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St. Louis River Walleyes


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I know it is too early to think about it, but... I just bought my first boat and was thinking about hitting the St. Louis river this spring. Do different parts of the river open at different times? I thought hwy 23 had some significance but it has been a while since I have been in that area. Also, If a person launches at the Boyscout landing, how long of a run is it up to where most people fish? I think I have heard the name Walleye Alley? I appreciate any advice or a point in the direction of info. Thanks!!

Jeff

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Above the 23 bridge doesnt open til the 19th. Otherwise you can fish all over the river on opener. If I guess right it will be a earlier spawn than last year and you will be able to catch fish in the whole system. Im guessing Boyscout and below to the top of Spirit Lake will be good this opener.

I wouldnt take your new boat by the 23 bridge. Lots of shallow rocks to get there and TONS of boats up there. I suggest you stay between Water Street and Oliver the 1st few days then gradually work your way down river each day after. Usually by the second weekend the bigger fish are in Spirit Lake area and down to the Bong Bridge area. Some may even be to Barkers Island area as well. Move until you contact fish. One hint is to think shallower than you ever thought before.

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Couple of other things to mention. Don't anchor in the channel between the bouys. The coast guard really frowns on that. Plus you'll get wet when Northlander flys by ya on his way to the next honey hole grin.gif. Don't be afraid to fish vertical even in really shallow water. Maybe take it easy and watch the other boats, they'll let you know where you can go and can't. Remember on the river it can go from 20ft to 1ft in a second.

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Very good points Randy. You will see all kinds of fools thinking they have to get in the channel and anchor to find fish. Not the case that early in the season. My motto is if you dont want to get wet stay out of the channel, its for navigation not fishing. ooo.gif ( kidding, to a point) Especially that time of year when theres a milion and one boats out there.

That time of year the bigger fish have just spawned and are recovering. I find the bigger fish I catch are almost always in 6' of water and most times less. Shallow weed stretches in low flow areas are deadly this time of year. Drift a 1/16 or 1/8th oz. jig n minnow or jig n plastic or slow troll it. Also slow troll or drift a crawler or bigger fathead. Trolling spinners will come on hot about the second week when the fish are more spread out.

Talking of the second week of fishing the river I just got word that the Grand Slam Flyers are getting mailed out this week and Skippers Kid (Tom Pfister)will have them at the boat show this week. Look for him in the Marine General booth off and on or just kicking around with us Wed night.

Good luck and have a great summer on the river. I know I will.

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I second the staying out of channels on opener. No matter if I did 5mph or 25mph I kept getting dirty looks as I went by people. So after a while I just let her fly with Northlander in my propwash, he was the only one getting wet that day smile.gif

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The only reason I was behind you was my live well was full with mine and Lotas limits and yours was empty as usual. grin.gif

Plus I figured you could get the dirty looks and birds and I would just slide on by in your wash. By the way how many guys told you that you were #1 that day? blush.gifwink.gif

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WELL BOY'S IT WILL BE A LITTLE TIME FOR THE BOATS ON THE RIVER YET BUT IT IS NICE TO SEE WE ARE READY. I THINK THIS OPENER WILL BE ONE FOR THE BOOKS IT WILL BE GREAT. LOTS OF BIG FISH AND NUMBERS OF ALL SIZES CAN'T WAIT TILL THE GRAND SLAM AND SEE WHO HASE THE GAME ON????? WHO WILLL IT BE THIS YEAR HAHAHAHAAHAHAH STEVE ARE YOU IN WELL SEE YOU AT 5:30 AT THE DEC GOOD FISHING TO ALL....

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I havn't fished the St. Louis in 5-6 years, do any of the MMC chips include this river?, if not, what would be my bestt navigation tool?.

Thanks

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My Navionics Premium North and Lake Superior Chips both have the St.Louis. They arent great detail but do a good job of getting you up and down the river and show you where the buoys are. If you dont fish Lake superior or other great lakes I would get the Premium North Chip. Marine General has them for $130 at the boat show and at the store on London road in Duluth.

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Thanks for the info guys. Looks like I am not the only one excited to get in a boat again. I thought I heard somebody talking about sturgeon up there too? When we fish the rainy river in the spring, we normally take a break from walleye fishing for a while and fish them. Loads of fun. How big of boats do you guys run on the river?

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Jeff, arn't them sturgeon on the Rainy fun. I've been going up to the Rainy for the spring season for 8 years now. The St. Louis can have the same kind of numbers some days but just not has many big ones. You do catch sturgeon on the Louie to but as far has I know its illegal to fish for them. But you will catch them fishing for other fish.

I use a 16 1/2 ft smokercraft with a 70hp motor for the river. You will see eveything from a canoe to a LK Superior boats up there fishing. Most important thing is to treat everyone the the same no matter what there fishing out of.

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Like Ran said you will see all type of boats. I used to run a 12' with a 9.9 and then moved up to a 14' with a 25 horse. I now run a 17' Explorer with a 115 yammy. What a move that was and it seems to be a great river boat. A lot of guys running 20' Rangers etc. On some days you will see Lake Superior boats in the bays but usually dont see them past Walleye Alleye.

If you run a smaller boat I suggest putting in as close to where your going to fish that day. Especially if you fish the lower bay areas where wind can come into play. The river from upper Spirit Lake and up is fairly protected and you can always find someplace to fish up there.

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Outdoor - Rainy is great. Last year was my first time because I couldn't ever get out of school , but my dad and brothers have been going for about 5 years. I had a blast and I will be doing it again this year. It is a tough trip to plan in advance though. You just kind of have to watch the conditions and go last minute to hit it right.

Northlander, That is a nice rig. It sure makes fishing more enjoyable when you can get up and walk around in the boat if you are fishing all day. I am in a 16.5' with a 60 Hp on it.

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Your right about it being a tough trip to plan. We use to book a room for 3 nights way in advance but some times we ended up ice fishing. So now we just watch Sandys report and go. Its nice having a job where you can call in fishing. Now I'm all fired up to get the boat out and go jig for some eyes.

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My bad Outdoor!!! I should have known that my boat fever it is contageous. I have it so bad that I might have to make a trip to Red Wing just to try the boat. I agree with the you about calling in fishing. When I first joined this site I was talking about fishing loopers and some guy got on my case because I was in school and had too much time to fish. He instructed me to get a real job. STFCatfish jumped in and said something to the guy. I actually ended up fishing with STF a couple of times after that... Back to the point of my story... It appears that school payed off because I still have "too much time to fish" with 6 weeks vacation each year.

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Jeff it wont come soon enough. 1st is Northerns in the shallow bays, then crappies in the back bays then its walleye time. Ya it cant come soon enough.

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Huh, LS boats won't get up past Walleye Alley. Jeff I run a 22'6" Crestliner Sabre and take it to the top right up to the dam. Might be why I get the dirty looks.

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Cheffrey

It's worth an afternoon of malt beverages or cpt. morgan to you, to be able to follow you up to the dam. I have tried a few times myself and have a few prop repair bills to prove it.

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Moderation, consider it to be my pleasure. I owe the lesson to Northlander for getting me up the first time smirk.gif. Always glad to share the way. Get in touch with me when the water opens up and we will make sure you can get there.

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Ya Cheffrey maybe this year you can plot a trail so you dont forget? With that new 25c its as easy as me schooling you in the Grand Slam! grin.gif

Seriously though I have "Graph Envy". shocked.gif Enjoy it man and if you need help learning how to run it just holler. Heck Kent can run it after using his H2O.

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Yeah, don't worry Steve. I think I have it figured out using the Emulator today on the website. Just looking through the box and somehow I ended up with 200 instead of 50/200. Gonna have to pay the general a visit and do some swapping.

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I haven't been on the Saint in over 15 years, There is a good chance I will be there this spring. Look for a 16' Mirrocraft with a 75 ficht Evenrude. Says "Fishahollik" on the windshield. I'll waive if i don;t have a fish on.

I am usually very courtious to those who are fishing if anchored or drifting. That is until I am "Waked" a few times, then I figure all bets are off.

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • Brianf.
      I'm not there, so I can't tell exactly what's going on but it looks like a large area of open water developed in the last day with all of the heavy snow on the east side of wake em up Narrows. These two photos are from my Ring Camera facing north towards Niles Point.  You can see what happened with all of snow that fell in the last three days, though the open water could have been wind driven. Hard to say. .  
    • SkunkedAgain
      Black Bay had great ice before but a few spots near rockpiles where there were spots of open water. It looks like the weight of the snow has created a little lake in the middle of the bay.  
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the south end...   Thanks to some cold spring weather, ice fishing continues strong for those still ice fishing.  The bite remains very good.  Most resorts have pulled their fish houses off for the year, however, some still have fish houses out and others are allowing ATV and side by sides.  Check social media or call ahead to your favorite resort for specifics. Reports this week for walleyes and saugers remain excellent.   A nice mix of jumbo perch, pike, eelpout, and an occasional crappie, tullibee or sturgeon being reported by anglers. Jigging one line and using a live minnow on the second line is the way to go.  Green, glow red, pink and gold were good colors this week.     Monster pike are on a tear!  Good number of pike, some reaching over 45 inches long, being caught using tip ups with live suckers or dead bait such as smelt and herring in 8 - 14' of water.   As always, work through a resort or outfitter for ice road conditions.  Safety first always. Fish houses are allowed on the ice through March 31st, the walleye / sauger season goes through April 14th and the pike season never ends. On the Rainy River...  The river is opened up along the Nelson Park boat ramp in Birchdale, the Frontier boat ramp and Vidas boat ramp.  This past week, much of the open water skimmed over with the single digit overnight temps.   Areas of the river have popped open again and with temps getting warmer, things are shaping up for the last stretch through the rest of the spring season, which continues through April 14th.   Very good numbers of walleyes are in the river.  Reports this week, even with fewer anglers, have been good.  When temps warm up and the sun shines, things will fire up again.   Jigs with brightly colored plastics or jigs with a frozen emerald shiner have been the desired bait on the river.  Don't overlook slow trolling crankbaits upstream as well.   Good reports of sturgeon being caught on the river as well.  Sturgeon put the feed bag on in the spring.  The bite has been very good.  Most are using a sturgeon rig with a circle hook loaded with crawlers or crawlers / frozen emerald shiners. Up at the NW Angle...  Ice fishing is winding down up at the Angle.  Walleyes, saugers, and a number of various species in the mix again this week.  The bite is still very good with good numbers of fish.  The one two punch of jigging one line and deadsticking the second line is working well.   Check with Angle resorts on transport options from Young's Bay.  Call ahead for ice road guidelines.  
    • CigarGuy
      With the drifting, kind of hard to tell for sure, but I'm guessing about a foot and still lightly snowing. Cook end!
    • PSU
      How much snow did you get on Vermilion? 
    • Mike89
      lake here refroze too...  started opening again yesterday with the wet snow and wind...  very little ice left today...
    • Hookmaster
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    • SkunkedAgain
      I don't think that there has been any ice melt in the past few weeks on Vermilion. Things looked like a record and then Mother Nature swept in again.   I'll give my revised guess of April 21st
    • leech~~
      As I get older it's really not just about sending bullets down range.  Some of it's just the workmanship of the gun and the wow factor. The other two guns I have really wanted which I'll never have now because of their price, is a 8mm Jap Nambu and 9mm German Luger.   Just thought they always looked cool!  
    • jim curlee
      I had a guy hit me with a lightly used 1969 BAR, he wanted $1650 with an older Leupold scope. More than I think they are worth, I made an offer, he declined end of story.   You know if you look at the old brochures, a grade II BAR sold for $250 in the late 60s, $1650 would be a good return on your investment.    Why would anybody want a 50 year old gun, they are heavy, have wood stocks, and blued metal.  I guess mainly to keep their gun safes glued to the floor. lol   You can probably buy a stainless rifle that you never have to clean, with a synthetic stock you never have to refinish, is as light as a feather, and for half as much money, perfect.   I'm too old for a youth gun, although I've shrunk enough that it would probably fit. lol   No Ruger 10/44s.   Jim      
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