I’m wondering if any of the Croix river rats here have any evidence of shovelnose sturgeon, buffalo fish, carpsucker, blue sucker or gar north of the dam at Taylor’s Falls. I need to catch these species for the contest I’m in. It’s a much different area than the southern stretch and I’ve been trying to find out all I can about it. Thanks.
Just got back from the Sunrise River, where I caught a logperch (4″ long) which looks like a cross between a walleye, trout and a mud minnow. also caught a couple of small creek chubs. That puts me over 30 total species this season, and I have yet to catch a northern hogsucker.
Gees CC, I’m not even sure what one of those is! I can picture it and it’s only SLIGHTLY cuter than Rivergoggles, but I’m not sure that I could identify even half the list you’ve managed to put a hook into this year! :O) Could you do us all a little lessen and give a list of the fish you’ve boated at the end of your contest and possibly give some references to finding information on the lesser known fish? If for nothing else, just the sake of knowing in case I saw something odd one day myself. Cool effort CC!!
yeah one thing I was trying to hook this year was was the rare and dreaded big scaled puparoni sucker….. they are a bit more ugly than the hog sucker.. and they taste a bit worse then a 2 week dead gizzard shad….. and they dont really put up much of a fight….. but….. its nice to see something uglier than me!!!
lol
I caught two gar on Sunday in one spot. If you need that species bad enough send me a private message and I will give you the exact location. I have not caught a gar ever and then two within 1 hour. Maybe they are congregated there. By the way it is south of Taylors falls.
Mike
Carp Chaser
I grew up on that section of river. I got my river experience fishing those “other” fish at a young age. My parents have a cabin on the MN side just north of the dam. Fishing from the dock, I’ve caught Quillback Carpsuckers, Sturgeon (both lake and shovelnose), Carp, Redhorse, Catfish, etc. Lots of species! The sturgeon, for whatever reason, have all been caught at my fishing spot within a two-week period each year. (Right around the 4th of July weekend). Nothing “big” for sturgeon – 15lbs for the biggest. My buddy released a shovelnose that was pushing 8 lbs this spring just south of Dam #3 on the Miss. We released the fish knowing it was huge for a shovelnose, but not knowing what the state record was. Let me know if I can help out.
Hey Stillakid, I have caught some pretty strange fish this year, it’s a real challenge going after something you haven’t caught before. check out this site for pictures of Minnesota fish (lots of oddities) http://www.gen.umn.edu/faculty_staff/hatch/fishes/natural_history.html I can probably tell you how to catch something if you are interested, although I don’t have nearly the amount of experience that some do.
Hey Catdad, that’s cool that you went out with the DNR test netting. I have caught 2 lake sturgeon this year (both really small) on the upper St. Croix, but I still need a shovelnose. Anyone know a good place to catch a shovelnose? Thanks for any help you can give.
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