Fishing report for the St. Louis River

[FowlSki]

Musky opener on the river follows the wi northern musky opener so it was last weekend.  

[Wanderer]

The fish is basically 100% C&R protected.  May as well open them up with pike and walleye like we’ve done with bass.  Spread the pressure out.

 

Yes, these words were typed by someone who targets and is concerned about the health of the muskies he catches.

[tacklejunkie]

 The flats are on!!!    Crank baits to crawler harnesses with  just one small split shot  all have caught fish for me.

 

 I’ve been trolling the tiny planer boards on days that are calm enough and fun watching them sink like a bobber with a fish on them. I got them as a gift and they work good as long as you don’t troll in too much chop or too much weight

 

 Lots of 16 to 18 inchers. Releasing many but taking one or two home for supper.

[osok]

5 hours ago, tacklejunkie said:

 The flats are on!!!    Crank baits to crawler harnesses with  just one small split shot  all have caught fish for me.

 

 I’ve been trolling the tiny planer boards on days that are calm enough and fun watching them sink like a bobber with a fish on them. I got them as a gift and they work good as long as you don’t troll in too much chop or too much weight

 

 Lots of 16 to 18 inchers. Releasing many but taking one or two home for supper.

 

 Nicely done Tacklejunkie, I fished the harbor for a few hours this weekend after fishing in the bay,. All I was able to produce was 2 decent-ish sized Perch and lost one (Walleye) at the boat (Which if was a keeper, would've barely been 15"). 

Edited June 12, 2019 by osok
spelling

[tacklejunkie]

It seems mornings have been best. 

[rkhinrichs]

Does the upper sections of the St. Louis River have a fishing populations of smallmouth bass in it? worth a float? The sections I am looking at are around  Hwy 53  and Hwy 7? If you could give me some advice that would be great. 

[Bigfatbert]

Not sure about the Smallmouth on the river in these upper stretches that your inquiring about ,but i do know that Catfish, Walleye, Northern, Sunfish are all possible.. Bring the bug spray ..

[Wanderer]

Never seen it myself but I looked at the satellite images and thought it looked worth a float.  The dam would probably tell you what you want to know.  Couple good gravel bars too.  Maybe the water is dark or it is mainly deeper - that I can’t tell.

 

I fished the Cloquet a little where 53 and 33 meet and found good action so I’m assuming the St. Louis would be similar in that area?

[Jarrid Houston]

Yes, smallies thrive in the upper reaches of select areas of the St Louis. Lots of structure to get caught up in, but great small mouth habitat.

[macgruber]

Was a few years ago, but wade fly fished upstream of 53 for a half day.  Tried every popper and minnow pattern fly in my box with no success.  Finally in the middle of the day switched to a larger brown bugger that looked like a crayfish and caught them till I got tired of it.  Unless things have changed, there’s a lot of bass in there.  Not a ton of size, but every now and then you’ll pop a nice one.

[rkhinrichs]

I fished at the Forbes canoe access below the dam one day. And caught a 16 inch on a fly. I will give it a float and report back after the fourth

[Rick]

How's the river looking?

[tacklejunkie]

Pretty slow on on the river but we did manage to scrape out a few. Tried trolling crawler harnesses, spinners tipped with , chubs, and small crank baits. It was a struggle to catch fish but the water temperature plus the air temperature were very cold.

 

 All methods did catch fish. But with warmer temperatures coming it should  improve things   going to the end of May

 

Everything was pretty shallow. It’s kind of fun to troll along and catch a fish and not have to do much reeling in just lift the rod right of the rod holder and  fish in the boat

 

I’m to the point now that I don’t care if I miss the Minnesota fishing opener. It was a zoo out there on Saturday

Edited May 15, 2020 by tacklejunkie

[tacklejunkie]

 In my experience, it seems like the crawler harnesses with bigger blades are always the best on the river and the bay.  

 

It just seems like no matter what else I use and where the fish are on the river, the crawler harnesses with larger blades outproduce everything else, at least for me

 

Is it just me or do other people find that to be true for themselves

[tacklejunkie]

Gave it a go over the weekend. Nothing F and F  but did get our a limit. Harnesses with the standard chartreuse blades trolling at 1.4-1.6. Did play with some flicker minnows and flicker shads and nothing on the minnows but did get two and released a nice one on the shads

 

Just troll the flats. The fish LOVE those crawlers.

 

 

 

 

Edited May 26, 2020 by tacklejunkie

[tacklejunkie]

 Headed out yesterday morning and got my two walleye limit pretty quickly. Also picked up about three undersized walleyes. 

 

I trolled number six blades  all along the flats between the bridges and  the Bay. Trolled about 1.5-1.7

Surprisingly, my best producer was the purple blade

[tacklejunkie]

What an odd day today. Started out calm and picked up some dinky island lake type  walleyes in front of Barkers Island. 

 

 Every single walleye was the same size. All below that 15 inch mark.  Everything came right off the back of the boat with crawler harness and a bottom bouncer.   I don’t really use my planer boards on the river or the bay anymore unless I’m fishing with three people or more and want to spread out rods.  Once your tackle gets more than 10 inches below the water it disappears from sight  and I find planer boards more of a hassle than any other method I fish with

 

Then the wind really picked up and for some strange reason that seem to shut down the bite.  And I don’t mean shut down, I mean completely shut off. I’m going to head up near the Oliver bridge and Spirit Lake tomorrow and I will post my results here.

[Rick]

Thank you @tacklejunkie!

 

TJ is sharing great info. It would be nice to get a group going here.....Anyone else out fishing?

[tacklejunkie]

13 minutes ago, Rick said:

Thank you @tacklejunkie!

 

TJ is sharing great info. It would be nice to get a group going here.....Anyone else out fishing?

 

Yeah I’m starting to feel kind of lonely here

[Wanderer]

Still enjoy reading your reports @tacklejunkie even if I don’t fish the St. Louis or Duluth area.  Now if you told me I was missing out big time on muskies up there I might go see what I could raise!

[tacklejunkie]

15 minutes ago, Wanderer said:

Still enjoy reading your reports @tacklejunkie even if I don’t fish the St. Louis or Duluth area.  Now if you told me I was missing out big time on muskies up there I might go see what I could raise!

 

Well, I don’t actively fish for muskies in the river but I have lost a few walleyes to them

 

 They must be big because some of the walleyes have lost to them were around that 15-16 inch range

 

The river is great fishing but some days are better than others. And you don’t need a bunch of fancy equipment. Jigs, crank baits, and especially crawler harnesses are all you need. 

 

 The same equipment that you use to catch walleye in other lakes in Minnesota will work on the river except you get to use two of what you have instead of one

[tacklejunkie]

Zip. Nothing. NADA

 

I started to get nauseated for some reason so I did wrap it up early though. Not a single fish

[Wishin4Walleyes]

Wanted to hit lake today but that NE blow forced us to hide in the Bay. Pulled plugs from 4pm to 8pm. Lost something pretty darn heavy right away and then it got quiet. Got a 19" eye and 1 dink eye in 4 hrs. Cold, windy and slow. Few other big boats trolling in the Bay with us and didnt see a net raised. Felt like october out there today.

[tacklejunkie]

I went out yesterday afternoon and it looked like the wind was going to die down and headed to Allouez Bay. It was calmer in the afternoon then it was in the morning which is fine because I worked part of the morning

 

Fished from 430 to about 7:45 and caught five fish released everything that was over 18 and kept two. Caught a smallish northern pike also and that was fun

 

Just crawler harnesses off the back with a light split shot And a couple rods right off the back had bottom bouncers 8 feet from the boat. Stayed in about 5 to 7 feet of water.  Speed was about 1.4 to 1.6 gps 

 

 I think next week I’m gonna  hit the big lake 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 12, 2020 by tacklejunkie

[tacklejunkie]

One word to describe the last two days.....dead. One small walleye. So I headed out to the Big Lake and zilch. 

 

Combo of of the NE  winds and I think a lot of the walleyes are already out of the river

[Wanderer]

Bummer.  NE winds are against the current there aren’t they?  I hate fishing rivers when there’s a strong wind against the current.

[tacklejunkie]

 I hit the bay and the big lake today and nothing. The boat inspector at the Boatlanding said that that’s been the case for the last three days For just about everybody she talked to.

 

Time to start hitting Fish and Island Lake

[Wishin4Walleyes]

Anybody been out on the river this fall? Was thinking of trying the harbor this weekend but have never fished it this late in the year. Is it even worth it or go try the river mouths for some salmon?

[JBMasterAngler]

Not the ideal time of year for salmon. But if the lake can actually calm down for a few minutes, it’s always worth it!

[Wishin4Walleyes]

With this warmup has anyone had any luck on the river? Flats in the harbor holding any fish?