st louis river St.Louis River fishing report

[FishinFreak17]

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Not what I expected for the opener! One walleye (24.5", female full of eggs, released) after 6 hours of fishing with 3 guys in the boat. We launched at Clyde at 6am and there were only 6 trailers in the parking lot and we had only one boat at the ramp. We started out bottom bouncing crawler harnesses (various colors) with no bites. Fished 4 - 15 FOW along channel breaks and flats towards Spirit Lake and just above Spirit. NOTHING!

 

Lots of boats out there too, no nets moving and everyone we talked to had been skunked. Headed up to just past Boy Scout landing and started trolling crank baits. A #5 shad rap, perch color, caught the only fish around 11am. It was barely hooked and came out as I was netting it. We put all cranks on and not another strike. We tried jigging, casting rippin' raps, lead core with harnesses...they stayed tight lipped. We marked very few fish. DNR at the ramp noted one other fish caught. We enjoyed the sun after the wind died down around 10am. Great day to be out on the water...if only the fish would cooperate! Good luck out there!

[tacklejunkie]

Same here. Pretty tough but I was fishing again in a boat after a tough winter so I was happy.

Caught a nice tan on my forearms,though

[nodq]

Is the fishing pier going back at the boy scout landing? They have the boat launch open but it doesn't look like there is even a spot for the fishing pier to go.

[Jack Stasney]

Yes fro what I understand the fishing pier will still be at Boyscout, but it is being moved away from the launch. For good reason! Yeah today was a muddy mess. Did manage a few hits jigging, but that was it.

[Simon M.]

Yikes. I wonder what next weekend is gonna bring?

[Muskeye]

Nothing new to report, didn't catch any yesterday. Saw some 50 degree water though. Fishing should pick up upriver pretty quick.

[tracker185]

fished around buoy 61,saturday around 430 to 600. in 5 feet of water, boated 6 males under 15 inches. water was 45 degrees, running fast and dirty. hope it settles down this weekend for the tourement. good luck to everbody. used jig and minnow. tracker 185

[Jack Stasney]

If it doesn't rain that much starting Wednesday at the latest it is going to be a grind, and that will just be the part where you dodge full grown trees! Good news will be that if you catch anything you will have a chance of being in the money!

[Jack Stasney]

Also talked to the DNR guys at Clyde about the spawn. He said the walleyes they'd checked still had green eggs in them.

[Northlander]

All the fish I have caught have been rock solid. Water was still about 45 degrees. I like 50.

As far as the bite I only got 4 walleyes in 2 half days. 3 ways with a TON of lead and stick baits caught 3 and 1 was caught on a spinner/bouncer. Caught plenty of nice suckers on jigs and crawlers though.

[Simon M.]

Is there still a lot of debris floating in the river? I certainly don't want to lose a lower unit!

[ntrends]

With any luck the river will calm down some by this weekend. High muddy water has made for a tough bite but some of the "usual spots" are producing small numbers of fish. For those of you fishing this year's Berg Construction Walleye cup, don't forget to bring a copy of your boat insurance and your digital camera that accepts a SD card to the rules meeting, Friday, May 16th. Registration begins at 6:00 p.m. with rules meeting at 7:00 p.m. Rules meeting will be held at the Riverside Bar and Grill at the base of Spirit Mountain off of Grand Ave. We will have a table set up for you to check your camera and make sure it is working properly.

Good luck all!!

[musky hunter]

Finally had time to get out on the river last night, high water and tight lipped walleyes. In 3 hours I managed two nice eyes (17 & 20, both males) and two of the biggest suckers I've ever caught. The suckers were CPR'd, the eye's are on the dinner table tonight.I was above Hwy 23 using jigs and minnows. Current so fast I had to go to a 1/2 ounce jig, lighter stuff just moves too fast. I live in Superior and put in at Arrowhead, had to use the GPS to get home slowly in the thick fog last night. Without it I'd still be doing circles.

[musky hunter]

You need to pay attention but the river is high which is good, you can make a mistake and the prop is a foot or two over the same place last year. I noticed a couple small islands dissapeared, near the campgrounds. That usually makes a shallow bar someplace. And there are still a few logs from two years ago, mostly up toward the hwy 23 bridge. the coast guard is no longer putting out buoys. That is the greater issue. If you have a mapping gps, no problem, the buoy locations are well marked where they should be. With not much emergent vegitation, it's more likely you'll run up on shallow water just off the channel than to hit a submerged object, since you cannot see the channel edges. I did that last night because when you go slow, the gps doesn't work as good as the arrow cursor deviates from course due to the gps error and I was all fogged in. Just use caution.

[Northlander]

Well it seems like the bite is picking up or maybe there was just a lot more folks on the water this Labor Day weekend.

Reports are coming in from all over the river from the d a m to the entries that folks are finding fish. Some BIG ones too. Flats with spinners or stick baits seems best but some are still up top jiggin them up.

Cranks are also working and most of those reports are from 61 up.

[osok]

Thanks for the report Northlander, glad to hear that the bite is improving. Between the work thing and da boss' "huny-do" list, my poor boat is suffering from land rot. Maybe early next week I can slink away for a few hours.

[Flyin Ryan]

I jumped out on the river today from 1130-1300. Headed up river from Arrowhead. I told my buddy it seemed like there were more buoys than normal, sure enough the coast guard was putting some back in. They had gotten to buoy number 26 last I saw. Managed to pick up one nice eater on a crawler harness, finally able to restore a bit of river confidence!!!

[Northlander]

Ya the buoys should have been out for the opener. Thats a huge safety risk if ya ask me. In my opinion they should have never been taken out. Even for someone like me who knows the river pretty good and have a good gps it can get tricky in areas at some times with out buoys to help guide you.

[Jack Stasney]

Caught this Sheepshead last night on the river. Can't say I've ever seen one as big myself in person. Nothing official but it was around 25-26in and 8-9lbs by my estimation. Fought a good fight too. Got a few eyes as well. Nice night out.

[Simon M.]

+1 Jack

[tacklejunkie]

Is that fish good table fare?

[osok]

Fished the up river yesterday and had an incredible day. Just too bad I couldn't find anyone to join me @ the last moment. Chartreuse or Pink Crawler harnesses were the hot colors for me. Probably went 50/50 for colors, with pink getting the nod from the bigger fishes. There are some big fish milling around up river.

[Flyin Ryan]

Caught this female in the river on Friday. Has anyone ever come across a walleye with a tail like this before? Wondering if its an injury or a genetic deformity.

[musky hunter]

Once in a while you get a deformed fish, sometimes even wondering how it survived. Probably got injured as a fry, we'll never know. Either way, probably better to take the fish as you'll never taste a bend.

[musky hunter]

The nice thing about living up here is the ease of being able to get out. Came home from a trip to the cities and just couldn't sit home Sunday afternoon, so hooked up the boat and slipped her in. Trolled Arrowhead flats with a Wally Diver and an assortment of raps. Both eyes came on the Wally Diver and ignored everything else I tried up to the other line. Some days are like that. Both hits were very subtle, the rod tip barely bent and I was trolling a walleye that wasn't objecting too much. 16" and 19", both males. Tasty. Judging by the activity, one or two fish per hour was about as good as any boat was doing. Not fast and furious, can't wait until it is.

[Jack Stasney]

Nice weather so I got out tonight. Hit the wind blown side of the narrow island near the channel in Spirit lake, but nothing. Decided to pull cranks up by 61 and got one both passes. Water was really moving and to a certain degree murky, but was still what I call fishable.

[osok]

I've noticed more boats fishing the harbor area lately. Anybody have any reports to share??

[FishinFreak17]

OSOK,

I have trolled cranks on along the channel in 7 to 9 fow. Limited out 2 nights in a row. Only two boats out there, though hard to find in the fog. Lots of 13 and 14 inch eyes before you get a couple of keepers. Gold and clown colors worked well. Good luck out there.

[osok]

Thanks for the report FishingFreak. I ended up going to Island Lake today. If I get out tomorrow I'll be on the river fo' sure.

[osok]

Thanks for the report FishingFreak. I ended up going to Island Lake today. If I get out tomorrow I'll be on the river fo' sure.