Croix Opener 2020

Who else will be out this weekend? I hope to get out both days. Plan to start around Hudson. Hope to have my daughter join me for a couple hours. Should be a nice weekend to fish. Good luck to everyone.

Good luck out there. I’m getting out of town for the weekend, hitting the trails with the RZR. Hopefully on the Croix in a week or so.

Trying to get out Sunday and will be fishing between prescot and kini

Probably next week. Fishing at the cabin this weekend. Good luck!!!

I will be out this weekend on the upper Croix.

How is the bite out on the croix so far?

I hate to ask this question as I have seen lots of related confusion related to it. But I have to know. If I have a MN fishing license, can I fish for walleyes from shore on the Wisconsin side, or do I need a WI license? Can I fish for walleyes this weekend from the MN shore, because the WI season is open? Thanks in advance.

You need a valid license for the state that the season is open.

Went out at midnight, got about 15 eyes between three of us. Biggest was probably around 21” and only one under 15”

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Nice Jack! Looks like trolling was the ticket.

smackemup wrote:

I hate to ask this question as I have seen lots of related confusion related to it. But I have to know. If I have a MN fishing license, can I fish for walleyes from shore on the Wisconsin side, or do I need a WI license? Can I fish for <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>walleyes this weekend from the MN shore, because the WI season is open? Thanks in advance.

I have a feeling this is going to turn into a dog fight but I will answer your questions but I would ask you to do me a favor first. Please go to page 55 of the 2020 Minnesota Fishing Regulations and read all of the information on Border Waters regulations. Once you have done that here are the answers to you questions:

Question #1: If I have a MN fishing license can I fish from shore on the WI side or do I need a WI license?

Answer #1: Minnesota residents must have a Minnesota license. Your MN fishing license is valid throughout the MN/WI border waters noted on page 55 of the MN 2020 fishing regulations. You may fish from the WI shore using your MN license as long as the shore is a MN/WI border water.

Question #2: Can I fish for walleyes from the MN shore this weekend because the WI season is open?

Answer #2: On border waters you must obey the regulations of the state in which you are fishing. More permissive regulations are limited to that state’s waters. You cannot fish for walleyes from shore in MN waters – you are restricted to WI waters.

I think I explained it clearly. Good luck!

On page 63 of Minnesota 2020 regulations it states the open season on the St. Croix River starts on May 2. Therefore smackemup may fish from shore in MN waters on the St. Croix this weekend. Good luck!

I don’t fish the Croix whatsoever, but a college friend who does all the time gave me a call and shared their success. Quite a few doubles throughout the day trolling with tons of quality fish caught and a couple over 5#. He’s definitely not someone I’d call an optimist either, but he was very fired up about the bite out there.

Yup, I did read the regulations after I was out. I was running errands this morning and didn’t have a regulations book handy. Just thought I would reach out and see if anybody had some quick answers. I played it safe and bought a one day license in Wisconsin and went fishing. Checked while out fishing and also saw Walleye opened for St Croix as well for MN. Oh well, donating $10 to natural resources is ok by me. Fifteen pound carp is all I managed to pull today 😂 . Beautiful day regardless

We did Croix opener up by the snake river this year. Fantastic camping weather over the weekend. Walleye fishing was a bit slow but caught enough for a couple meals. Catfished a little Saturday night and caught 3 nice channel cats. Those are going in the smoker to be ready for MN opener this coming weekend.

I fished the Hudson channel both Sat and Sun. Never seen so many boats on opener. Caught 20 plus short fish Saturday morning with 2 legals. My daughter (Mak) joined me at noon Saturday. Unfortunately, fishing slowed in the afternoon. We only got 3 shorts and Mak got a decent bass. Sunday morning was slow for me. Fished until 1:30. Caught about a dozen shorts and 3 legals (19, 18, 16). It is nice seeing the smaller fish (12 to 14 inchers). Its gonna get better.

I fished the Hudson channel both Sat and Sun. Never seen so many boats on opener. Caught 20 plus short fish Saturday morning with 2 legals. My daughter (Mak) joined me at noon Saturday. Unfortunately, fishing slowed in the afternoon. We only got 3 shorts and Mak got a decent bass. Sunday morning was slow for me. Fished until 1:30. Caught about a dozen shorts and 3 legals (19, 18, 16). It is nice seeing the smaller fish (12 to 14 inchers). Its gonna get better.

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Holy record boats on the Croix for opener catman. Starting at about 6am the river was an absolute zoo Saturday.

Sunday was extremely mild compared to Saturday. Folks that didn’t catch anything or limited out decided not to come back.

I fished from 7-noon on Sunday. Caught a mitt full of walleye, sauger and a big dumb pike. I didn’t get anything on live bait, about 30 seconds into pulling cranks it was game on!!!!

Fished the channel to railroad and slightly south of 94 today.
A decent amount of shorts..nothing over 14″
Sheep fish weren’t shy.
Hudson was completely out of all live bait as of 10:00 Monday morning.
Over all.. much slower than I expected.
Water temp was about 58 – 60

Mike West wrote:

Hudson was completely out of all live bait as of 10:00 Monday morning.

When is it going to end? Whats next? Captain Morgan?

bzzsaw wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Mike West wrote:</div>
Hudson was completely out of all live bait as of 10:00 Monday morning.

When is it going to end? Whats next? Captain Morgan?

You don’t keep 5 gallons in stock in anymore?

Jesse Krook wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>bzzsaw wrote:</div>

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Mike West wrote:</div>
Hudson was completely out of all live bait as of 10:00 Monday morning.

When is it going to end? Whats next? Captain Morgan?

You don’t keep 5 gallons in stock in anymore?

I try, but it needs to be resupplied.

When is it going to end? Whats next? Captain Morgan?

No worries Kirk
Stil will be up and going soon.
Just can’t trust the supply base any longer

Question for you guys trolling plugs. What depth range are you focusing on? Lead core or no?

Yesterday long-lined and used lead core. Best luck in 15 to 20 fow. Leadcore did much better than long-line. But it’s all about getting the bait in the strike zone at the correct speed. There are manuals, books, and spreadsheets that consider what bait, line, speed you are using. I just figure if my bait doesn’t tick the bottom if it comes up a couple feet in depth than I’m doing it wrong and I’ve done it wrong allot😀. You can always use a three way rig if you want to fish it slower and deeper and know your in the strike zone. Trying to catch suspended fish is a different story, but I’ve never had much luck doing that

two words: DIPSY DIVER…