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white bass fishing below TF dam


Sturgeon46

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I'll bet your spot is one of my favorites - right below the bridge? That's huge fun!

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Good to hear from ya,
Did you quit ice fishing early? But anyways I've always heard good things about that spot. Maybe even the crappies might be there too.

Good luck tell us how you do.

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So last year about this time I absolutely hammered the whites just below the dam in a large eddy on the WI side. I think some of you are likely familiar with this spot. I haven't gone up there yet this year, though I'm planning a trip on Saturday morning.

From what I've read, when the water temp reaches about 55F the whites move in, spawn, and then feed ferociously. That goes right along with what I witnessed last spring. So, has anybody else been up there yet or am I charting the course this year?

I'll post as to our results.

So'ner

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  • 1 year later...

So, fellas, it's time to continue this thread. I'm heading up to TF for white bass this weekend. Am I again charting the course or have any of you beaten me to it?

I'll post a full report. Hopefully I'll have nice things to report. grin.gif

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Is it okay to take a canoe up there? don't have a boat yet and is planning to get one this year... and are they good to eat?

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Fly,

Yes, you can take a canoe up there safely. I've canoed that stretch of river several times. The current can be somewhat swift in that area between the cliffs but if you put some elbow grease into it you'll make it up there OK.

Catching white bass up there is pretty hit and miss as has been my experience. I never know whether to expect to hammer 'em or get skunked. Any small minnow-imitating lures work fine, or just try casting a jig 'n minnow and drag it back at different depths until you find 'em suspended at a certain level.

As far as eating 'em goes I think they taste fine and have made fish patties out of white bass. Just be sure to cut out the red meat along the lateral line as it can disrupt the flavor

Good luck. grin.gif

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thanks! I might go fly fishing this weekend but if my brother changes his mind we might be up there this weekend. can you fish from shore by the dam or near it?

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Shore fishing is possible up there, Fly, but if you have the option of canoeing I'd seriously consider that first due to the increased accessibility of fishin' holes. If you're limited to the shoreline however, try a couple spots. On the MN side there's some rocky/rip-rappy (is that a word?) shoreline near the dam just south of the paddleboat landing. You oftentimes see folks rock-climbing there and it offers decent casting to eddies on the MN side. On the WI side you're able to cast to a couple of eddies from the state park. Of course this likely necessitates possessing a state park sticker for WI.

Good luck if you make it out there.

So'ner

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wde took the boat up there this afternoon. 49 degree temps. Lots of flow. Never even tryed dropping a line. Just to much water and not anough temps. Maybe next weekend.

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Maybe should've tried dropping in your line this afternoon, Mike. We got out there for 2.5 hours late this morning and did fairly well. There was another boat sitting there for a few minutes when we arrived but they left soon after we started casting. The only other watercraft we saw was a canoe passing by. Granted, it rained the whole time but that's when a good set of raingear is worth its weight in gold. Back to the topic at hand though....

The whites weren't slashing at the surface too much so we targeted them lower down in the water column. Minnow-imitating lures took the majority and live bait rigs were also a good choice. There wasn't much variability in size with all of 'em weighing in at about 1.5lbs. Kept a couple for the pan and released the rest. Not a bad day on the water all things considered.

I'll be back out there tomorrow afternoon to try it again. Now's the time, fellas. grin.gif

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How were they bitting? Minnows? Jigs? Spinners? Were there alot of people up there fishing the shorelines? I'm thinking about trying it tommorrow morning... southerner how many you catch? Well wish me luck...

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That will teach me to over look a spot. We headed back down river to check out warmer water and didnt find a thing. Ended up at the end of the day on south center catching crappies.

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Another good day on the Croix was had. There were significantly more boats and a TON of shorefisherpersons today but the bite was strong. The soaking rain we got yesterday clouded up the water somewhat but it didn't deter the fish from feeding.

3 hours on the water this afternoon yielded about a dozen white bass, a handful of nice crappies, and a smattering of walleyes & saugers. Of course all the out of season fish were safely returned to their watery environment. In fact, we kept only the crappies and ended up giving them away to others @ the boat launch. As I dropped 'em in the guy's bucket though I noticed a couple out of season species present. frown.gif Hmmmm.... Kinda chancy doing that with a park ranger a hundred yards away. Whatever. tongue.gif

In any case, fishing jig 'n minnow was the key today. The whites were all good sized and fought hard. Most appeared to be full of roe so we turned 'em all loose to spawn.

Good luck to you if you make it out this week. I'll try it again next weekend.

Southerner

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Are the white bass areas that you speak of upstream or downstream of the Hwy 8 bridge?? Thanks in advance.

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South of the bridge, Chicagoan. Like some other species, in river systems they stack near the dam prior to the spawn. If you're familiar w/Red Wing spring fishing you know what I mean.

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i was out at TF Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, basically my whole friggen weekend. i was on the WI side. the white bass is hitting pretty hard during the early morning. just use a red jig head and put a minnow on that sucker and toss it out there. the walleyes were out hitting up my casts too. i ran outta minnows on saturday morning and had to go go refill my minnow bucket because them walleyes were killing me. there were a lot of keeper walleyes too, but unfortunately they weren't open yet. i hope that the walleyes are still active for this weekends st croix walleye opener!!!!

MisterFish

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misterfish, where did u put your boat in at. I live in lindstrom and have wondered where is a good place to put in at. any info would be helpful. thanks

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you could launch your boat on the MN side. i think it is a couple of dollars cheaper and you won't have to be driving/hauling your boat through curvy roads. but if/when you ride your boat near the WI side of the TF Park/boat launch, be extra careful because it is very shallow on that side. goodluck.

MisterFish

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  • 11 months later...

Time to drag this post out again, fellas. It may be a teeny bit early for the white bass action but I'm going to give a shot tomorrow afternoon. I'm thinking the significant change in water temps and water levels might have started to trigger the run.

Full report to follow.

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Can you launch a larger boat here -lund 18 ft 135 HP or am I looking for trouble

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I'm not sure if anyone goes here much already, but I was at the creek by the powerplant in bayport this weekend, and there were quite a few white bass caught.

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Bill, with higher water (like we have now) you can launch an 18' boat no problem @ Interstate State Park. Once the water drops, however, you'll find the launch is pretty shallow so you'll have to back down a ways to comfortably get on and off the trailer.

As far as the fishing goes, the white bass were somewhat scarce but we managed a few. Water temp was still a bit cooler than I had hoped (46 F). I'm thinking 2 weeks from now it should be good. The higher temps at the discharge from the power plant is what I suspect is drawing the whites right now.

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For me whitebass in this location is a hit or miss... Not really worth it. There are soo many other locations for whitebass where it is is pretty much guranteed every single time you fish for them... Pretty much a fish on every cast. However, they only bite certain times of the day...Mainly early morning and evening....... Basically white bass fishing below the Tf dam just isnt worth it... The possiblility of getting skunked is too big...

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