Opener?

Thought I heard it was the 28th this year. What plans do you guys have for opener? I will most likely be launching out of Osceola again. From there it will be long lining rattle traps and shallow running crank baits for saugers and walleyes. The saugers and sometimes the walleyes can be pretty tightly schooled this time of year on this stretch of water. Some days involve a fair amount of time searching for them but can be some fast action once they are found. Hope we get some water over there for opener.

What are your guys plans?

I just talked to my dad about going out on opener from Osceola also! Not much experience on the river though.

Mike – I’ll be out on the stretch of river just upstream from Stillwater. I was looking through my journal to see what the river conditions were like on previous late April days and here is what I found:

Year: 2006 Water Elevation: 679.2′ Water Temp: 56 degrees
Year: 2005 Water Elevation: 679.0′ Water Temp: 47 degrees
Year: 2004 Water Elevation: 677.5′ Water Temp: 49 degrees
Year: 2003 Water Elevation: 681.0′ Water Temp: 58 degrees

Normal Pool Elevation read at Stillwater Bridge is 675.5′. Yesterday is was 675.3′. The islands are usually just under water at about 679′. When the water reaches 683′ the river is declared No Wake to prevent shoreline erosion.

In 2006 the St Croix hit 683.5′ on 11 April and was No Wake for about a week and then she gradually came down to normal pool about the 1st week in June.

In 2005 the St Croix hit just above 682′ in the 1st week of April and didn’t come down to normal pool elevation until early July. In late September and early October we had a lot of rain and the river hit 683′ and No Wake on 9 October right in the middle of sturgeon season.

In 2004 the St Croix started low and the water was pretty stable hitting a high of 677.5 about 28 April. We got a lot of rain in late May and the river hit 682.5′ during the 1st week of June and did not get back to normal pool elevation until about 23 July.

I’ll be launching out of Hudson… probably with a boat full of teenagers (son and his buddies). We’ll be jigging and rigging mostly – last year, we started at the train bridge and worked out way all the way down to south of the Kinni narrows. Mostly a day of boating and scouting and sightseeing with an occasion caught fish mixed in! CAN’T WAIT!!!!

I hope to be out in the afternoon again this opener. I’ll let all of you early birds fight over the fish in the morning and head in around noon. Maybe it will be 45 degrees with a light rain this year too!

I thought it was required to fight the crowds and sit in the rain 5 hours before they start biting???? I must have missed the memo? If its like last year I’ll be hitting the apple cider moonshine early…….Yea Sandbar, my partner remembers the recipe!!! Otherwise we’ll swing by your boat for a bump.

I’ll be tailpiping Suzuki and Sandbar to get a sip of the cider moonshine.

Quote:

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I’ll be tailpiping Suzuki and Sandbar to get a sip of the cider moonshine .

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We need to hit up Bear and make sure a new batch is ready to go. That stuff does take the chill out of your bones. Sounds like more snow is in the forcast, bring on the moisture mother nature. We need to see the Croix at 679.0 by April 28th.

I will be launching, undecided right now, probably out of the Bluffs unless I can find one that allows launching before 6am. I will probably be spending that weekend between Prescott and Afton area

I’ll be way further north than any of you guys wading around with jigs, plastics, and some stickbaits looking for some willing walleyes.

Wade, you can launch out of Prescott or below the dam in Hastings before 6 am and avoid the line at the Bluffs launch. Just leave a few for us non-early risers.

cool, where’s the spot in Hastings by the dam? Is it a pretty good launch?

The Hasting launch has an excellant ramp…although I think there was a drop off at the end of the ramp on the up stream side last year..now that I think about it.

Two things to watch out for. Barges, you’re very close to the lock and if there’s a heavy current it’s a little hard to load. Not bad…just a little.

The Hastings guys will know better, but I think that and the Prescott are fill up pretty quick on the opener.

We’ll be out early that day and stay till the bitter end (or I outfish my better half heheh),