Thanks for the report. Heading up Saturday for a week, hopefully will be able to get the kids on some fish!

Thanks

Thanks for all the responses! I remember the first time around with the uproar about the train bridge being a secret lol….

Thanks! I’m working all weekend, but gonna try to get out Tuesday, so the wakes should be less of an issue I hope.

Awesome little tool! Thanks for sharing

Yep, Backwoods for sure! They are open at 5 on Sat and Sun for sure, maybe even Friday too.
I have NO CLUE why Kilroys in Hastings don’t open at 5 (or the gas station in Prescott for that matter), but the Backwoods is right on the way and always open!

Now, if we could figure out how to get the gate at the Bluffs open by 5:15 everything would be perfect!!

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Thanks for the report Greg. I think I know where I’ll be heading one of these weekend mornings.

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I’ll be looking for ya!

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Hi Greg, it WAS a great day on the Croix…..
I was out myself until about 10:45 then the big boys told me not so directly….you’ve had all morning to fish, its time for you to leave.
I launched in Hastings, and fished just north of Prescott on the Minnesota side, very common spots, long shallow sand bar, and the old railroad bridge, I’m sure we saw each other from the opposite side of the river and wondered if they were doing as good as me.

I started by trolling lead in 18 – 21 fow and it was bang after bang, nothing huge but nice eyes, the biggest almost 19″. As the sun rose above the treeline, all the fish moved slightly deeper and the bite slowed, so I switched to jigs and gulp. I caught some little saugers and sifted through them to keep an eater or 2 for lunch, all in all maybe 20 could be keepers today with 3 making it to the frying pan. I’ll be back out in the morning same thing, different day, and hopefully the big boys will stay away with the threat of rain.
Funny thing though I snagged someones broken off lead and pulled it in and it was full of zebra mussels, when I got it all up, about 50 ft. or so at the end of it was 2 #11 clown floating Rapalas, the rocks there can be very unforgiving to your line but not a bad find either, and the neighbor kid doesn’t care if they are faded or not they’ll look good in his box of tricks.

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I haven’t pulled in any cranks yet, but a few busted 3-ways and lindys…

For some reason, the MN side down there seems to be better for eyes… I get ’em OK on the WI side but all the guys I talk to do better over there. I should have gone across and tried after I limited, just some scouting, but the saugers and bonus fish were keeping me busy so I stuck with it!
I am shooting for a Friday morning venture this week so we’ll see!

I did get a hot tip from a guy at the launch about a “scout camp” but that’s out of my normal range…I may have to check it out tho….

If ya see me out there again, swing by- I have a 17′ Bass Tracker V17 Guide Special, 40 horse Johnson with an indepthangling sticker on the side

This is good news for me (the ice-out part, I too will withhold comment on the second part) since I’ll be at Nelson lake in a little over a week!

I might just try to make it this year… I been around long enough I guess! Won’t be on the Croix til Tuesday this year cuz I’ll be in Hayward, tho….

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If you see a boat anchored off of cat fish bar…swinging a 4 oz sinker with a chunk of shinner or sucker…bring me a beer!

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If you’re still out there Tuesday morning, I will!!

Gillespie is actually a very cool guy in person. I met him some years ago on the Vermillion- he is an absolute riot. Reminds me of watching my 6 year old fish, but in the body of a grown man!
He did get schooled pretty good down there, though!

I also had this issue with an older 55PD with AutoPilot. I never did fix it, I ended up getting the CoPilot setup for it and for whatever reason that took care of the problem. I loved the CoPilot, but I got rid of the boat that it was on and haven’t upgraded my new motor yet.

Very cool pics! Thanks for posting.

Me and a buddy were out Sunday morning from 6 to about 9:30 and managed 4 eaters, a few shortys and plenty-o-sheepheads, even a catfish, rock bass and a whitey or two. Tough to put together a good pattern in that time, but what seemed to work best for us was around 15 FOW on top of the sharper-breaking flats pulling spinner/crawlers and jig/minnows. Pretty windy, but a good morning nonetheless. We’ll see about Friday morning, I’m guessing it’s gonna be a zoo out there, but I plan to get out early!

The cribs in the lakes I have fished seem to hold fish more in the winter and the summer, might be a little early in the year yet. I’ve always had the best luck by tossing a marker VERY close to the crib, then anchoring upwind and casting distance away and using a slip bobber with a leech or minnow, setting the depth at the depth to the top of the crib and letting the wind carry it over. If that doesn’t work, try going progressively deeper and staying to one side or the other.
It’s not good to anchor right on top of the crib, but in my experience it’s important to get your bait as close as possible to the crib (without catching it!).
You are also correct in stating that you might fish 15 of them with no results to speak of, then hit one that is just loaded with fish. Good electronics will help find ones that are holding fish.
I wish I could tell you to try the ones closer to deeper water, or shallow water, but it doesn’t seem to make any difference. The ones that hold fish seem to be the ones that are holding forage!
Hope this helps.

Hope this helps: http://www.ripperd.com/ftp/admins/carb_rebuild/

UGH! Mortgage, kids, and an unexpected bathroom remodel have sidelined plans, again…… How in the world can a room that is only 60 square feet cost $2000 to re-do??? And I am doing it all myself! I can’t imagine what it would cost to pay a contractor!!!!! Anyway, I am still looking for stuff (shacks) for sale, and kicking around the idea of building, but it doesn’t seem likely for this year. A guy’s gotta dream, though, right?????
My only hope is that by the time I can actually afford to do everything I want to do, I won’t be so old that I won’t want to do it anymore!

I second farmboy. Definitely take the time to run ground wires back to the trialer side of your plug rather than using the frame. Since I started doing that, i have had no problems. Well, OK, this on time, at Everts, I backed into a tree and cracked the lens, but that wasn’t a wiring issue…..

I have a size 185 on a 13″ steel 5-hole rim in the shed. You can have it if you come get it. The tire is not in the greatest shape, but it will work for a spare. It is one that came stock on my Karavan trailer in 2000. I ran them for a few years til they started wearing funny, then I replaced them. It would work great as a spare, though. Shoot me a PM.

BZZ-
I’ll be around at the rules meeting. Should be a great time! See you then.

I am heading up tonight after work. This is going to be a long day. Here’s a link to the info on the tournament.
http://www.cemstone.com/pdfs/Fishing%20Tournament.pdf
I think there may be a few spots left, but I’m not sure.

Nelson Lake Landing has always been good to me. Believe it or not, it’s on Nelson Lake in Hayward. 715-634-4175. The motel rooms are very nice, and the fishing usually isn’t too bad, either.

GHC Home Services in North Saint Paul. I bought an A/C unit and furnace from him for the last house we owned and installed it myself. He was very helpful. It’s been a few years, but I believe his name is Dave. 651-779-7214. He was great about a couple warranty issues, and actually made a service call on one of those first cold nights in October and delivered me a part I needed AT NO CHARGE! Great guy!

Hey Patrick-
After you left and went up river, I moved up to the shoreline to that point we talked about. I can see why those guys were out there all morning….. Next time you’re down there, give it a try. Start deep and drift up the side and over the top. I was hitting 2-3 fish per pass.
That’s my favorite thing about that river, a spot will be good for a while, then it seems like it goes cold, then comes back again.
Couldn’t buy a fish on a crawler, though.
Let’s hope the forecast is right for the weekend, and it is rainy. Maybe that will keep the big boats away. That or $4.50/gallon on the water!

Thanks for covering me, Mike. After I went by there again yesterday, I did get the name, but not the phone number. It’s not hard to find, you can see it easily from Hwy 61.

Martin, it’s not too far from the 494 landing, but if you are launching there, you might be better off going to the antique shop in SSP, assuming that guy is still selling bait. I haven’t been by his place in a while.

IMHO, the best bet for launching is at the Bluffs. $5.00 for a one day pass, or $25.00 for the whole year. As long as the water is normal to high, the launch is never a problem. Years when it gets real low, it can be entertaining . Or with a screaming SE wind like we had today…… In all seriousness, it is a very nice place to launch, protected harbor, 3 lanes wide, and good value. As long as you stay between the buoys on the way out, you should be fine. The real issue I have (this should be fun) is who would want to catch catfish on purpose?

I found it this morning. Can’t remember the name, but it’s on the east side of 61 just north of Glen Road. You have to loop back around by the SA to get there, but it’s not a big deal. They open at 6AM on the weekends. The only other advice I have is to get two scoops of fatheads. One scoop there is probably not enough. I am NOT complaing, I’m still ahead of the game for me to stop there rather than the extra 8 miles (at $3.00/gallon), not to mention the extra 15 minutes, to run into Hastings. But some scoops are bigger than others….. And they do have an indoor bow range.

I had one on another boat I used to have, and it would chirp intermittently also. Sometimes it would, sometimes not. I have no idea what it would be. I always thought I should try changing the battery in the remote, but then I totalled the boat instead. Never did figure out the chirping sound…..

The entire scene in Jaws right before the shark comes up the first time. And the part about lining up to be a hot lunch.

“Circumvent?” Joe Hallenbeck
“It’s called a vocabulary, do you read much?” Jimmy Dix
“My subscription to Jugs magazine just ran out.” Joe Hallenbeck
Actually, almost anything from the Last Boy Scout qualifies.

From Nobody’s Fool starring Paul Newman:
“Just start throwing your dad’s name around town and watch the doors fly open.”

“I was trained by the best. Brittish Military Intelligence. But in retrospect, I’d have rather been a poet or a farmer.” John Mason in The Rock

The entire first 45 minutes of Full Metal Jacket.

“A beautiful girl can make you feel high. Like you been drinkin’ Jack & Coke all morning” Michael Rappaport in Beautiful Girls.

“Get some beer. And cleaning products.” Brad Pitt in True Romance

Well, enough of the internet for tonight. I’m going to watch a movie!