5-25-09 Report

Was an AWESOME morning on the Croix!! Launched at the Bluffs right away at 6 AM (it pays to get there at 5:26 to be first in line…) and headed south to some of my favorite spots along the ‘sconny shoreline. Was on the fish within 5 minutes, and by 8:07 had a limit of 14″-17″ saugers. I was gonna take a picture for ya, but when I got home the Sea Hag wanted to go out for breakfast and I had to clean them QUICK.

Best depth seemed to be 19′-23′, although I caught fish anywhere from 13′ to 30′. Fathead minnow on a “secret” jig- actually it’s not secret- it’s kind of a firetiger pattern but I have only ever found this PARTICULAR jig in South Dakota so I stock up every spring- when the guys in Chamberlain see me coming they get very happy….

In addition to the saugers, I hit a (roughly) 5# catfish, a 12″ perch, a white bass I would guess weighed out at about 2#, a sheepie (woohooo!!!!) that was probly 5# and a 15″ smallie. A couple short wallys and a TON of 10-13″ saugers.
It was nice for a change to run out of bait before beer!

All in all it was an AWESOME morning, and I wanted to share the results with y’all!

Hi Greg, it WAS a great day on the Croix…..
I was out myself until about 10:45 then the big boys told me not so directly….you’ve had all morning to fish, its time for you to leave.
I launched in Hastings, and fished just north of Prescott on the Minnesota side, very common spots, long shallow sand bar, and the old railroad bridge, I’m sure we saw each other from the opposite side of the river and wondered if they were doing as good as me.

I started by trolling lead in 18 – 21 fow and it was bang after bang, nothing huge but nice eyes, the biggest almost 19″. As the sun rose above the treeline, all the fish moved slightly deeper and the bite slowed, so I switched to jigs and gulp. I caught some little saugers and sifted through them to keep an eater or 2 for lunch, all in all maybe 20 could be keepers today with 3 making it to the frying pan. I’ll be back out in the morning same thing, different day, and hopefully the big boys will stay away with the threat of rain.
Funny thing though I snagged someones broken off lead and pulled it in and it was full of zebra mussels, when I got it all up, about 50 ft. or so at the end of it was 2 #11 clown floating Rapalas, the rocks there can be very unforgiving to your line but not a bad find either, and the neighbor kid doesn’t care if they are faded or not they’ll look good in his box of tricks.

ive caught so many cranks this year. i think im up to about 6 or 7 for the yyear.with all but 1 being walley divers and the other a ?# 7 shad rap,

Thanks for the reports, guys. Gonna try this weekend.

BTW: First idofishing post — great forum!

Scottie

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Hi Greg, it WAS a great day on the Croix…..
I was out myself until about 10:45 then the big boys told me not so directly….you’ve had all morning to fish, its time for you to leave.
I launched in Hastings, and fished just north of Prescott on the Minnesota side, very common spots, long shallow sand bar, and the old railroad bridge, I’m sure we saw each other from the opposite side of the river and wondered if they were doing as good as me.

I started by trolling lead in 18 – 21 fow and it was bang after bang, nothing huge but nice eyes, the biggest almost 19″. As the sun rose above the treeline, all the fish moved slightly deeper and the bite slowed, so I switched to jigs and gulp. I caught some little saugers and sifted through them to keep an eater or 2 for lunch, all in all maybe 20 could be keepers today with 3 making it to the frying pan. I’ll be back out in the morning same thing, different day, and hopefully the big boys will stay away with the threat of rain.
Funny thing though I snagged someones broken off lead and pulled it in and it was full of zebra mussels, when I got it all up, about 50 ft. or so at the end of it was 2 #11 clown floating Rapalas, the rocks there can be very unforgiving to your line but not a bad find either, and the neighbor kid doesn’t care if they are faded or not they’ll look good in his box of tricks.

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I haven’t pulled in any cranks yet, but a few busted 3-ways and lindys…

For some reason, the MN side down there seems to be better for eyes… I get ’em OK on the WI side but all the guys I talk to do better over there. I should have gone across and tried after I limited, just some scouting, but the saugers and bonus fish were keeping me busy so I stuck with it!
I am shooting for a Friday morning venture this week so we’ll see!

I did get a hot tip from a guy at the launch about a “scout camp” but that’s out of my normal range…I may have to check it out tho….

If ya see me out there again, swing by- I have a 17′ Bass Tracker V17 Guide Special, 40 horse Johnson with an indepthangling sticker on the side

Thanks for the report Greg. I think I know where I’ll be heading one of these weekend mornings.

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Thanks for the report Greg. I think I know where I’ll be heading one of these weekend mornings.

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I’ll be looking for ya!

WELCOME SCOTTIE!!!

I got you guys beat, this is a shoe i caught last year on the Croix, its my first, I’m so proud

Yes, it’s awesome out there but starting to get crowded even on weekdays. One breakfasting barge owner in a marina informed us were “the seventh boat in here this morning” but we managed one or more of just about every species, including an 18-inch brown trout–photo to folo–(properly kissed, gently revived and released, of course. She
took a fathead cast to a dock for quapis, on 4lb and ultralight rod.)
Have the impression the drought has forced crik critters down into the main channels. Dennis Gleason of Bayport, who photographed and released that fish, has been observing eagles perched (yes, we’re getting jumbos too) over the goslings while their aprents complain loudly. He went face to face with a big snapping turtle, whose brothers were two-stepping egrets the shallows.
Between the bug hatches and the early fingerlings, everything seems to be fixin’ to eat each their neighbors babies right now on the root beer river….including the falcons at King plant chimney, which is at this moment observing the no smoking sign.
Congrats and good luck.

Well, I wish I could say the bite was good this morning, but it was kinda slow. I took home one keeper walleye and two sauger. Never caught any other short walleyes or small sauger which was strange. The smallies were active chasing minnows all over the place, but for some reason the walleyes weren’t chomping this morning. Did boat a few smallies, perch and sunfish. Finally stopped at the archery & bait shop off 61 south of 494. Good place to stop, plus they were open early around 5:15 when I cruised in.

backwoods is a great place and opens at 5am I believe and a great bunch of guys working there, that is my bait shop of choice!

Yep, Backwoods for sure! They are open at 5 on Sat and Sun for sure, maybe even Friday too.
I have NO CLUE why Kilroys in Hastings don’t open at 5 (or the gas station in Prescott for that matter), but the Backwoods is right on the way and always open!

Now, if we could figure out how to get the gate at the Bluffs open by 5:15 everything would be perfect!!