St. Croix Late May Report

[Turk]

With the no wake finally lifted fisherman can open the boat up past closed throttle and burn some gas again. I will say that the no wake kept many anglers off the river and it was quiet and peaceful.

Wisconsin shore line of St.

Croix River 7am all is quiet

Since last wednesday the 21st the bite has been strong, it does not matter cranks or crawlers in terms of what the walleye want just find the active fish and it has been very fun catching.

Win with his 24"

walleye released that

thumped his leech and stayed

on the bottom for a while.

Win was using orange color

Suffix all day and you know

in the sun, I do think that

line caught the walleyes

attention more than the

clear mono. Win would say it was the angler not the line.

For crawler fishing depths from 10 to 22 have been most consistent and I would pick 16 to 17' as the main target zone. On guide trips we have used mostly 3/8 ounce lindy weights. If running into into the strong current 3/4 has been average weight. No doubt we are targeting the bottom (as always when rigging) and the take is a soft thud. I have not seen one deep hooked walleye all spring, all fish mouth hooked.

Tony with a nice 23"

walleye that was released

this fish hit a crawler.

With the water temperature coming up fast, leeches are now turning and getting walleyes attention. Rigging with leeches and crawlers this time of year is interchangeable for me. Both are now must have. Hard to come up with any magic tips, for rigging, I guess I would say though that I am seeing many different sizes of fish and differing species mixed together.

Joe and his 23" walleye

caught on a boat turn. Joe

followed his line in the

circle and lifted for the

hook set.

Crankbait fishing with Rapalas also has been very successful and with the dropping water this search method works so well. Again I target the bottom and troll about 2.0 mph average, slower into fast current and faster away from current. Shad Raps are hard to beat in my opinion and are the gold standard in the crankbait world. Colors are all over the board, i fish lures vs. colors. Meaning I will run a tried and true lure as it is a proven producer over a "color" they want. Chartreuse, gold, crawdad, and blue are standard river producers. Firetiger is a must.

Have fun out there and Keep Catchin'

Turk

[DonBo]

Great report Turk. Keep on catchin'.

[Sandmannd]

Awesome report Turk!

[Turk]

Decompress time - St. Croix River early morning on Memorial Day.

Steve Thein with a 22.5" walleye he landed livebait rigging with a leech. Upon capture of this willy walleye Steve said "Very light bite, and I let him have it for ten seconds before I set the hook". Nice! Released to reproduce.

The St. Croix River has risen in water temperature fast, as a result we are seeing some catfish and other species as well.

This fish was taken using a Limit Creek LCS69MLF "smoothie" rod on the cast. I cast up shallow on the feeding shelf and was lucky enough to connect with this healthy 25" walleye. Released to reproduce.

The willow river of Wisconsin flows into Lake Malileau, Lake Malileau flows into the St. Croix. Lake Malileau is chock full of silt and sediment from the recent torential rains and looks terrible. There is a distinguishable mudline flowing from Malileau all the way down into the Hudson Channel. I avoid this muddy water for fishing.

Steve Thien with another nice walleye from the St. Croix this fish also hit a leech while livebait rigging. Catch and release. Steve had the mojo going.

Of note we are not seeing many smallmouth at all. I am sure they are in 2 to 4 feet in the flooded brush. It has been all walleye soon the smallmouth trips will start.

river level 683.4

minimal debris

water temp 73

[Turk]

Fishing tip -

Hook your livebait so it tear off the hook and does not interfere with the hook finding its mark in the fishes mouth. You do this by barely hooking the bait. I call this hooking your bait “lean” as opposed to “rich”. Anglers hook their bait rich so it does not become stolen. Bait is to be used not conserved!