Anyone else on the Croix this weekend?

I was out Saturday morning. I didn’t see alot of others out there. I caught a couple of keeper sized eyes in 16 feet of water trolling cranks. I pitched a few cranks as well and caught a couple of dandy small mouths and even a rare large mouth by Bayport. I found a honey hole of short saugers in 12 feet of water and was getting doubles everytime I passed thru. I decided to leave them alone.

My day was made interesting shortly after I hit the water. I hit a submerged deadhead south of the Stillwater bridge and tore my transducer off. I have a hard time fishing blind so I strapped it on as best I could and continued. I was looking at the boat in the garage this afternoon and it looks like the seam in the back where the bottom meets the sides has a small leak. If it leaking out I’ll bet it leaking in. Any sugesstions?

And any other reports on the Croix?

I didn’t make it out Sat. but I did this morning. A friend was out Sat. for a couple hours and was skunked. That’s not like him.

This morning was a little slow but I did manage 3 saugers a one eye for dinner. 14′ to 16 was the range. I never made it out of the Afton area. It was just too nice of a morning to go anywhere.

Jeff, I hope i will never know that answer to the question on “how to fix a leak”. Now that I think about it, someone did tell me to use bubble gum in a pinch….don’t ‘spose that helps you much.

I go have to thank Stillakid for giving me all those pointers on fishing sheephead. Man, a few tips over breakfast and I feel like a pro!

Now…..what to do with them?

I was able to get out Wed. evening for a couple of hours and had great success with Lindy rigs and crawlers. Went out Sat. morning, and didn’t catch one dang fish. I’m still puzzled. Same locations, colors everything. I was fishing between Prescott and the Kinni, looking for Prescott Rob to see what he was doing, but I couldn’t find him. Maybe he’ll be nice enough to post and give us a little insight on his success.

Made it out for a while Sunday morning, before the big boys were up and running. We managed 2 legal walleyes and 1 small sauger to keep for dinner, otherwise it was all sheephead. Fished a mile or so north of the highway 10 bridge all the way down to the end of the no-wake zone on the Mississippi. By the way- is that a wingdam down there on the Wisconsin side right near the end of the no-wake zone? I have never actually been on one, at least that I know of….
Anyway, floating crawler harnesses with spinners seemed to be the ticket, although they were biting very light. Missed a lot of fish because they weren’t really “hitting” it, they would just kind of suck on the tail of the crawler. The fish seemed to be concentrated in the area between the bridges. Lots of snags in there, frustrating. Trolled cranks of different sizes/running depths in the above mentioned areas, no luck. Saw a guy pull 3 or 4 with cranks, maybe I was doing something wrong…. Anyway, the Miller Lite was good, and the “scenery” is always entertaining. Next weekend, we are going up to the St. Louis river, so it’ll probably be a while until I get back to Prescott. Anyway, I’d like to hear how you other guys did.
Thanks-
Greg

And just when I thought you weren’t listening B.B.! LOL!

We had 4 boats out Sunday of family and friends and fished from Afton to just south of St. Croix Bluffs park and didn’t fair well. A few eyes, sauger, and assorted rough fish. The bite was best between 7am and 9am. We used lindys outfitted with leeches and worms as well as threw some plastics. Not much difference in production between them.

Welcome NEW GUY!

Curious about your user name… any deep meaning behind it? It certainly is creative. Kinda’ makes me wonder if it’s like that Prince deal… you know, the angler formerly known as Bob? Or Tom? Something like that. Anyway, again, welcome.

MADE IT OUT WITH A GOOD FRIEND 8-NOON,HAD HIS 4 YR. OLD WITH.ONLY FOUND 3 EYE/SAG. 1 SM.BASS ,WHITE BASS ,A TON OF SHEEPIES.ONLY HAD TIME FOR 2 SPOTS,BUT THE MINNOWS RAN OUT FAST,WELL SOME GOT PLAYED WITH ALL SO . ROB THE 4 YR. OLD WON THE BUCK FOR THE MOST FISH,I SET HOOK ROB REELS THEM IN .SO AS YOU CAN SEE IT WAS A KIDS DAY ON THE WATER.WE ALL HADE FUN!BUT THE GOOD NEWS IS I GOT THE BOAT BACK ,SO I WILL BE BACK AT IT AGAIN ,BETTER GET AT IT FAST TOO ,GOT TO WIN MY DOLLOR BACK

Jeff, depending on what kind of boat you have, I am guessing aluminum. i have some stuff made by Belzona and will patch anything that is metal. It dry’s so tough it can even be machined afterward. Drop me a line maybe it can help.

Lindys and crawlers this weekend produced alot of sheep,a couple a small cats, carp, rock bass, small mouth bass, a couple walleye and a mooneye. Gotta love fishing the Croix, you just never know what you’ll pull on the next bite. Caught one 15 1/2″ walleye out from Bluffs park.

I looked at -J and J- and _J and _J and they all felt just a little uncomfortable. I also considered “SpongeBob RiverPants” and “Shoulda Hadder wit my Shadder” but they didn’t quite fit either.

If this dang board allowed 1 character names… I’d think I’d just be J.

*grin*

Was out Sun. with a good friend and his son who loves to fish, but doesn’t get out much. Was planning on going to Mille Lacs, but the boy went further is his team’s baseball tourney than anyone expected. So with limited time, we went to the Croix.
Started out above Prescott on the Minn. side around 6:00 looking for some top water smallies. I gave them my “go to ” baits and I experimented with other things to try to get something to hit. No luck. Not even many small fish strikes! Most times you get the small ones to pop the lure on the surface. After a couple (many) tree limbs and branches later, we decided to go up river further. So. of the Kinnie we tried the same things for one pass with the same results. (although fewer tree limbs. Ha!) Tried the channel with ringworms, K grubs and tubes and only picked up a “rocky”. Last option was to go north further still and bring out the cranks. Like you said, 16′ and 3mph seemed to be the ticket. From 10:00 till noon, picked up 7 fish, although short for dinner 13″ to 14.5″ All in all a nice day to be on the water.

P.S. Also like you said, there is a lot of stuff in the river. In the early morning, with the water flat, you can see the stuff pretty well, but after the cruisers and wind pick up, good luck!
Another post mentioned the product from Belzona. Great stuff. They are mainly commericial/big job, but if you can find some leftovers somewhere, it will patch your leaker!

Any idea where a guy might be able to pick some up? I’ve got a need for it as well? Any help or direction would be appreciated!

Hi,
I’m not Jeff obviously but I have an aluminum boat that takes on a little water. Would you mind sharing what Belzona product you use?
Thanks John Ramstead
Great Falls, Mt.

Ok, I did some digging into some of my old business cards, and found the one for Belzona. Now this info is 10 plus years old, but I am sure that this distributor is still there. Names and area codes may be different.
Molecular Repair Concepts, Inc.
HCR 4 Eagle Street
Crosslake, MN 56442
218-692-3306
LeRoy Johnson
Independent Technical Consultant
Now this stuff is not just mixing up 2 tubes of goop and sit back and watch it get hard. Depending on the application, it could require high intensity UV light, maybe a heat source, or something else. Also the reason they have “consultants”, is that normally they send a tech to the repair site to do the application. The chemicials involved are quite dangerous, and they can’t just give them out to every Tom, Dick, and Fisherman! But, you could give them a call and ask them if they would have anything that could help you out with aluminium repair. The worst they could say is No! Good luck.

Either way you spell it J, welcome aboard the board!

As for the leaky boats….Bazooka Joe is much cheaper!

Brian

I was out again last night. 6 walleyes and saugers. Trolling cranks again. 1 legal. One south of Bayport, one just north of the swing bridge and the others south of Afton on the Minnesota side. I lost one around 5 pounds at the boat down there as well. All in 16 feet or less. I have been marking some rather large fish at the bottom of the drop offs in about 37 feet of water. Any ideas what they might be before I try to catch one?

I hope folks don’t mind the posts, I’m not trying to brag, just looking to get better on the river. And the way it sounds, to have some fun I will need to go back to my live baiting days. My problem is that I’m just too impatient.

You’re sharing info in the EXACT way intended on the forums here. No need for apologies by any means.

J, did you dock at the Windmill Marina yesterday evening? I was out with my neighbor from 7 to 9. We were using minnows and leeches with small spinners in the channel and on the WI side just south of catfish bar. Leeches produced zip and not much better on minnows. 2 short eyes and a short sauger. It’s good to know someone’s hooking into a bigger fish. I haven’t seen one for about 3 weeks now.

That’s the 2nd post referring to Bluff’s Park. Where is it? North or South of Afton? By Stillwater? By the Kinnie? I have lived around here a long time, but don’t know of a place on the Croix by that name.

BTW- Been fishing the lower Lake St. Croix and having lots of fun. Last time out (Tuesday night), got a flathead cat, smallmouth bass, & a couple of silver bass. Most were returned to the river to be caught again some day. Now if I could just catch a gar, that would be something
Eleclady

Eleclady – St Croix Bluffs Regional Park. It has a great boat launch located south of the Kinni on the MN side of the river. You will need an annual or daily vehicle park permit to use the park. The yearly sticker is $20. It is a great buy for access to the St Croix. The park is located about 3 miles south of Afton State Park. Try this web site – http://www.co.washington.mn.us/parks/pkstcroi.htm

The address is St Croix Bluffs Regional Park, 10191 St Croix Trail, S, Hastings, MN 55033. Telephone: 651-430-8240

Thanks Comanchero15,

That is a part of the Croix I’m not very familar with. I usually don’t fish south of the Kinni, not because of the river itself, but because my boat & motor rig ( a 12 footer with a 8 hp.) don’t let me get very far very fast. I am in the market to upgrade soon to bigger & better, so I think I will check it out as soon as I have more horsepower or get the inclination to launch at the Park.

Thanks again for the info.
Eleclady