Fishing Advice for August when I bring my Son up to Attend College in the Twin Cities

[NM Fisher]

I am from New Mexico. I will be bringing my son up to the twin cities to attend college in August. We will be driving up so we can fish along the way. When we get to Minnesota we want to spend a few days fishing north of the twin cities. We have visited twice, and went to the St. Croix River the last time , but have never fished. Could someone tell me what my best bet is in mid August. I was thinking of renting a boat, kayak, or canoe and fishing our way around for 3 days. We will be camping, so I was also curious about the bugs that time of year. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[JBMasterAngler]

Beanies resort rents out fishing boats. I'm sure there are several other places that have rentals also. Every state park on the river has canoe rentals. Afton and William O'Brien State Parks have camping. Recreation traffic will be extremely heavy that time of year.

[daveluke]

As someone who mainly canoes and kayaks the St. Croix I would concentrate on north of Stillwater that time of year. As already mentioned, the recreation traffic will be heavy that time of year and that can be hectic for smaller boats on the bigger water. If you want to rent a fishing boat you can poke around south of Stillwater fine.

If you do go the canoe/kayak route, William O'Brien is quite nice. The river can fluctuate (height and thus speed) during the summer a good deal but in general you can get into some nice fishing this stretch of the river (more smallmouth than walleye I would say). There are many islands and inlets that don't get too much fishing pressure as they are somewhat less accessible than the bigger water. Quite beautiful stretch of river here.

Other parks are Interstate (both the MN and WI side) and a bit further north is Wild River.

Bugs...there will be many! Not a huge problem on the water but camping...yes.

You could also camp right on the river...

http://www.nps.gov/sacn/planyourvisit/camping.htm

Have fun!

[NM Fisher]

Thanks for the advice. I saw the beanies resort online. My wife and I went up to St Croix State park the last time we visited. Like you said they had canoe rentals. I will start checking that area out and pay attention to the fishing reports as it gets closer. I am not use to crowds living in New Mexico, so I figure the further away from Minneapolis I get the less people. Also we will be fishing during the weekday. Hopefully that helps.

[nofishfisherman]

You are correct that the further north you do the less boat traffic you'll get.

I've done a few canoe trips up toward St. Croix state park and its a nice place to paddle. The river up there is to shallow to run larger boats so its pretty much just canoes up there making for a much more peaceful trip. Its also not developed so you don't see houses or cars while paddling.

Its been a few years but the canoe outfitter at St. Croix St Park use to run two canoe trips. A 3 mile trip that starts at the rental landing and ends 3 miles down river where a shuttle will pick you up and bring you and the canoe back to the starting point. The other trip is roughly 10 miles and it starts with a shuttle ride up river and then you paddle your way back to the landing. The 10 mile trip is really nice because you can take your time because you don't have a scheduled pick up time. I've done the 10 mile trip a couple times and it usually takes me the entire day to do because I'll go very slow virtually the entire way back. If a spot is good I'll paddle back upstream and fish it multiple times. There are also lots of nice spots to get out and swim and picnic along the way.

As far as fish you can expect small mouth, northern pike, walleye, etc. Just depends on the day.

[NM Fisher]

Thanks for the great advice. we drove up to St Croix State Park last September while my son was visiting the college. It seemed more remote, and I noticed they had canoe rentals. I would like to be able to rent a canoe or kayaks, and maybe have the option to fish the river and a lake or two in the same trip. Are there places in the Minneapolis area where I could rent the boat(s), do my fishing up north, and then return them when I come back in town?

What species would I be fishing for that far north on the river? I would love to get into some smallmouth on my fly rod.

I am not use to bugs in New Mexico. When you say there will be plenty do you mean mosquitos? I always hear about black flies. Will they be a problem?

Sorry for so many questions. I have never spent time outdoors in the north country, and New Mexico is quite different. I appreciate your help.

[NM Fisher]

Thanks for your reply, It is very helpful. The 10 mile trip sounds great. I will start researching it. Like you said we could take our time and fish our way back. I am looking forward to exploring that area.

[nofishfisherman]

If you want to fish the river and some lakes I'd look at renting from two different spots to save yourself the hassle of shuttling cars and hauling a canoe. If you bring your own canoe to the St. Croix you either need to paddle back to your car which means paddling upstream or you need to take the canoe out downstream and then get a ride back to your car.

You could rent the canoe at St. Croix state park and spend the entire day fishing the 10 mile stretch of river and then if you want to explore a lake or two the next day I'd suggest heading to the Minneapolis chain of lakes. There are places to rent canoes on Lake Calhoun. Its a no motor lake so you won't have to deal with motor boats while in a canoe. You can do a lot of exploring and fishing from Calhoun. There are also bike trails all the way around and on a nice summer day you'll have some good "scenery" to enjoy. Your college age son will probably enjoy that part. Calhoun can also have some good fishing for multiple species but I don't personally fish it much so can't offer a ton of advice.

In August bugs start to die down a little bit. You'll still have mosquitos and black flies but it can be really dependent on your exact location.They can change from area to area. During mid day you shouldn't have too much trouble with mosquitoes, they don't tend to come out until closer to dark. Either way bring some bug spray and hope for the best.

If you want Smallies then I'd for sure go do the trip down the St. Croix. Smallies were the bulk of what I've caught on my trips up there. You won't see any in the local city lakes.

[NM Fisher]

After I read your last post I called Parduns Canoe Rental. They have the canoe rentals in the state park. They have the trips you mentioned, and seem to be flexible in setting up shuttles for other trips. They also will rent you a canoe or kayak that you can take to area lakes and return back to them. That works out perfect. I can just show up and fish. Thanks so much for the help. I appreciate it. One last fishing trip with my son before he heads off to college.

I will bring the repellant. Maybe I will get lucky.

Smallmouth are what I really want to catch. We have some here at in the lakes and they fight great. Especially on a fly rod. Thanks again and take care. I will send you a message when I get back and let you know how it went.

[fishuhalik]

The St. Croix is a great fishery, like all these guys have said. You'll do great with your fly rod. Smallies should be in shallow in the am & pm. As far as spinning gear, you don't know what to use for smallmouth, just say something and I'll let you know. 

If if you really want isolation, check out the BWCAW. It's just a few hours farther north & the scenery is spectacular. Bugs (Mosquitos & deer flies) will be kinda bad but only when you're at the campground. 

[tunrevir]

NMfisher, you should have no problems flyfishing for smallies on the Croix.  I would bring a mixture of poppers and streamers in a crawdad pattern.  The old wooly buggers can be hard to beat as well.  Smallies will tend to be shallow near rock and wood cover right near shore and you may get surprised by a pike or two as well.  The pike will hang in slack water areas with a more muddy bottom with woody debris, smallies will hang tight to rocks, sand bars and downed trees and at the heads and tails of rocky riffles.  If you run into any creek inlets or cold water seeps, fish the mouth and slightly downstream as these areas often hold some big pike and smallies during the warmth of summer.  August the surface bite can be pretty good and especially good during low light periods.

Tunrevir~