Night Fishing on the Croix

[Dale Rueber]

I was thinking about trying to fish for Walleye/Sauger at night. Lately my experience has been that after sunset the bite shuts down, at least where and how I'm fishing. After sunset should I be fishing shallower, deeper, slower, slip bobber, minnows, crawlers... I'm assuming that I will need to use live bait for night fishing. I will be fishing between the Kini and Prescott because I know that part of the river well enough to navigate at night.

Any recommendations on what to try after sunset would be appreciated.

[WyoChris]

I've had luck with lindy rigs and leeches.... and even got a few with crankbaits. The eyes should move shallower at night... they certainly won't move deeper. good luck

[Burchoid]

You'd think with the clearer water this year that the night bite could potentially be better than past years...

[Sandmannd]

I don't night fish Dale, but I will say the fish I've found during the day have been shallllllllow. Would expect the same at night.

[croixflats]

Troll rapalas close to shore 5 to 8 deep or cast to the shore line. They be coming in to feed.

[River Dan]

I've only been out a dozen times or so for the evening fishing and I found good success, I want to start going down during the week for evening bobber fishing, hopefully I can get some side projects wrapped up and open up more time to do this, see you on the water!

[fishwater]

I'm assuming that I will need to use live bait for night fishing.

I'd try cranks up shallow. I've caught 3 of my bigger fish this year running cranks early in the morning (before 5am) in 12 or less feet.

[scott b]

3" white gulp twisters with a 1/16 oz. glow jig head. I fish at night 80% of the time, and this is my go to lure. Cranks can be good, bobbers are fun to watch, but I will always shut my friends down with this combo. I usually anchor and cast. Most of my fish come in less than 5 fow. The secchi disc reading should be more than 6ft. The clearer the water the more game fish are likely to feed at night.

[lunker33]

Yes the night bite for walleye sauger can be hot! I dont post a lot but i fish at night quit a bit. My advise to someones first night trip on the river would be.... stay shallow 5-10 foot with deep water close by, bait fish are a must. shad will be on the surface at night and will spook making them visible. weeds and feeder streams dont hurt. oh ya by the way shad like lights at night. I ushaly target these larger fish with crankbaits or draging jigs, both work, but cranks are my go to. the best thing about night fishing the croix is you should have the river to your self. good luck to all. chris

[Dale Rueber]

Thanks for all of the advice. Going out Saturday night. I will post a report.

[Turk]

Interested in hearing about your success Dale, I've heard of a few guys with success, but all in all it is not a night fishery. I said all in all - not never, can't happen. Maybe it is not much of a night fishery though because it is a strong day bite fishery. Honestly I've never needed to hit the night bite for walleye.

However, and fishing is full of howevers...There are a few times frames, the night bite could be the ticket (i.e. August, early Sept.)

BTW -I'd fish shallow as mentioned above.

GOOD LUCK!

[b1gf1sh1]

at night for walleye on the croix... fish around the islands up at and above the boom-site (from the launch up) for good eater size walleyes this time of year. the schools can get pretty thick sometimes. bonus white bass and crappies too. might even tie into a muskie or pike. plenty of cats and the sturg up that way too. only issue is you should know the area, VERY VERY well, before trying it, theres a lot of hazzards. or at least have a GPS and make paths durring the day you can follow at night. down towards the kinnie it seems these guys covered it pretty good. i agree, go shallow. shallow suspending cranks like a rapala husky jerk work anywhere.

in between? lol, where the heck do you start on the lake st croix stretch? just go shallow on the sand and you should be ok, but mix in a couple points too just for the heck of it. watch it though theres some aggressive cats willing to pound your crankbaits in the sand. might make you think you have a 10 pound walleye

gone fishin'

[Dale Rueber]

Went out Saturday night South of the Bluffs from 9pm till about 1am. Only caught a small mouth and a sheepie. Had one decent fish that came unbuttoned before I got a chance to identify it but it put up a good fight. We only tried a couple of spots that were very close to so we just trolled in between. Had a number of other bites on minnows and crawles so I'm assuming small sheepies were the primary culprits. No hits on the Rapalas we tried but I found it difficult to do much casting in the dark. All of the fish caught and most of the bites were around the 10' deep range, very few bites shallower or deeper. Even though we didn't catch much it was a beautiful night to be on the river. There was a 3/4 moon that came up about 10:30pm and there was hardly any traffic. I will certainly be out at night a few more times this summer.