St Croix River Weekend Reports

Just curious to see how guys did on the croix over the weekend.

I spent Saturday morning 5am-11am with not a bite. Trolled cranks really shallow.

Fished Sunday, 10a-6p spent time trolling and jigging a little deeper caught 2 smallies and a buddy caught a gigantic 22 inch sauger. Overall very slow, and didn’t see to many fish caught besides a few sturgeon.

Trolled leadcore all morning on Saturday. Only got one small walleye by 94. Coming through the Hudson channel there was 20+ boats drift jigging and didn’t see anyone pull a fish in? Started up by Stillwater and was almost impossible to keep junk off the lures. Was a very rough opener this year. Super windy, water temps crashed over the week, Water levels rose 6ft, and tons of debris in the water.

Fished from 5am to 5pm Sat, somehow managed a sunburn…
Trolled cranks with periodic stops to jig live bait, Caught 1 walleye on a crank east side of 94 bridge caught another walleye Jigging plastics below Lake mallalieu dam. Both measured 14 inches and set free. Other than some sheep head it was a rather slow day. Got checked by the DNR they said they had only seen 3 fish total in boats.

Never made it out, unfortunately the honey do list prevailed this weekend. Heard from a few good Croix river sticks the bite was tough to say the least. I wished I could have gotten out.

Fished solely in Hudson on Saturday from 5:30 am – 1. Fishing was slow but we scratched out a dozen fish, all males, all under 15″. Half walleye/half sauger.

Trolling lead up, jigging down. No pattern, no best color, no best bait.

47 degree water temp.

Got out sunday with few boats on the water.2 2 16 inch sauger and 2 shorty walleye all on lead line. No bites snap jigging, pulling leeches or minnows.
aparrently a big dip in the berometor occured

Were the males milting?

Sounds like saugers are making a comeback. They have been a little scarce on the Croix in years past. Good to hear.

Jesse Krook wrote:

Were the males milting?

I can’t answer that because I never caught one but I do know the water temp was near 60 about a week ago so I’m assuming they would’ve been all spawned out.

suzuki wrote:

Sounds like saugers are making a comeback. They have been a little scarce on the Croix in years past. Good to hear.

This is because the rollers are open again at L&D #3. All you guys taking the Pool 4 fish that migrated up to the Croix.

Since they migrated up from pool 4 into the croix you think they will still be ok to eat?

Brian Klawitter wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>suzuki wrote:</div>
Sounds like saugers are making a comeback. They have been a little scarce on the Croix in years past. Good to hear.

This is because the rollers are open again at L&D #3. All you guys taking the Pool 4 fish that migrated up to the Croix.

Since they migrated up from pool 4 into the croix you think they will still be ok to eat????/

Brian Klawitter wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>suzuki wrote:</div>
Sounds like saugers are making a comeback. They have been a little scarce on the Croix in years past. Good to hear.

This is because the rollers are open again at L&D #3. All you guys taking the Pool 4 fish that migrated up to the Croix.

purehd wrote:

Since they migrated up from pool 4 into the croix you think they will still be ok to eat????/

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Brian Klawitter wrote:</div>

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>suzuki wrote:</div>
Sounds like saugers are making a comeback. They have been a little scarce on the Croix in years past. Good to hear.

This is because the rollers are open again at L&D #3. All you guys taking the Pool 4 fish that migrated up to the Croix.

Same with many walleyes on the lower Croix. I’ve been eating them for years with nO prIblemz whatso evvvver….Urp. Who needs fingernails anyways…..

On a side note anyone else out there see the two different boats who were “pike” fishing on two of the more popular musky spots on the Croix. I drove by them slowly. 1 guy was throwing a DCG and saw another boat throwing a bulldog. Some guys cant wait. I cant remember the last time I caught or even seen a pike on the croix. True muskie fisherman understand and have the respect not to stretch the limit by pike fishing in musky spots during the spawn. If they hook up with a big female who have not recovered, could put a lot of stress on them.

Jesse Krook wrote:

Were the males milting?

We had several males a milting!

ET

bradl110 wrote:

On a side note anyone else out there see the two different boats who were “pike” fishing on two of the more popular musky spots on the Croix. I drove by them slowly. 1 guy was throwing a DCG and saw another boat throwing a bulldog. Some guys cant wait. I cant remember the last time I caught or even seen a pike on the croix. True muskie fisherman understand and have the respect not to stretch the limit by <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>pike fishing in musky spots during the spawn. If they hook up with a big female who have not recovered, could put a lot of stress on them.

Last year I took a guy out on the croix and he asked me if I ever caught pike here. I said rarely if ever. We proceeded to catch 7-8 that day. I also caught one last summer in the 10+ lb range.

I dont own muskie gear so it wasn’t me but there are pike around.

ET

bradl110 wrote:

On a side note anyone else out there see the two different boats who were “pike” fishing on two of the more popular musky spots on the Croix. I drove by them slowly. 1 guy was throwing a DCG and saw another boat throwing a bulldog. Some guys cant wait. I cant remember the last time I caught or even seen a pike on the croix. True muskie fisherman understand and have the respect not to stretch the limit by <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>pike fishing in musky spots during the spawn. If they hook up with a big female who have not recovered, could put a lot of stress on them.

I did a little pike fishing by kinni, a popular musky spot…. And I threw big lures too.

I also caught a 16.25# pike there last year on opener with very similar water conditions…

Am I being a bad boy!?!?!?
Honestly I could give a rip what you think because you assume those folks have negative intentions based solely on your lack of knowledge of what they are intending to do.

Destroy closed seasons and make catch and release seasons. That would decrease unsubstantiated comments ten fold.

That’s my side note

So, what lure should have I used????????????????

I only want to catch the biggest pike in the system… What would you use?

Oh yeah, I caught that pike on cut bait last year.

That’s also a great sturgeon spot

Would you target me as fishing for sturgeon if I used cut bait for pike?

Do we use dead bait for pike often??? Lol.

The world of fishing isn’t as simple as opening YOUR tackle box

FishBlood&RiverMud wrote:

Oh yeah, I caught that pike on cut bait last year.

That’s also a great sturgeon spot

Would you target me as fishing for sturgeon if I used cut bait for pike?

Do we use dead bait for pike often??? Lol.

The world of fishing isn’t as simple as opening YOUR tackle box

We all know you were just fishin for cats with that cut bait

So you got an incidental pike on cut bait and went back this year and started chucking muskie lures?

FishBlood&RiverMud wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>bradl110 wrote:</div>
On a side note anyone else out there see the two different boats who were “pike” fishing on two of the more popular musky spots on the Croix. I drove by them slowly. 1 guy was throwing a DCG and saw another boat throwing a bulldog. Some guys cant wait. I cant remember the last time I caught or even seen a pike on the croix. True muskie fisherman understand and have the respect not to stretch the limit by <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>pike fishing in musky spots during the spawn. If they hook up with a big female who have not recovered, could put a lot of stress on them.

I did a little pike fishing by kinni, a popular musky spot…. And I threw big lures too.

I also caught a 16.25# pike there last year on opener with very similar water conditions…

Am I being a bad boy!?!?!?
Honestly I could give a rip what you think because you assume those folks have negative intentions based solely on your lack of knowledge of what they are intending to do.

Destroy closed seasons and make catch and release seasons. That would decrease unsubstantiated comments ten fold.

That’s my side note

So, what lure should have I used????????????????

I only want to catch the biggest pike in the system… What would you use?

It’s just an opinion… I’m just saying that I have very little respect for people that like to bend the rules. You know who you are and what your doing. I’m just saying if you want to target pike then go to a lake that doesn’t have muskies in them. Sorry I just have respect for musky and I believe that tampering with them and potentially hooking one up during spawn could be fatal.

FishBlood&RiverMud wrote:

Oh yeah, I caught that pike on cut bait last year.

That’s also a great sturgeon spot

Would you target me as fishing for sturgeon if I used cut bait for pike?

Do we use dead bait for pike often??? Lol.

The world of fishing isn’t as simple as opening YOUR tackle box

You are over the top too sensitive. We all get your stance on the subject from past posts. No need to be sooo combative. Not being a dick but we all get it…RR

cougareye wrote:

We all know you were just fishin for cats with that cut bait whistling

So you got an incidental pike on cut bait and went back this year and started chucking muskie lures? shock

Yes last year I absolutely was cat fishing.
Stumble upon good information on accident, you don’t throw it out.

I was chucking pike lures…. Again, define “pike” lure. Or “musky” lure, or any species for that matter.

All the lures I threw… I made myself, for pike.

Everything stated above is clearly within the laws. Contact legislature to have specific lures defined or bodies of water outlawed.

How has the fishing been since the weekend? Has the warmer water turned things on at all?

biggill wrote:

How has the fishing been since the weekend? Has the warmer water turned things on at all?

A 3rd party report from a friend said that a couple boats near Prescott had caught many dinks but only a couple keeper’s…RR

roosterrouster wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>FishBlood&RiverMud wrote:</div>
Oh yeah, I caught that pike on cut bait last year.

That’s also a great sturgeon spot

Would you target me as fishing for sturgeon if I used cut bait for pike?

Do we use dead bait for pike often??? Lol.

The world of fishing isn’t as simple as opening YOUR tackle box

You are over the top too sensitive. We all get your stance on the subject from past posts. No need to be sooo combative. Not being a dick but we all get it…RR

I agree with you Roosterrouser, some guys just don’t get the overall picture.

bradl110 wrote:

I’m just saying if you want to target pike then go to a lake that doesn’t have muskies in them.

I bet, state wide, more musky are accidentally caught than intentionally.

Non factual statistic.

But musky fishermen are so few and season is so short, and Musky are in the water year round and everyone else is fishing same water year round.

We all know there is the law and the “spirit of the law”. One can legally fish for pike but (and they know who they are) do so under the guise of pike fishing when they truly are targeting muskie. Nothing illegal about it, but clearly not within the “spirit of the law”. That being said, pike and muskie methods can be exactly the same, or not. Again, those that are in the “act” should know the difference. We truly have know way of judging as there are also those that just throw whatever out into the water to see what bites.
bradl110, Keep in mind not everyone has the opportunity, nor should they have to move to another water to fish pike that doesn’t also hold muskies. If I’m fishing a lake right outside my door that also holds big pike, I’m going to fish it and shouldn’t have to move to another lake just because I might have an “incidental” muskie catch.

So anyway…..

I believe this topic is “St. Croix River Weekend Reports”…..

We fished out of the Bluffs on Sunday and never boated a fish. Tried jigging and leadcore from just upstream of the Kinnie down to the Bluffs. 50 degree water. BRUTAL.

Saturday was no good for me. Monday after work 1 small walleye north end of Kini

cougareye wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Jesse Krook wrote:</div>
Were the males milting?

We had several males a milting!

ET

One sauger full of eggs. Though not a good indicator for walleye as from my understanding sauger spawn a bit later than walleye.