St. Croix Smallies

I was looking for a little advice and a helping hand. I am an avid bass fisherman from the Faribault Area, mainly a lake fisherman. I have recently (the last couple of years) fished the Mississippi river for smallmouth bass which is now my favorite species to fish for. I’ve had some great luck on Lake Pepin and a bit of luck round the Red Wing area.

I am always looking for somewhere new to try. What I am really looking at is the Mississippi River (other than Lake Pepin or Red Wing area) or the St. Croix River fishing for smallmouth. I am rather concerned about boating safety. Things like dams and wing dams (although I don’t know much about them scare me). I really don’t want to worry about taking out my lower unit of my boat or beaching my boat on a sandbar, but I love to fish rocks and similar structure for smallmouth.

Can you please give me some ideas about where I can go and be safe and still have some of the great smallmouth success that I have had on Lake Pepin. Thanks for the help

Steve

Try the rocky shores anywhere fronts and backs of the islands and one thing I alsoways look for is baitfish fleeing. I mostly fish in the stillwater area weekends are not the best time to be out there and expect peace and quiet. it doesn’t matter where you go it will be busy. I also suggest going to a pay launch or you will not be able to launch due to parking on the weekdays it is not too bad.

The St Croix is not as intimidating as you may think. Break the river down into workable stretches and get a good map, start with a Fishing Hot Spots map. Start doing some scouting based on the map guidance and you can find fish. Fishing upstream from Taylor Falls to north of Stillwater is good smallie small river type fishing. From Stillwater to Prescott is a whole different ballgame but you will find plenty of good smallie fishing.

If you want to speed up your learning curve, hire a good guide – consider it tuition on your fishing education. One day with a good guide can save you one or two seasons of personal effort. One of the best St Croix guides is Turk – here is the link to his guide service: Croixsippi Guide Service

As was previously mentioned the big boat traffic on the St Croix can be a pain. I find getting out early and getting off the water about 11:00 to 12:00pm is one way to avoid most of the boat traffic frustration. There are good private, for pay launches at Bayport, Hudson, Beanies, Afton and St Croix Bluffs, Prescott, Hastings – you will find these launches can put you close to where you want to fish and save you some time.

Good Luck!!

Hey Falcon,

Don’t think I’v ever gone out on the Croix to specifically target smallies but have, on occation, had a few bite my walleye hooks .

Think deep… sure, you’ll catch some nice fighters in the shallows, look for typical spots – weeds, rocks, depth changes, but I’ve hooked into some nice sized fish while dragging live-bait on the bottom in typical ‘walleye’ locations – deeper humps with edges dropping to the main channel, shallow flats with drop-off edges, etc.

As for safety concerns, get out early and get off early if you’re going out on a weekend. That, or be prepared to rock-n-roll as the cruisers and tuna boats stir it up pretty well. From Stillwater down to Hudson down to the Kinni, there really aren’t many ‘hazards’ and those that are out there are pretty well marked with green and red channel markers. There are a few shallow spots but they’re where you might expect them – between/near the islands in the Hudson Channel, off of points, etc.