Another newbie question…

I posted late winter about an opportunity I had to get a slip north of Stillwater for my Pontoon. Well I did take that opportunity and have my boat sitting on the water today. Unfortunately it has been one heck of a busy spring and have not been able to get out. This weekend the wife is out of town, and I plan on taking my 2 young sons out. I am a bit nervous about this because I wanted to go by myself the first time. But we are going to go for it. Now onto the question.

I have never fished the river before, but have been reading tons of info on this site and others. So I have many techniques and things I want to try. But for my first time out with my boys (6 and 4), what would you do just to get your pole bending. We do not care what species, just want to get them out having fun on the river.

Thanks!

You really can’t beat half a crawler on a lindy rig. You’ll get lots of bites and see many different kinds of fish. You will have a hard time keeping their attention at that age whatever you do.

mkoehn – you have a pm.

Sandbar, thanks for the PM. We will give that a try on Saturday or Sunday.

Whiskerkev – I have been fishing with the boys before, and realize the attention span is small. That is why I was asking for a good technique to try. Wasting alot of time trying different things never works with them.

Crawlers and minnows on the bottom is a good easy way to go. We went threw 2 dozen crawlers and a scope of crappies minnows in just a few hourrs last weekend doing this. Lots of action to say the least.

We targeted areas with wood and current. These are good areas to hold walleyes. Rock bars and current work well also. If you have benn there more than 10 minutes with out a bite move.

We just pitched jigs out on the bottom. Lighter jigs behind the boat. Heaver jigs to the side to hold bottom a little better. Slip sinker rigs work well for this also.

Good luck.

I thought I’d update eveyone on our trip on Friday. We were on the river for 3 hours, and the kids had a blast. We really only got about 45 minutes of fishing in. It was pretty windy out there, and I was looking for spots to fish out of the wind. We caught zero fish, but the kids had a blast. As we were coming back south to the slip, I was watching the depth finder and have some interesting spots I would like to try. I cannot wait for the next trip I take without the kids……

Good to hear you got out. I tried fishing on friday in the wind at it was tough for me too. I few sheepies and rock bass for me. Saturday was a different story. The morning bite was pretty good. The wind came and went, but it turned out to be a pretty good morning for weather and fish. Crawlers and minnows both caught fish for me. Jigs and lindy rigs will work just fine.

I am going to try to get out with the wife tonight. I am going to try a few of those spots that looked interesting. I read alot on sites about the people heading out in the morning, is there a better time than others to head out to the croix? To be honest, I will mostly head out after work.

Hey Patrick-
After you left and went up river, I moved up to the shoreline to that point we talked about. I can see why those guys were out there all morning….. Next time you’re down there, give it a try. Start deep and drift up the side and over the top. I was hitting 2-3 fish per pass.
That’s my favorite thing about that river, a spot will be good for a while, then it seems like it goes cold, then comes back again.
Couldn’t buy a fish on a crawler, though.
Let’s hope the forecast is right for the weekend, and it is rainy. Maybe that will keep the big boats away. That or $4.50/gallon on the water!

Thanks for the tip Greg and nice to meet you out there!

mkoehn, any time you can get out fishing is a good time. I have had trips on the croix where the fish bite really well at 1 pm in the afternoon and not at all in the morning. With the stained water in the river the fish can bite at any time and even in shallow water. The evening and late afternoon bite can be very good as well.

Are you above the High Bridge/DNR checkpoint or below it?
My tips are to pick up a “Fishing Hotspots” brand map at Fleet Farm for the upper and lower Croix. Read it and try some of the spots and presentations on it! There is a wealth of info for new and old river fisherman.

Also don’t be afraid to anchor on the side of the main channel say 8′-15′ and just drop a line over (jig/minnow or Lindy rig/crawler) I’ve seen plenty of fish caught off of the back of beached boats! The fish seem to move around a lot. When my kids were younger I would bring a lot of snacks and toys (minnows ) and they would take turns reeling the fish in.

Lastly don’t be in such a rush to not include the kids mine were happy even if we didn’t catch anything. There’s so much to see if you stop & look! The fish will come when you get more comfortable with the river. At the speed mine are growing up I treasure every minute I get to spend outdoors with them

PM me if you need some help.

Good luck,

Ferny.

Thanks for all the replies. I got out with the boys a week and a half ago, and got skunked. But we had a great afternoon on the river.

Got out again on Monday with some buddies. We went from Stillwater all the way to some backwater by the highbridge. We were targeting Smallies. We caught about 6 in a few hours. Missed about as many, and had a blast. On the way home we stopped on part of the main channel at a huge dropoff that was marking tons of fish. We had very little time to fish it, but tried trolling cranks for a few minutes. Caught 2 walleye and a Northern. We did not have minnows, would have been a blast to anchor up and try minnow and jig.

I am hooked on the river, I have had 2 great outings. and cannot wait for more.

Thanks all!