Anyone been out on the Croix

Thinking about heading towards Bayport on Friday.
Anyone been out there lately?
Who? What? When? Where?
I would ask how but invariably someone would tell me to drill a hole in the ice.

Like who chappy? Like who? I know you have to watch out for ol’ Rivereyes (or “ice”eyes, the new kewl fab Rico Suave title he’s adopted to be seasonably fasionable!). He’s a sneaky one! He’s got Comachero in his camp now too so you gotta keep a scope lookin’ backwards as well!

I dunno but I’m sure someone’s been out there chappy! It’s gotten quiet since the cold snap so maybe that’s a sign?

What do we know? EyeJacker? TommyJ? Turk? Comanchero? Scales? MikeW? Anyone???

There’s plenty of houses out there, from the high lines down to the swing bridge. There’s plenty of room for more, too. Bite’s on again, off again. Good luck.

Oh, and bring your sheepy marinade. They’re much tastier if you can get ’em soaking while the muscles are still twitching.

Say, that reminds me: have you guys been catching tulibee? I’ve caught quite a few this winter, usually around 20′ in 35-40′ of water. Never knew they were there, but, of course I forgot that anything that swims in Minnesota swims in the Croix.

And does anyone know why the Croix is listed under ‘Wisconsin Rivers’? Let’s remember it’s we Minnesotans who provide all the fodder for this site (e.g., the Red Wing Boot chumps who tried to gate off the river). How about a little love for the North Star State FTR? [just doesn’t sound right now that the stars play in dallas, but i think you know what i’m saying.]

What someone else is going to fish the river and wants to know where to get the fish, Good luck. I made a post a few weeks back and no responce to how the bite is going.
so I did what a any good fisherman must do and hit the ice with a full tank of gas and good heater and started looking for the fish. been on the ice every day from noon to about 7 at nite and found a few sturgen. and a few small eyes, but been skunked most of the time. if you have any luck let me know and just maybe i see you on the ice this weekend when i move in to my sack for the weekend so not to miss the bite.

To stillakid I say thanks for keeping the sheepys so i dont have to catch them when I fish. Maybe you can have a sheepy fest on the ice to further rid of this socalled fine fetish of yours.

Joe, I’ve never seen a tulibee from the river… Not that that means much. Are you sure it wasn’t a mooneye or goldeye? The look an awful lot like a tulibee.

SteveW,

I’ve been told that there are 44 verified species that live in our beloved river………….and Tulilbee are on the list. I too think I have only seen mooneye but I’ve been told tulibees are present.

TommyJ!! Thanks for the grin! I’ll have to sneak down to the ice over the weekend here and see if I can’t talk you into a nice Sheepie sandwitch!! Just kidding! Good luck out there!

I was out on the St Croix for two hours today – and gave it up. There seemed to be quite a few folks fishing. I drove all the way up to the High Lines and came back down. I fished on the Wisconsin side across from Bayport. Fished in 31′ of water where I had some luck this fall. Was not even marking fish or seeing anything on the camera. I sure had plenty of ice – measured 23″ where I fished. My auger was down to my thighs.

I moved into Stillwater and gave Lily Lake a try. Tried a couple of different spots in the deeper water and struck out there too.

I think this weather may have something to do with today’s bite. Once this front gets through I am hoping for better luck. I am going this weekend and a couple of times next week. I will post my results.

Steve,

Pretty sure they were tulibee, but when it comes to species like that, I guess I never look too close. I thought maybe the DNR’s site would help so I went here:

Look at the pretty fishies

Turns out they don’t identify ANY of those species. Also turns out what I thought had been sunfish were actually flatheads. I guess you learn something new every day.

Oh, and my brother-in-law and I did manage to find a few crappies in the last few days.

In that case. . . Fire up the smoker. Tulibees are delicious!

Walleyes have been biting better as of the last few days… we got into a group of them and had 5 iced in about half hour yesterday from 4:15 to 4:45 and then slow until 5:30 when we lost a big eye at the hole! Big! We targeted 27 to 31 feet… I talked to five crappie anglers earlier in the day, all had a thumbs down report! That’s not saying a skunk though in a few cases it was, but some guys think 4 crappies an outing is a thumbs down….

TommyJ, anyway as the saying goes, ” the silence is deafening,” meaning no reporting means one thing, as I said it before the reports fly on as soon as any decent amount of fish are being caught.

Also we caught an adult shad, and they look close to a tulibee, I don’t think the river system houses these whitefish relatives (tulibee).

Keep catchin’
Turk

hey I’m always open to a good eye or two in the hole.
Any more details? What did you catch them on.
did you say you were in about 30 ft of water?

Joe Mama,

That looks like another fine mess you’ve gotten yourself into!!!

Chappy,

Getting back to your question, We caught them on buckshot spoons and Nils masters, natural colors. 30 feet was the range plus or minus a foot or two. Good luck.

Turk

Thanks for the info
My Bro and I might make it up there this afternoon.
If the weather doesn’t get to nasty and I get back in town soon enough.

Just wanted to let you know that there are 2 of us on this site,I’m the younger, smarter one! You’ll hear me before you see me.He’s kinda lame and does’nt get into the limelight much.I’m Chappy,he’s chappy342!

When he says hear…He REALLY means it. I’ve go the looks he’s got the voice.
Weather got nuts on my way back to town. So we didn’t make it out. Now I suppose someone is going to tell me that they really hammered them. Oh well….better safe than sorry.

Hope it didn’t sound like I was complaning. I know that when the fish are cought most people talk and can’t wait to post the results to somebody reading.

Thanks Turk for the reply. I now know that someone else is fishing the ice river who is on this site.

Tommy
Iam not one for walking on frozen water with water moving under it.FREEKS me out.As soon as the opener hits I will have updated reports weekly.Until then good luck and be safe!