching a bunch of people catching eye's out of season. Sure go ahead claim your fishing for something else with that rapala, mepps, or twisty tail jig but when over half the fish your catching are eyes it seems your breaking the law to me.

Decent spots for cats when the water isnt so fast, give it a few weeks!