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St. Louis River Fishing Reports


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I went out around 2:30 by parkpoint and I got ZERO. I have had one of the slowest years I can remember. I sure miss my marcum. Divorce will even get that. Wasn't suppose to but it did.

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Fished park point on new years eve with my brother in law. We were by the permanent in 8 fow. At about 3:15 pm Tim locked his jig rig (teardrop and crappie minnow head) up with a sturgeon that went close to 45 inches! Took just less than an hour to land it. It was a great battle with the 6# test line. When I figure out how to post pics I will share the image. Other than that we caught one perch and one ruffe but graphed fish the whole time.

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What are people useing for bait out there? I have been tiping a jig with chub. Should I be dead sticking it, jigging or what?

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my jiggin rods seem to be a little more consistant, but my bobber rods will still pick one up here and there.

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hound-that must have been a blast. how long was the fight? did you get him while you were jigging for eyes?

this summer when there were sturgeon practically jumping in my boat in the spirit lake area, i often pondered how fun it would be to catch one of those things. i can only imagine how fun it would be thru the ice.

what lb test did you have on?

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One hour and 5 minutes lol, and I had 4 pound trilene xt on. Let's just say I'm glad I have my symetre reel on that pole haha. ThAt drag was a screaming. It was on my bobber rod.

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whatd you have on the bobber line? hook and minnow?

im jealous... that must have been one heck of a fight. i bet you were really excited at first, thinking maybe it was a record eye.

is it common for someone to get a sturgeon in the winter?

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I thought it was a good eye for the first few minutes then I figured I had a ski or a sturgeon. Yeah a few get caught here and there.

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Should have tightened up that drag, cut the line or just let it sppool ya and get back to walleye fishin. wink LOL.

Remember its not legal to keep them or target them. Technically you arent supposed to take them out for pics either. I know i know but thats what the DNR has told me several times.

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yeah i had to say i caught one tho, the next one ill forsure cut the line. it had my 2500 reel at half spool lol.

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All of the sturgeon I have caught/seen caught down in the bay are always on whole minnows or bobber rods never whiloe jigging with a head or anything. I was suprised at how many you actually catch down there it seems like they bite when the walleyes are not very active. Fun fish to catch though but tricky to get the big ones through an 8in hole!!

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Boy it seems that there are alot of sturgeon this year than there has been in the past and some big ones to boot.

Jar Jar

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Always a lot of them caught in that area. They are surely getting bigger these past few years. Used to be a mid 30's early 40's was a bigger one. Now we are seeing mid and high 50's. It seems like when we get the high pressure and cold they are more active. I dont know why but thats been my experience with them.

Like someone else said it seems like when the eyes are slow the sturg are more active.

The one thing I have noticed is the pout have been slow the past 3 years.

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I still have never caught a pout down in the bay but would not mind getting into a few.

Fished the bay this morning and caught a few fish, lost a bigger one and brought home a keeper for the pan. Bite was fairly short in the morning and died fast but not a bad morning of fishing considering I had no bait.

Lots of ice down there but still would nto consider driving out yet had to wait 15mins for a 1000fter to go under the bridge on my way home

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Besides 'eyes and 'pout, are there other fish to be had in good numbers? Pike, crappie, salmon? Never been down there before, but definitely intrigued.

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No its walleye, pout, pike and maybe a stray perch. Oh a musky may be had every once in a million. No trout or salmon in the bay usually.

very short bite window 1st and last couple hours of the day. By 9am Im off and in the afternoon I fish 3 til about 1/2 hour past dark.

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For all the time I have fished the bay now I still have never got a pike or a pout and I have fished in alot of different areas...o well im happy with eyes and an occasional sturg gonna hit the bay tommorow afternoon/evening will report back on how I do even thought my hope is low with this front that rolled through.

You can get fish out there during the day but you have to move alot more and drill alot of holes to find where the fish are active. Not nearly as good as the low light bites but you can get enough to keep you entertained usually on edges or in deeper water.

Anyone measure ice down on the bay??? I swear it has to over 15 and with no snow out there it should keep getting thicker

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Thanks for the tip wink so if I was to hit up park point in the morning, would I find a decent bite up at boyscout, or is that a morning/evening bite as well?

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The river in general is a early late bite in the winter. Boyscout has been SLOW.

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That seemed to be the theme last year as well. I fished boyscout very briefly last year, had to leave after about an hour after I stepped in someones hole and got wet blush The river still seems to be calling my name however.

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Went 4 for 5 tonight on the bay nothing huge but 3 over 15 that were all released. Better bite than I thought with that front rolling through had to downsize before I started getting bite.

Counted 12 houses out there with one smaller SUV driving out to that wheel house. Should be interesting to see how many people start driving out this weekend...

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Grits did ya see me and the Otter Ice Camo Cabin down towards the 10'er? I had about the same luck. Bobber rod caught 3 and jigging a small glow red/gold backed stop sign caught 3 and a pout. Very short window but fast while it lasted.

Where were you and what in? Small blue Clam kinda by yourself?

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I did not notice you northlander or any otter ice camo so I must have been away from you. Were you out by the airport???? I was kinda by myself until some shacks setup right by me and yes was in a small blue clam out towards the channel from that wheel house right off the point. Was fishing in 8.5ft and had all my fish spaced out fairly well with nothing even nudging my bobber rod, gotta experiment with my bobber more instead of being so lazy and leaving the same thing on it! All fish came on jigging raps/chubbys again just like yesterday morn only lookers on the spoons I dropped

Did the bite die shortly after sunset for you also?? Seems like the bite is even shorter than last year...I stopped marking them after 4:20 besides one that came by and hit hard

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The bite almsot always dies right after dark for me. I usually pull up the bobber/deadstick a few extra inches just before dark so Im not wasting prime time fighting a pout or sturg.

I was to your west then. You must have walked out from the rowing club?

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Just walked out off the point you can just park on the street side opposite the bay by the rowing club right? Have always wanted to walk out from there but didnt want to get a ticket.

Fished similar area and deeper this morning with about the same luck again. Got one bigger girl that looked like she had been a life long river resident but gave a heck of a fight.

The cutter also went through today so stay far away from that channel...it was a cool site besides the really load ice cracks and water sloshing out of the holes!

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Hit the bay off park point and set up in 11.5' of water. Had 3 fish pretty quick but as the sun set it died. Deadsticked minnow on a glow/red moon jig got 2 the 3rd was on a small rainbow glow forage minnow spoon. Raps, darters and flyers that usually work did nothing for me.

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ive been fishing the bay for the last 10 days but never catch anything on my bobber line. I use different lures and tailhook my chub minnows most the time but with no result usually 10" off th bottom. My jig line works though any help would be cool. But I also need nobodys secrets.

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • leech~~
      Nope not me.  May want to go nextdoor and ask around?  
    • smurfy
      Looks to me like Leech brought his chair home!!😅😆
    • Brianf.
      I'm not there, so I can't tell exactly what's going on but it looks like a large area of open water developed in the last day with all of the heavy snow on the east side of wake em up Narrows. These two photos are from my Ring Camera facing north towards Niles Point.  You can see what happened with all of snow that fell in the last three days, though the open water could have been wind driven. Hard to say. .  
    • SkunkedAgain
      Black Bay had great ice before but a few spots near rockpiles where there were spots of open water. It looks like the weight of the snow has created a little lake in the middle of the bay.  
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the south end...   Thanks to some cold spring weather, ice fishing continues strong for those still ice fishing.  The bite remains very good.  Most resorts have pulled their fish houses off for the year, however, some still have fish houses out and others are allowing ATV and side by sides.  Check social media or call ahead to your favorite resort for specifics. Reports this week for walleyes and saugers remain excellent.   A nice mix of jumbo perch, pike, eelpout, and an occasional crappie, tullibee or sturgeon being reported by anglers. Jigging one line and using a live minnow on the second line is the way to go.  Green, glow red, pink and gold were good colors this week.     Monster pike are on a tear!  Good number of pike, some reaching over 45 inches long, being caught using tip ups with live suckers or dead bait such as smelt and herring in 8 - 14' of water.   As always, work through a resort or outfitter for ice road conditions.  Safety first always. Fish houses are allowed on the ice through March 31st, the walleye / sauger season goes through April 14th and the pike season never ends. On the Rainy River...  The river is opened up along the Nelson Park boat ramp in Birchdale, the Frontier boat ramp and Vidas boat ramp.  This past week, much of the open water skimmed over with the single digit overnight temps.   Areas of the river have popped open again and with temps getting warmer, things are shaping up for the last stretch through the rest of the spring season, which continues through April 14th.   Very good numbers of walleyes are in the river.  Reports this week, even with fewer anglers, have been good.  When temps warm up and the sun shines, things will fire up again.   Jigs with brightly colored plastics or jigs with a frozen emerald shiner have been the desired bait on the river.  Don't overlook slow trolling crankbaits upstream as well.   Good reports of sturgeon being caught on the river as well.  Sturgeon put the feed bag on in the spring.  The bite has been very good.  Most are using a sturgeon rig with a circle hook loaded with crawlers or crawlers / frozen emerald shiners. Up at the NW Angle...  Ice fishing is winding down up at the Angle.  Walleyes, saugers, and a number of various species in the mix again this week.  The bite is still very good with good numbers of fish.  The one two punch of jigging one line and deadsticking the second line is working well.   Check with Angle resorts on transport options from Young's Bay.  Call ahead for ice road guidelines.  
    • CigarGuy
      With the drifting, kind of hard to tell for sure, but I'm guessing about a foot and still lightly snowing. Cook end!
    • PSU
      How much snow did you get on Vermilion? 
    • Mike89
      lake here refroze too...  started opening again yesterday with the wet snow and wind...  very little ice left today...
    • Hookmaster
      A friend who has a cabin between Alex and Fergus said the lake he's on refroze. He texted me a pic from March 12th when it was open and one from 23rd when it wasn't. 🤯
    • SkunkedAgain
      I don't think that there has been any ice melt in the past few weeks on Vermilion. Things looked like a record and then Mother Nature swept in again.   I'll give my revised guess of April 21st
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