St Croix River – fall tips?

hi there folks. tomorrow i’ll be bringing my retired mom out on the st croix river. she lives in hudson so we will probably launch there. is better walleye fishing found upstream toward stillwater, or downstream toward prescott this time of year? any tips or productive tactics anyone can share would be a huge help as i’m pretty much going in blind. what kind of structure/depths should i be looking for? tactics — slow trolling stick baits? dragging minnows on a 3-way? general areas — i always see a handful of fishing boats south of the 94 bridge, but i know a crowd doesn’t always mean much?

i’m brand new to the forum here, although i’ve been lurking for a while and trying to read as much as possible. there’s some absolutely great information here and seems like a great group of outdoorsmen. i already owe you all a big thanks! i spend the majority of my fishing time in northern minnesota, primarily chasing lake trout in the superior national forest and boundary waters areas. fishing for me has primarily been something i’ve done while on “vacation,” but i’m starting to get more into it and want to spend some time on the water closer to home. If anybody is willing to share some spots via PM, I’d gladly share some of my own spots from the border country.

thanks, and tight lines!

-adam

Welcome to the forum! I fished right where you’re talking last week and I’ll be honest it was tough, same that I heard from other boats the same day. The fish I marked were oddly very deep, hanging right near the break into deep water, generally at the bottom of 15 to 25 foot transitions (?saugers?) the fish I caught were in neck down areas around the train bridge down through the neck down towards Hudson, jig and fathead (everything for me was north of Hudson). Hope you have better luck than me !

I haven’t fished walleyes on the Croix in quite some time now. This time of year I would recommend fishing around the Rail road bridge at top side of Hudson channel and also over in front of the Dam (Willow River). Lots of people fishing/catching there from shore this time of year. If your in a boat, get close enough to cast in the current but far enough to not get hit by the shore fisherman. I would use count down rapalas or rattling raps. Close to dark and both places would be best.

If you’re heading over to the Mallalieu dam, be sure to watch your depth. There are some nasty rock piles and there were a few submerged logs just out from the dam along with some other really shallow spots, especially with the low water levels. If I go over there, I always go north of the dam than go back downstream by where the neighborhood has some docks.

Thanks for the thoughts everyone.

Fished from about 10am-4pm yesterday with only one bite. There were a lot of boats out and I honestly didn’t see a single fish come up, but I’m sure someone was catching em somewhere. I did talk to one guy at the ramp afterwards who said he managed about half a dozen but they were all right around 14″ so no keepers.

I started my day with a nice run from Hudson to Stillwater just to let the gasser breathe a little and take in the fresh air, then worked my way back stopping at a few spots along the way, mostly following the gulls. Spent some time around the train bridge in Hudson, trolled the no-wake zone between there and 94, and then hit a few spots between 94 and catfish bar. Such a beautiful day to be out on the water, hope I can get back out there again this year try again.

The Croix is a beautiful river, we are lucky to have such a nice river so close to the metro, but the Mississippi is better, easier to fish and has more fish-IMHO. Can you learn the Croix and have great trips all season? Absolutely and those that do are probably happy that I might stear anyone toward the ‘sippi.