Repo

06/23/02 St. Croix River walleye continues on a good bite, and the cumulative spring bite or general consensus has been considered a “ good bite” by many anglers. The bite has been favorable both north of Stillwater, MN and south to the deeper water. Wayne Wohlers, St. Croix River expert angler, considers the catches of recent trips as some of the best catches in four years, in numbers and size. Wohlers’ walleyes fall to minnow plugs trolled in the shallow water mainly from Osceola to Stillwater. Bill Mitchell, another St. Croix River expert reports some hot and cold days, but reports a recent trip fishing south of Afton, pulling spinners and crawlers in 15 feet along the Minnesota shoreline as “catching enough legal sized fish for a four man limit.” The larger walleyes, 24” and larger, are not an uncommon fish, and are being reported weekly, which is better than normal for the scenic St. Croix. Recent rains have called for a water level increase from 677.7 to 680.5 or 681 by the end of the week. Expect fish to react to this water level rise, an increased flow rate concentrates fish and is prime for vertical jigging. A sobering note about an increased flow is the water clarity decrease. Many parallels exist between trout and walleye fishing; one example is that a good bite happens as water clarity increases after a prolonged period of low clarity. Smile – fishing is for fun!

Thanks for the repo Turk! So what does everyone think about all this rain!! With the croix comming up a couple of feet in the next few day, what does everyone think the eyes are going to do? Are they going to run into the narrows again? Or are they just going to spread out and make fishing tough. I would like to get some ideas on what people think, I am heading out on tuesday night. Thanks for the advice.

FH

We found some fish out on the bars and main lake points last night. Excellent action for 15-20″ fish, worked the deeper edges to try to find some larger fish, no avail. Fish were aggressive, lots of “pick up and run” bites rather than the standard “weight” on the line. Almost time to start long lining & leadcore in main lake. Nothing happening in any of the current affected areas for walleyes, we did manage to eek out some smallies. The sturgeon are going nuts out on the Y bar as well, we saw a number of fish coming 2′ out of the water like a whale, including a slob that had to be 5′.

Mike T

was out with Turk on 6/28 and you could say the bite was “good”. if you think “good” is a 25, 18, and several over 15″ walldads!!! Turk had ’em dialed in that day. simply awesome fishing IMHO. not a single rough fish all day. all saugdogs and wally’s. best day on the ‘Croix for me for sheer quantity and quality of fish. the 25″ is a personal best for me.
really,really good time.
thanks Turk for the trip and helpful info.

I was out for the early morning bite in Osceola today. Crawlers was the word today. It has been for a while up here. Caught seven eyes. Three where legals. I also got into the smallies for a while. Nothing big, but i caught five in a row in one of the little channels.
I was suprised to haul in a 24″ eye last friday night. They where going on cranks that night. We caught six trolling from peasley lake up river to the landing.
Ive seen lots of people catching eyes up here in the last couple of weeks. Hopfully they will keep going for awhile.
I was also able to put in at the Osceola landing today. It was even possable during the early morning low water period. The sand at this landing usually shuts it down for me this time of year. Good luck fishing. Kept it cool.