Opener

Fished a lot of spots yesterday, saw no fish being caught for the most part, and I came to the conclusion it was going to be a tougher opener, and it was. On my guide trip we did manage nine legals and a 25″ walleye was the biggest (released of course). No real secret worked crawlers all day for the catches, and stayed in the teens for depth.
The bite will be interesting this spring…
Keep catchin’
Turk

Thanks for the report Turk! I am glad our opener is not for a couple weeks…The ice came of LBDN late and temps are still cold. We need rain BAD here… We had little or no run off(which is our primary replenisher for the Great Lakes).The daytime temps were 50s all week and 83 today (WOW)…very unseasonable for da U.P.
I hope to get out with you soon…I am good at dragging those fat crawlers…day in day out…they are the Walleye’s meat N potatoes here!
Looking forward to trying out the new rod series too…

you seem to back up alot of what I heard at the launch today. tough weekend. i talked to a pretty well seasoned river rat this morning before I went out. said he was skunked yesterday completely. they were pulling cranks. i fished for a couple of hours and didn’t set the world on fire. beautiful morning though.

Probably had my best opener ever on the Croix, and I didn’t catch a legal…..
Let me rewind the story a bit. Found out friday that my fishing partner was a late cancel for Sat AM on the Croix.
Later friday evening a friend of mine suggested that I take a certain 13 year old neighbor of his that was a passionate, albeit newbie fisherman. I agreed.

Fast forward, we are on the river early AM and it’s pretty slow, but a beautiful morning. I hear from the back of the boat, ” I got one on, and it’s a big one” followed by the sound of screeching drag. The fish made 3 runs during the fight and it finally came to rest in my net, walleye, taped out at 26.5″.

I would guess that 8 minutes had passed when I heard the familar, “I got another one on, and it’s a big one” The ensuing fight lasted a few minutes and a second large walleye was laying in my net, this one taped out at 27″, and she was thick In the next few hours this 13 year old “newbie” proceeded to land another very nice 22″ eye, and we called it a day at about noon.

It was without question my most memorable opener, and I’d argue his as well. I think the St Croix River has managed to “hook” another young fisherman.
Next year I’m gonna make him take me out.
We’ve got some photos, that I will post when I get a chance.
I wanted to share this story, good luck out there everyone.

Great story, sandpike! Care to share where you were?!?!?!?
We had a very tough morning in the Prescott area yesterday, but it was a beautiful morning to be on the water. I am so glad the river is open. I have been saying for years that I am going to get down there during the week after work, but this year I am making a concerted effort to make sure to just do it. The owner of the compnay doesn’t like to see the boat behind the truck in the parking lot, but I’m afraid he’s just going to have to learn to deal with it!

I was only able to fish for a few hours Saturday morning… started out (around 5am) at the swing bridge – hooked into a couple of good sized whities (gotta luv the fight) on jig/minnow. saw a few smaller-sized ‘eyes being caught but not much action.

we switched to draggin crawlers in the channel and missed way too many fish (a lot of bitten-off crawlers). I guess I didn’t listen to the advice given to me at the GTG . We did manage to boat a nice 17″er…

Made a quick run down to catfish – quite a few boat out there too but I don’t think there was much action. Had to head in after that…

There sure were a lot of boats out there on Saturday! Not too surprising that the fishing was pretty slow – I’m sure the eyes all scattered!

Glad to hear someone got a few nice ones. It was great to be out in the boat, we caught fish we just didn’t end up with the keepers we were looking for.

Gotta say thanks to IDA for all the help setting up my leadcore rigs. Caught three shorts Sat. morning all on lead. Did not pick up any other walleyes the rest of the day and struck out on gold Sunday am as well.

Funny thing is those 13″‘s will be gold next week on Wissota!

Eric

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Funny thing is those 13″‘s will be gold next week on Wissota!

Eric

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Hey Cougar… you know, of course, that every fish you’re going to catch next Saturday will tape out somewhere between 14″-18″!!!

My boy and I made it out Sunday @ 6:20 am. There were 5 open spots at the Stillwater public launch…that’s unusual but good for us! We trolled cranks and got the usual mixed bag. 3 eyes (14-7/8″, 15.5″, 17″) 3 smallies, 1 largemouth, and many silvers. It was an awesome day to be out on the Croix again.

No matter how I tried I couldn’t stretch that sub legal The other 2 made for a good dinner outside later.

I’m back at it tonight!

FErny

Worst opener I have ever had. My boat did not catch a legal walleye. Fished for 8.5 hours. Embarrassing.
Highlight was 16″ silver.
Pleasure traffic already heavy. There needs to be some restrictions or the future is bleak in my opinion.

Congrats on having a great opener Sand Pike! That youngster caught some darn nice fish. I didn’t get on the water till 1 pm and had to put in at Hastings since the bluffs launch was full. I made my way up river hoping to hear the fish were jumping in the boat, but they weren’t. After catching a few short walleyes and a sheepie on crawlers. I switched gears trying to jig for some sauger. I found a few good sized sauger and sheepsters in 20-25 fow. A bonus perch even made it to the boat. The weather was great even though the fishing was tough. Looks like next weekend will be the same for weather. One of the sauger I caught still had not spawned.

Yea, you motored 20 feet from me in Prescott and wouldn’t even look my way!!!!

What? Sorry I didn’t ignore you on purpose. This must have been early afternoon as I was in a hurry to get up river. I think you were hiding in the boat and didn’t want me to see you. Why didn’t you yell some profanities at me or throw something at least?

I went out for opener but I was not after walleye! I got out around 4pm after a little BSing with Jimmy. I tried out a couple spots for some channel cats. I ended my day at 3am with no cats I did have a great time out there all by myself. I forgot my food out there and ended up boarding a pleasure boat up by the highbridge and they fed me hambugers and much more so off to catch more fish.

I ended up keeping 4 White bass all between 1 lb 8 oz to my biggest being 1 lb 14 oz. I caght a few others but had plenty for me.

This is the first time I have gone out on opener and I had a great time.

We ended up with 3 keepers to 17 inches, we didn’t catch nearly as many rough fish as usual, probably 15 fish total.I saw more fish boated at the Hudson narrows compared to Kinni. I boated a 7lb flathead which was the biggest fish of the day. It was a great day on the water.

Mike,

I ended up in “your neck of the woods” and didn’t see you, I fiqured that spot was dead. I saw an 18″ caught from there, and then I had a bump, set the hook and it stayed down, started to move it, then down a little bit again, a mini run, the fish felt nice. I thought ten pound walldo, it turned out to be a stinky 5 pound flathead. Then we drifted it again and got a sturgeon bout ten pounds. My clients called that spot rough fish alley, we left.
I bet things are different today. The river will heat up, I’m looking forward to some easy fishing.
Turk

Turk –
A “Stinky” 5 pound flathead. How can you say that about the most beautiful fish in the river. We need to get out on a flathead outing soon. You need to see my new cat boat. Now – where exactly did you catch that “stinky” 5# flathead?

I went out 3 am sunday and caught a 24″ on a rogue right off the bat. I was thinking this is going to be great, but another six hours went by before I boated a 15″ sauger by the swing bridge. I also caught 3 smallies and a [censored] during the course. Not exactly a banner day but it was just beautiful to be out.

i went fisfing on the opener and caught 28” pike,12”white bass,32”mustkie,and17”smally.

Welcome aboard Topcat!

Ok- I’m back, Steve – For me it’s all relative, the target specie is the goal (as you know)and the other catches are fun but not as exciting to catch when not targeted. That’s why I called the cat stinky. I’ve enjoyed many catfish trips on the river where they are targeted, actually I’d say for cats I prefer big channels best as a 12 pound or bigger channel puts up a better fight than nearly anyfish save monster flats and sturgees. Thanks for the invitation, sounds fun. You getting any fish this early?
Keep Catchin’
Turk

Steve, don’t let Turk fool you…his blood is 5% cat slime…but on the other hand, if you look closely, be has a bit of white under his tail.

Hey Turk –
I’ve only been out once (2 May) chasing cats and got 1 small channel. I’m heading out tonight – Twins play Chicago – should be a nice night for chasing cats and listening to a good ballgame. River elevation is 677.5′ and falling and temp is a consistent 57 degrees and higher so the channel cat bite should be starting. After dark I plan on soaking a couple of nice bullheads for flatheads – you walleye guys keep catching them during the day so I’m hoping they are prowling later in the evening too. I’ve got a bucket of nice bullheads all ready to go. I’m ready for the summer cat fishing season to get into high gear.

Steve,

I got another flathead today and thought OK here’s a real dandy walleye… again another stinky flathead, but this time I bleeded it out and filleted it and its on the smokers as I type. Should be a tastey one. I’ll wash it down with my favorite NA beer.
Ya they should be going good luck.

Turk

Turk –
Are you catching those flatheads on nightcrawlers? I was out last night but I got skunked. It was a beautiful evening and it was a great Twins game but the fishing hole was empty. I’m going to try a few new flathead tactics and see if that helps.

Steve,

Yes, nightcrawlers I’m on the second flat of 500 now. Catchin those fish is a fluke you know, I’m not targeting them, but the are in the current, as I know you are fishing in the current. They sure feel like big walleyes though!
By the way that flathead was very good eating…I’ve got a few good recipes if you are interested…
Keep Catchin’
Turk