St. Louis River sprintime!!!

I would like to hear who has all fished the St. Louis River on opener, If so what kind of luck did you have here?

My brother and I used to fish this quite a bit over the years and I remember back in 96′(I believe) on opener weekend and we had the females on the chew in real shallow water all day long. We were up just north of the Boy Scout landing the first couple of days throwing light 1/16 oz jigs and minnows into 3-6 feet of water in the current break areas. I remember like it was yesterday, they were just slamming the jigs. We were boating all sizes with numerous 8lb. fish. After a couple days of this the fish scattered down river. We then went on the hunt shallow and continued to find a few here and a few there again in slight slackwater areas.

It was a blast and I have made a few trips back since then but not enough, and none quite as productive as that late spring.

Has anyone else had any decent luck in the river and out to Spirit Lake on opener?

I have not had a chance to fish the opener lately (to many trout to chase) but last year from the opener and the next two weeks my dad caught great numbers of walleyes. Nothing as big as you experienced but good numbers. Their approach was the same as you applied in 96.

yelowlab,

This was the only year we hit the fish like this up there. We had a late spring that year and caught some of these fish still up the river on their way down. I hear of alot of guys that do well down into Spirit Lake during the heat of the summer here. It has a awesome smallie population and suprisingly a good number of muskies as well. Like I said I have not been up there that much since then, but sure was fun while it lasted.

Too much water and not enough time!!!

Bass fishing is starting to become very popular up there, lots of guys trading in their red lunds for glittery rangers. Don’t remind me about the muskies, that has become my new obsession. The learning curve for catching them on my home waters is to steep for me, if I start targeting them on the St. Louis I will drive myself nuts. A friend caught a decent one there last summer ,but like most of the people who catch a musky there, he was targeting walleyes.

Yellowlab,

yeah, I understand. Those muskies can be most days elusive and other days you may see a couple!!

I remember one time we were up there in August fishing smallies in Spirit Lake well off the main channel in only about 3 foot of water, but we found small weed patches that held a bunch of smallies in each clump. We ended up seeing 3 muskies that day just fishing smallies around these clumps. We were about 3/4 mile off the main channel just out of the river and into the first mile of Spirit Lake.

My brother has boated several muskies from the river/lake back in the mid 90’s. He use to live in Cloquet and this is where he spent the majority of his time.

Hope some of this info helps a little in your quest to chase those toothy critters.

Good Luck

DeeZee,

I just talked to a buddy that fished there for opener and caught some very decent fish. He was fishing below the Hwy. 23 bridge, all the way down to “walleye alley”. They boated three fish over six pounds. All of the males were milting heavily and some of the females still had eggs. I normally start fishing in June and let the post spawn clear out, but I wish I would have made the early run this year. I hit openers up there from about 97′ -2000 and on a typical spring they are usually in the middle of the post spawn at that time and it seems like we do much better into early June. I have had many 30-50 fish days (per person!) in the past couple of years while fishing the channel with three-ways or bottom bouncers and a spinner/crawler combo. My best time is consistently the first three weeks in June. If you would ever be interested in going up, I can always use a partner. I’m thinking of making my first run sometime around Memorial weekend. I’ll let you know how the bite is.

bri_bigeyes,

Thanks for the info. Sounds like you have her dialed as far as the timing goes. Sounds like alot of fun.

I wish I was there. Too many places too little time!

Thanks for the invite as well. I may take you up on that sometime for the day. I have not been up there for the last couple of years and it would be fun to get back and fish that pretty area.

I remember one time we fished the “walleye alley” area you are referring too and we pulled #5 & #7 raps along the channel edge this time of year and banged some nice fish as well.

Good Luck and keep us posted here and keep that open seat warm!!!

Thanks