Unusual Catches On The River

[walleyecheeks]

I took my brother out on the croix about 5yrs ago. Not an outdoors. We were fishing for some eyes near Stillwater. He's like I got a bite I told him give him the hook. So he did said its a small. Got it up to the boat and it was a top for a womens bathing suit. Then about 20mn later he got a clam and a nice one at that. He catches everthing but fish.

[fdr01]

my old man was fishing under prescott bridge and he saw a hawk divebomb on a pigeon he said it exploded(the pigeon) and he caught the feathers.he also has caught numerous rod and reels,he gives me some, i lube em up,if there anygood i keep em.fdr

[lotsofish]

I almost caught a loon the other day...

I stopped by Long Lake (New Brighton) on Friday to cast a slip bobber from the pier and see if anything was going on. First cast out, about 10 seconds later, a loon surfaced right between me and my bobber heading right toward my line. I think it saw me and it started to go back under, but my line did catch on it's back and it drug it along a little bit. It turned out to be no big deal, but I was worried for a minute about hooking the thing.

I didn't stay too long, no bites.

[HossFisher]

There have been numerous times where i have almost hooked a loon. Fortunatly i never have hooked one. Once i was fishing a plastic worm on in 12ft of water as it got to the boat i started to reel it up and the second a pulled it out of the water a loon cruised by underneath the water. (it was chasing my plastic worm)!

[river rat316]

Had a loon cost me my Personal Best largemouth last year, I was playing it out next to the boat cuase I had a crankbait on and didn't want a handful of hooks and angry fish attached to it, and out shoots this loon from underneath the boat and takes a stab at the fish (the fish was almost bigger than the loon ) the loon missed once and came back again and missed, went underneath my boat, and I probably should have landed the fish then but I was to busy cleaning the crap out of my shorts , and he came back a third time and nicks the line with his beak and off swims a huge largemouth with a vintage bagley in his grill! The worst part was the stupid loon surfaced about 10 feet from the boat, and I started to cuss it out and tell it if it wasn't the state bird it'd be a dead bird by now, and the dam thing stands up in the water and flaps it wings at me and dives back under .... I sat there with a stupid look on my face cause I just got told off by a bird that probably thought I was responsible for ruining the biggest meal of his life

[JBMasterAngler]

That loon flipped you the bird...literally!!!

[croixeyes]

Unusual catches on the Croix mmmmmmmmmm.Lets see rod and reels,clams,beer cans,american eel,mudpuppy,underwear...they fit nice and loose a bunch of lures including one of Turks secret baits a ton of old line and rigs and my dog.{dont let your crankbaits dangle around curious puppies}.

[Fisherman For a Lifetime]

This is odd (& kinda a relief...)

I was floating thru the Kinnickinnic channel with my (now ex) GF, she caught a nice4 lb walleye. Instead of my usual reeling up, I put the rod down to net her fish, and (of course) the vertical bait I had caught something, snagged and over the rod & reel went right into the water!! This is because the current was taking us downstream of course. Man, I swore, then no more than "5" minutes later, a guy was trolling behind us AND CAUGHT MY ROD & REEL !!

He reeled 'er in and gave it back to me - what a great guy !!!

...and what a relief getting a nice, new, Rod & Reel back !!!

[bassphish2005]

I hooked a muskrat on a spinnerbait many years ago

used a paddle to dislodge the hook

didn't want the thing in my boat....no way

[slipperybob]

It was getting dark, we were still fishing...next thing I knew my line was getting a tug at and it was going up. I can see it, it was a bat! Darn bat attacked my slip bobber stopper and got tangled on the fishing line.

[SupaMan]

I once caught a bra on the river... SOmebody must have lost a bra and i caught it... 36D bra! This was about the weirdest thing i ever caught on the river

[Ebiz]

In theory could you keep a rainbow trout this weekend? I've been looking through the regs and can't find anything about it in the border waters section. If I'm reading things correctly the inland stream trout season is open but only on streams not lakes (until May 12th). Assuming you would need a trout stamp of course.

[Orlip]

I believe the croix is considered a lake though is it not? (Lake St. Croix) In that case the season starts May 12

[tunrevir]

Post deleted by

Tunrevir~

[john.wells]

Quote:

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I believe the croix is considered a lake though is it not? (Lake St. Croix) In that case the season starts May 12

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It is a border water regardless of classification. If there was any discrepencies, it would be clearly stated in the regulations. Therefore, it DOES open this Saturday.

[john.wells]

I just went back to the post and realized that the response was in regard to whether or not a trout could be kept; not of the general "walleye" opener on the river. That is a good question, and I am sure a lawyer would have fun with it. In my opinion, and I stress opinion, I would believe that you would be legal in the sense that the St. Croix, regardless of language of classification, would be a legal body of water due to the fact that it is, in effect, a stream. It is also not considered an inland water, which is also a provision stated in the manual in regard to season dates. A point to consider on legality- the manual also states that the book is merely a synopsis of the laws, and does not necessarily reflect the complete set of laws. There may be some obscurities that are covered, such as this, that even a warden may not have knowledge of. I would personally keep one if caught under the premise of the manual stating "stream trout", and not "inland lakes", for the taking of trout.

[catflisher]

back in 86' when i first started fishin' the croix,we'd fish up by the railroad bridge north of the hudson bridge...ducks would come around looking for handouts.i decided to tie a fathead to my line(no hook!!!) and cast it to them..sure enuf,one would take it,swim away and i would wait a bit,then pull the minnow back away or out of him..this went on back and forth until he finally gave up...it took a while tho'..kids,don't do this at home...

[Orlip]

I would only assume the fishing was just to good to allow you the time for this.

[Ebiz]

Quote:

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That is a good question, and I am sure a lawyer would have fun with it

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That's what I was thinking

[slipperybob]

Quote:

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In theory could you keep a rainbow trout this weekend? I've been looking through the regs and can't find anything about it in the border waters section. If I'm reading things correctly the inland stream trout season is open but only on streams not lakes (until May 12th). Assuming you would need a trout stamp of course.

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You'll need a trout stamp for sure. The St. Croix River is a river. If you catch trout you may keep it. If you're on Lake St. Croix it's a lake. Just like Lake Pepin on the Mississippi river.

I did catch a trout, had a conservation officer verified it. He wanted to make sure I had a trout stamp. He let me keep it. That was years ago, but I don't remember which date for time of season it was, only spring time. If another conservation officer tells me no then I'll obey him.

[catflisher]

it sure was..thats how i came to love the croix.

[F!$|-| P!/\/\P]

Funny Topic.

Me and a buddy were going through the Hudson Marina and I just happen to have left my spinner bait dangle on the side of my boat and didn't think nothing much of it. I saw a momma duck and 3 baby ducks swim by close to the boat. Again, I didn't think much of it either. All the sudden my bait caster starts to zip like a big fish was on it. My rod nearly fell in the water too. All I heard was splashing and quacks. My buddy turned around and his jaw dropped with disbelief. One of the baby ducks (almost adult size and color), had bit right into my spinner bait. I couldn't get the duck in and the momma duck was going crazy like I did it on purpose. *sigh* I had to cut my line and lost my spinner bait. My buddy had some demented thoughts of what to do with the duck on my line and afterwards but, like I said, I cut the line. Not only that....everyone along the Hudson Marina park was looking at us like "(Contact Us Please) are they trying to hurt the poor wittle duck for?". Made me feel really bad. I didn't mean to do it. It was the duck's own stupidiy...or rather man's ingenious creation?

And ya...I almost caught a dead floating body...couple of years (2004?)ago on the croix. Floated down underneath the 94 bridge. Was a man that disappeared during in February...still had his mits, coat, etc on. Within minutes, Washington county sheriff and St.Croix county sheriff's closed off the entire eastern half of the croix from the 94 bridge to where the river opens up into St. Croix lake. To make things worst, I had my two daughters with me and my wife wanted to check the corpse out! I was like "Yo WOMAN, are you NUTS?"...well not in that tone and demeanor but...hehehe.

So those are the two weirdest things I have caught..er almost caught in the case of the corpse. Sorry, if someone knows the corpse.

[kaptnkarl]

moon eye, eel, gare , mud puppie, shoe

[tunrevir]

Allright, I have another one to add! I was fishing with Ole Matty on this past Saturday, trolling upriver and he gets a good hit solid hookup a few tugs and the line snaps. Fast foreward to today, I'm trolling upriver in the same general area but about sventy yards upriver and I get a tug. Weird, feels like a fish but not fighting much, I think maybe a branch, nope it is tugging. I see a swirl about thirty yards back and a fishes mouth...I see my lure about ten yards ahead of that but as I'm reeling in I see this fish skiing along towards the boat tenyards behind my lure. Here I see my shad rap tangled in some line and there is a fish on the other end with a firetiger flickershad in its mouth. Guess who was fishing that exact lure two days ago! What a catch! Legal eye 15 1/4"! Ole Matty will get his crank back but that walleye went into the frypan!

Tunrevir~

[FL SNIPER]

Tunrevir...you and Ole Matty sure do make an entertaining fishing pair! With the huge crappies Matty pulls out and the trick fishing you do...interesting stuff. Good story!

You ever fish muskies on Forest? If so, do you mind if I email you a couple questions?

Good luck with MN opener. Clam-up and myself will be on Mille Lacs early Saturday morning.

FL

[ole matty]

-_-now i feel embarass that it was 15 inches walleye not 45 inches northern pike i was hoping that snapped my line off!....

[tunrevir]

Quote:

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Tunrevir...you and Ole Matty sure do make an entertaining fishing pair! With the huge crappies Matty pulls out and the trick fishing you do...interesting stuff. Good story!

FlSniper,hey you can e-mail me but I won't be back in the states till the 20th. I'm over here in Belgium today and then Italy tomorrow for a couple dqays then off to Paris and Germany. Course I couldn't resist checking out the sight this morning before I left!

You ever fish muskies on Forest? If so, do you mind if I email you a couple questions?

Good luck with MN opener. Clam-up and myself will be on Mille Lacs early Saturday morning.

FL

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[FL SNIPER]

I will try and get ahold of you in late May. I don't have your email address right now anyways. (I probably could do a search as I think you've posted it before.) Thanks! Enjoy your trip...hopefully its not work related and just a vacation! Clam-up and myself will try and catch a few walleyes in your name this weekend!

[analyzer]

I used to love fishing the croix with my dad when i was little. We'd go north of marine and find a log pile and sit there all day. You never knew what was gonna bite on your gob of worms...

eyes

cats

carp

sucker

redhorse

sheepdip

mooneye

buffalo

sauger

smallies

whitebass

pike

rockbass

blah blah blah

but then there was the strange stuff

leatherback turtles

clams

mud puppies

eels

sturgeon

all of that stuff use to spook me

Hasn't anyone caught a paddle fish? or are they not in the croix?

I was fishing in the bayport area this evening... and saw a beaver swimming up stream... I had no idea there were beaver in the croix.

[ole matty]

i dont think there r high populations of paddlefish but few year ago i went out with my ex gf dads and he caught 4 or 5 paddlefish *24 to 38 inches* in row down at prescott area i think...