How’d it go?

No opener update by Sun morning is kinda scary. It was either bad or so good nobody’s talking.

The 3 of us were done by noon yesterday. 27 fish boated, biggest was 23. Most fish between 15 and 19.

Just leaving the river now and my kid and I did about the same

Sweet. Looking forward to hearing from bzzsaw.

Rumor has it Bzzsaw has one empty bottle of Captain and some walleyes on his stringer.

Man was it busy on Saturday. Hudson launch was full by 5:45. We fished Saturday from 530 until close to 2. We (3 of us) only had 2 legal fish by 10 am. We ended up with 7 (21 inches was biggest).

Sunday wasn’t as busy. We (2 of us) fished from 6 am until 12:30. We ended up with 7 more legals (couple 19s and rest between 16 and 18).

We probably caught 15 short walleyes both days. All our fish were on crawlers.

Kind of surprised with as many people were out fishing, I don’t recall getting angry at anyone this weekend.

Kind of surprised with as many people were out fishing, I don’t recall getting angry at anyone this weekend.
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No sail boats out yet.

didn’t get to the Croix this weekend – fished over on Wissota on Saturday. Looking forward to going out, maybe Wed or Thurs after work. The Hudson launch is open, I assume??

G_Smitty wrote:

didn’t get to the Croix this weekend – fished over on Wissota on Saturday. Looking forward to going out, maybe Wed or Thurs after work. The Hudson launch is open, I assume??

Hi Glenn,
Yes, the Hudson launch is open. The water is pretty low for this time of year.

Just getting off the river. Myself and 1 other. 19 fish. Only 4 keepers. Fished from 130 to now. Cranks 2.0mph

Water is already 55 degrees. Seems crazy for it to be that warm already

Bearcat89 wrote:

Just getting off the river. Myself and 1 other. 19 fish. Only 4 keepers. Fished from 130 to now. Cranks 2.0mph

Water is already 5 degrees. Seems crazy fir it ti be that warm already

Bearcat, I had 45 degrees in hudson channel on Saturday. It was 53 on Sunday.

bzzsaw wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Bearcat89 wrote:</div>
Just getting off the river. Myself and 1 other. 19 fish. Only 4 keepers. Fished from 130 to now. Cranks 2.0mph

Water is already 5 degrees. Seems crazy fir it ti be that warm already

Bearcat, I had 45 degrees in hudson channel on Saturday. It was 53 on Sunday.

I really need to proof read before I hit submit.
I edited it. 55 degrees from franconia to the highway 8 bridge area. Seemed really warm already. And I cant remember what it was Saturday. It sure is nice to catch fish near home again. The wind had a good bite from about 3 until I got off at 6. Needed more then a light Hoodie.

I made it out yesterday for 4 hours. Dragged crawlers and eventually found some fish in 18 fow however nothing but shorts. 4 eyes and 2 smallies. I was going out this afternoon but now its going to rain. Next week maybe.

suzuki wrote:

I made it out yesterday for 4 hours. Dragged crawlers and eventually found some fish in 18 fow however nothing but shorts. 4 eyes and 2 smallies. I was going out this afternoon but now its going to rain. Next week maybe.

I went out for 2 hours yesterday but it was much slower. Only 3 short fish, and 2 white bass.
Debating on going tonight, watching the weather

Was on the Croix yesterday, smaller sand pike 1 legal walleye about a 4 lb smallie, and a 12 lb channel that had me wondering for a while, using 5 Shad Rap.

I was able to get out yesterday afternoon from 12:30 to 4:30. Got 4 decent keepers (20, 19, 18, 17) and a dozen short fish. All on crawlers. I didn’t miss as many fish yesterday as I did last weekend. Last weekend it seemed like I missed 9 of 10 bites only to be left with the head of my crawler. Yesterday, the majority of my bites the fish hammered the crawler.

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More of a fishery question.. it seems the bite was pretty solid this weekend with shorts and plenty of keepers caught. I also got 2 over 15″ along with a handful of short fish Sunday. I am curious if you guys consider St. Croix a big fish fishery? Do many big ones get caught or at all? I am talking 28+” type fish. Seems like the forage is there along with plenty of water to hide in even with the pressure but I never seem to hear of big ones.

No knocking what a great fishery St. Croix is, its a blast to go pull a bunch of walleyes anywhere let alone so close to the metro but it seems like I have only seen/heard of 22-24″ type top end fish?

Mos’ wrote:

More of a fishery question.. it seems the bite was pretty solid this weekend with shorts and plenty of keepers caught. I also got 2 over 15″ along with a handful of short fish Sunday. I am curious if you guys consider St. Croix a big fish fishery? Do many big ones get caught or at all? I am talking 28+” type fish. Seems like the forage is there along with plenty of water to hide in even with the pressure but I never seem to hear of big ones.

No knocking what a great fishery St. Croix is, its a blast to go pull a bunch of <em class=”ido-tag-em”>walleyes anywhere let alone so close to the metro but it seems like I have only seen/heard of 22-24″ type top end fish?

It definitely is more of eater size system, 15 – 20 inchers but there are trophy fish. My buddy got a 31.5 3 years ago and I got my PB 28.5 last year (pictured). The league I fish out there usually has a mid 20s inch fish or bigger for the big fish of the week.

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Mos’ wrote:

More of a fishery question.. it seems the bite was pretty solid this weekend with shorts and plenty of keepers caught. I also got 2 over 15″ along with a handful of short fish Sunday. I am curious if you guys consider St. Croix a big fish fishery? Do many big ones get caught or at all? I am talking 28+” type fish. Seems like the forage is there along with plenty of water to hide in even with the pressure but I never seem to hear of big ones.

No knocking what a great fishery St. Croix is, its a blast to go pull a bunch of <em class=”ido-tag-em”>walleyes anywhere let alone so close to the metro but it seems like I have only seen/heard of 22-24″ type top end fish?

I pulled a 29 or 29.5″, cannot remember.

Lower parts the big fish go to the thermocline and above roaming the open expanses over deep water. They can be quite picky but I can always plan on size being there.

I think they’re there, but quite a Challenge to target with any consistent success.

St croix is a much of an eater fishery as pool 4 in that there’s an abundance of all size classes. Pool 4 big fish are way easier to target due to current. St croix fishes like a lake in many places.

I think I’ve beat 26 on the croix only a handful of times up where I fish. But always consistently catching 12 to 20 inch fish, a couple times a week if I fish it alot I may beat 20 to 25 inch. But my average fish is 14 to 17
My bigger fish are often caught while targeting smallies

Echoing similar opinions. My biggest was 27” last year caught on a #9 UV green taildancer suspended 20 ft down in 30 ft of water a few miles south of 94. It seems any of the bigger fish I get on the croix I’m doing something different (low light, shallow windswept point, suspended over deeper water, larger lures, etc). than my typical spread of trolling #5-7 shadraps on lead. That being said, trolling #5-7 shadraps on lead, 1-2 feet off the bottom, far and away gets most of my 13-20” fish.

Speaking of fishing, heading out for the first time this weekend on the croix (trolling). Hows the fishing been? Thinking of starting in the hudson channel and going from there.

FishBlood&RiverMud wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Mos’ wrote:</div>
More of a fishery question.. it seems the bite was pretty solid this weekend with shorts and plenty of keepers caught. I also got 2 over 15″ along with a handful of short fish Sunday. I am curious if you guys consider St. Croix a big fish fishery? Do many big ones get caught or at all? I am talking 28+” type fish. Seems like the forage is there along with plenty of water to hide in even with the pressure but I never seem to hear of big ones.

No knocking what a great fishery St. Croix is, its a blast to go pull a bunch of <em class=”ido-tag-em”>walleyes anywhere let alone so close to the metro but it seems like I have only seen/heard of 22-24″ type top end fish?

I pulled a 29 or 29.5″, cannot remember.

Lower parts the big fish go to the thermocline and above roaming the open expanses over deep water. They can be quite picky but I can always plan on size being there.

I think they’re there, but quite a Challenge to target with any consistent success.

St croix is a much of an eater fishery as pool 4 in that there’s an abundance of all size classes. Pool 4 big fish are way easier to target due to current. St croix fishes like a lake in many places.

Shhhhhhhhhhh.

big river fish only lay on the bottom and feed from the very bottom. I always try to remind people of this every chance I get.