2023 St. Croix River Reports

Anybody been out? Been a lot of boats and of course a million shore fishermen both times I’ve been out there.

I’ve been out near Prescott a couple times. Handful of short and keeper eyes on jerk baits, cranks, and jig/plastic. Also PB croix smallie @ 18” on a lipless crank. Believe it or not Turk(croixsippi guide service) was mailing them on crawler rigs not long after opener…

Let’s hear ‘em if ya got ‘em!

I was out two times this week with good numbers of both short and keeper walleye. Out of Hudson trolling cranks

Jig and a minner put about 15 eyes in the boat on the MN inland opener last weekend on the lower end of the Croix. 12-18′ FOW. Half shorts, half nice keepers.

I think I’ve been out 6 times since opener. Plan to take tomorrow off and also fish Saturday in the Hamm Room tourney out of Hudson.

Opener we caught 3 walleyes all keepers between 16 and 18 inches. The bite was slow on crawlers in the Hudson channel.

Tuesday night after opener we only caught 2 short walleyes on crawlers.

Sunday afternoon (5/7) we did a bit better. We kept 7 with only 2 on crawlers and 5 on lead. We also caught close to a dozen short fish.

Wed 5/10 the crawler bite turned on. We kept 8 fish between 16 and 19 inches. Caught well over a dozen short fish. Released a 24 inch.

Monday 5/15 the bite was still great. We kept 4 fish between 17 and 19 inches. Released 2 that were 20 and 22 inches. Caught a bunch of short fish all on crawlers.

Tuesday 5/16 (League night) we were optimistic only to be disappointed. All we could scratch up were smaller fish. We measured 45.5 inches with our 3 fish. The winning team had 69 inches. The flow difference in the Hudson channel was night and day different between Monday and Tuesday. Tuesday night there was a bunch of debris on the surface that just sat there.

The new Hudson landing is top notch. You can launch 4 boats at a time. It sounds like it will probably close again due to high water sometime this weekend or Monday. No wake went into effect again today so that is going to suck.

Best of luck to anyone that can get out.

At what water level do they close the Hudson launch? Just checked the water level forecast and it looks like it will get up to 85′ again, as BZZ said – late Sunday or Monday.

bzzsaw wrote:

I think I’ve been out 6 times since opener. Plan to take tomorrow off and also fish Saturday in the Hamm Room tourney out of Hudson.

Opener we caught 3 walleyes all keepers between 16 and 18 inches. The bite was slow on crawlers in the Hudson channel.

Tuesday night after opener we only caught 2 short <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>walleyes on crawlers.

Sunday afternoon (5/7) we did a bit better. We kept 7 with only 2 on crawlers and 5 on lead. We also caught close to a dozen short fish.

Wed 5/10 the crawler bite turned on. We kept 8 fish between 16 and 19 inches. Caught well over a dozen short fish. Released a 24 inch.

Monday 5/15 the bite was still great. We kept 4 fish between 17 and 19 inches. Released 2 that were 20 and 22 inches. Caught a bunch of short fish all on crawlers.

Tuesday 5/16 (League night) we were optimistic only to be disappointed. All we could scratch up were smaller fish. We measured 45.5 inches with our 3 fish. The winning team had 69 inches. The flow difference in the Hudson channel was night and day different between Monday and Tuesday. Tuesday night there was a bunch of debris on the surface that just sat there.

The new Hudson landing is top notch. You can launch 4 boats at a time. It sounds like it will probably close again due to high water sometime this weekend or Monday. No wake went into effect again today so that is going to suck.

Best of luck to anyone that can get out.

I’ve heard about this hamm room tournament before. How does a guy get in it? Not a big tournament guy but fished the old Koval tourney and would enjoy getting in on another 1/yr

PM sent Smellson.

Well Sheesh… sounds like I was looking too shallow and not using the right presentation… or that I just suck and have a lot to learn about the croix!!!

I plan to get out next weekend again and will report at least something back.

It’s no secret spot, but the Hudson Channel last sunday was stacked with boats and fish. From 8-noon caught about 30 fish; 7 of which were legal walleye with 19” the biggest. We trolled cranks and then switched to harnesses, but I would think you can catch them pretty much using any common walleye technique if you’re within 2 feet of the bottom.

Hard to say for sure, but I would think the hudson channel will continue to produce for the next 1-2 weeks. Eventually most fish will be moving out.

Was out Wednesday night the 24th on the lower end. Caught 4 eyes(3 shorts and let the keeper go), 1 sauger, 2 little smallies and a rock bass. I can see why guys generally keep quiet! One was nice at 20” or so, but I had to dial in spots because of the wind. Got most on cranks. Little windy but still nice being out on a week night.

I was out Thursday 5/25 in the afternoon and evening in the Hudson area. Caught a half a dozen “shorts” and 3 keepers between 17-18″. Most were on crankbaits, one on crawlers. Caught my PB at 25″ LOL (see pic – for comparison the forcepts in the pic is 8 1/2″ long) He put up a good fight! I did see another guy pull up a couple of nice eater size walleyes jigging with minnows.

First time out there this year. Didn’t have to work too hard for the fish, jig and a crawler worked well in 14-17’. Don’t fish the Croix enough to know, but average size was 17-19”, pretty impressed. Fun fishery

ganderpike wrote:

First time out there this year. Didn’t have to work too hard for the fish, jig and a crawler worked well in 14-17’. Don’t fish the Croix enough to know, but average size was 17-19”, pretty impressed. Fun fishery

We did pretty well out there yesterday as well. It didn’t take any time to find fish and we stayed on them all morning.

I took a short break from musky fishing Saturday and stuck a few keepers on a kgrub in 2-3′ of water. For the little effort I put into musky fishing that worked out pretty good too.

Not sure what areas you guys were in, but I had to search quite a bit yesterday for better average size. I don’t care who you are, 17-19” average in the croix is good. I was lower-mid pool. Caught 6 eyes, 4 eaters between 16-18” on cranks, and my PB croix white bass. Missed quite a few more. Can’t complain!

I was just a bit south of the 36 bridge. Tuna boat traffic truly was not nearly as bad as anticipated either. Shame I don’t have a better grasp of the river considering I grew up 10 miles away. Looking forward to getting back.

Hoping to get out for a couple of hours tonight, kind of want to try a variety of methods. Lead rods are always in the boat on the Croix as I’ve had good luck with that in the past, but want to get better at catching a few on jigs.

Don’t think I have time to get minnows today so it’s looking like crawlers tonight!

I also want to get more dialed in on deeper tactics like vertical/dragging jigs and lindys/spinners. I’ve done my share of that on Mille lacs sand but when it comes to the croix it’s a lot tougher with how fast the depth changes, trees, rock patches etc… Staying at the right depth on the break is definitely an art. Get off by a few feet and you’re too deep or too shallow! Boat control is everything for that style of fishing especially…

Well we gave it the ol’ college try last night. Got poured on a bit, forgot rain gear, was a great time lol.

New Hudson boat launch is really nice though, lots of room, as of now perfectly sloped ramp with what looks like one solid slab of concrete(probably can’t be just one slab) instead of like 2 foot pavers that get all jostled and F’d up after 2 years.

We mainly tried jigs and crawlers and we caught A LOT …. of sheephead. Holy cow were the sheepies going, and some pretty dang big ones too. A couple were probably in the 6-10 pound range.

No walleye though, obviously was just not looking in the right spots. Turns out I’m pretty lost out there if I’m not just pulling leadcore :/.

The bite is on fire this morning. 6 keepers in a 20 minute troll so far pulling cranks up river at 3 mph. 6 to 8 ft of water. And 1 nice kitty kat as well

Good to hear, BC. Decided to skip the croix this weekend in favor of some smallies on the pond. I’ll be out next weekend most likely. Should still be going good then

After we fished we pulled up to a camp spot and cooked eggs, venison sausage, bacon and toast over a fire. Gotta carry around a cast iron skillet in the boat.
Buddy and I then proceeded to have a wrist rocket competition with the 3 boys
And we watched deer all morning while cooking

Beautiful- love it

Anybody from the forums been getting out lately? I have a few times in the last week and a half. A few eaters and couple shorts each time, smallies here and there. Still mostly crankbaits. Fish seem to be in their summertime mode fir the most part still. Had 67 surface temp yesterday(Friday).

Nobody been out?

We all know the croix is tiny and top secret but “C’MON MAN!”

In all seriousness tho, the IDO croix forum seems to always be a little quiet for as popular a fishery as it is. Gets some decent traffic during the winter and spring into early summer, but is pretty lifeless through most of the summer and fall.

Let’s hear something—anything—if ya got it! I still haven’t been out since before my last post but want to hit it at least one more time before I clean and winterize the boat.

Good luck to those getting out- but please release my fish lol

Consider it a win, you had 9 replies in your 2022 reports, up to 25 replies this year lol.

Pretty typical of this area. Back when turk posted here once in awhile there was a bit more action, Steve demars put in his reports too but mostly all big flatties

I don’t really fish the croix August / September. It seems to be hit or miss, with more misses / mediocre walleye fishing than hit (at least for me).

Liking the cooler weather! If I get a chance to get out should be decent fishing now. The rain might help too today/tomorrow

Been out there 3-4 times a week since 8/31

Lots of great Cats and Sturgeon! Even boated a rare 30″ drum.

Taking today and tomorrow off though. It’s going to be brutal out there…

Here’s a vid from last weekend:

Been out a couple times trolling for muskies. Caught a 43 inch fish on Sept 19th but nothing since. I haven’t fished for walleyes since end of July. Couple buddies were doing well pulling lead for them within past couple weeks. They said they were suspended over deep water (30 plus ft). There is a walleye tournament this weekend (Fall Classic). I’m sure there will be someone on the fish.

Was out of Hudson with the FW on Monday during banker’s hours, we did well for not being out there since early August.

Kept 5 legals + 4 others bites, pulling lead in community spots, 20-26 FOW. First bite was a big whitey that really wanted that crank. 62.5 was surface temp, hope to be back out on Sunday afternoon.