what’s happening?

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the was a post about the sauger spot just a little north of Beanies. my gosh there were 10 to 15 boats on that spot everyday for a week after that.

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Considering that spot is pretty well known by most who fish that general area, I’m interested to hear peoples opinions as to whether they think the boat traffic at that spot has been a direct results of the post mentioned or if the popularity of that spot is due to the fact that a lot of people know about it from fishing there in previous years?

I went over to that spot a weekend or two ago and there were probably 10 boats working that area. I spoke to a few of the other guys out there and most told me it was real slow going. I was able to get my boat directly over some GPS coordinates I had entered earlier and was able to pull in 5 really nice saugers in about an hour, with the biggest being just a shade over 20″. Certainly, the presence of the other boats didn’t negatively impact my experience that day and it also showed me that just knowing the general location was not enough to put fish into the other boats…

Brian, my concerns are with the fishery. I have lived enough years to see first hand what exploitation can do to a body of water along with the slow recovery process. I also know that many(if not majority) men are still motivated by harvest. The vast majority of posting users on this site are conservationists to some extent but that is not an accurate sampling of the real world. For example I ran into 2 guys last week on the Croix in a typical nice new walleye boat. They fit the mold of a modern sportsman. Genuinely nice people. They had 2 smallies in their livewell…..

BTW, anytime SteveO.

Suzuki, Glad you chimed in again – you make a great point – I guess I hadn’t really thought of things in that light!

I will keep some fish for the table (if walleye, only between 15-18 inchers and saugers in that same size range. The only other fish I would keep may be crappies but I haven’t targeted them on the Croix) if I’m having guests from out of town or I’m just hungry for some fresh fish. Only once have I taken a full limit of saugers (previous post) but that was because we were having a group of family/friends over and I wanted to provide a nice fishfry. Mostly, though, I’m really out there just for the sport… That’s certainly not the case for some I’ve seen out there (like the group I saw fishing from shore in Hudson before the season opener last spring with a 5 gallon bucket full of smallies or the guy a few weeks ago that caught a huge sturgeon – had to be 70″ – and strung it up to his boat )…

Considering that posting spot information on this site can just as easily be read by the indiscrimate ‘fisherman’ as well as the conservationalist-minded sportsman, I must say that I now “see the light” and will be much more careful about posting too many details about locations. If I have been too open with info in the past, consider it a case of ‘NewBee-itis”… won’t happen again!

One of the best aspects of this site is the PMs…

I didnt mean to crack wise on keeping smallies. Its just that most people dont and Im frustrated at how that fishery has declined on the Croix. It used to be so much easier to catch big ones. I dont think I broke 16″ this year. Otherwise we sure have it good around here. To be this close to very good walleye water is lucky. Especially next to a metropolis. I have a harder time finding quality gills than eyes around here.

it’s all about the health of the fishery. we are very close to the Metro. about the smallish smallmouth bass. i read an article about the slow growth rate of SM bass on the ‘Croix. the fish grow slower here than on comparable waters in the state. no one can figure out why. i had a hard time getting any bass over 15″ this year and I normally do lots better than that.

I was surprised to hear a few people think that the fishery on the St. Croix has declined. I’ve fished the St. Croix 30-40 days a year for the last 10 years and I’d have to rank this years Smallmouth action, and action overall on the river including size to be one of the finest years I’ve had. I contribute that to experience and taking time to find new spots. I think people tend to forget that for the size of water the St. Croix is it does get very little fishing pressure. I think the Crusiers on Sunday outnumber us fisherman 20-1 on a warm day in July! From what I see on this post most of the folks tend to discuss fishing from Stillwater on South. There is lots of river north of there that holds fish! This is a very long and diverse fishery with hundreds of miles of shoreline and mid river structures to fish from Pine City to Prescott. Lakes like White Bear get ten times more the pressure than the St. Croix gets. And Just because there isn’t a point or major structrue in the area you fish doesn’t mean its not holding fish. Some of the biggest flattest pieces of nothing on the St. Croix are fantastic places to fish if you put the time in and figure out what all those fish you’re marking on the sonar are. There is so much water and structure to fish I don’t think you could fish it all in a lifetime.

But I think the “fog” around the St. Croix is it is a challenging River. It took me at least a lot of leg work and trial and error before finding those patterns that work. And the other thing is patterns do dry up to. Some years you can’t miss, other years they just don’t go. So I can see why people tend to be very guarded about giving out to much information as a hot spot can go to a dead spot in a hurry. But I would recommend if your spots are not yielding those bigger fish look for new ones. Some of the biggest fish caught on the St. Croix come from very little or overlooked cover. And considering the vast numbers of small fish, late winters and early springs we should be only looking at better Smallmouth fishing ahead. Even the best fisherys have swings of good and poor fishing and I would have to say we are very fortuante to have such a quality and healthy smallmouth fishery in our backyards!

We need to get you a new hat Gibbonski!

I’ve fish the Croix for 14 years…for the first 10 thinking that it was a dead sea! Started using 3-ways one year…my thoughts changed over night!

It is a very hard river to fish!

Of the topic I know…but I had a bit of fun today. I was wrapping up on P4, but wanted to fish one more spot before I called it a day. I wanted to anchor at the end of some rip rap (I’m catfishing by the way) within 30 feet of shore. Sure ’nuff…there’s this walleye guy and his buddy drifting the rip rap. There drift was in line with where i wanted to anchor. I could have dropped anchor, ’cause it’s my option…but I KNEW they would be breathing fire when they got to me.

So I motored over to them and turned off my motor, asked them if I anchored at the end of the rip rap would I be in their way. The guy in the front of the boat said…”WWhhhaaat??” So I repeated myself. He said rather gruffly “It’s a free country.” Just as I was about to think he was an , he added….”thanks for asking though, you’ll be fine.” Kinda made my day.

By the way, the boated 4 eye’s/saugers and 3 smallies while I was waiting for nothing to happen on my rods!

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I’ve fished the St. Croix 30-40 days a year for the last 10 years and I’d have to rank this years Smallmouth action, and action overall on the river including size to be one of the finest years I’ve had.

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Maybe you were just a really bad fisherman the first 9 years? I dont doubt the fishing upstream. My comments were directed at lower stretch.

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[Maybe you were just a really bad fisherman the first 9 years?

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OUCH!!! I can certainly say that fishing on the Croix this year was the best I’ve ever seen… considering that this was only my second year out there, guess that’s not saying much though