The water level around Marine has been holding steady for several days now. Silvers are on the move…! We picked up 6 fish and missed 3 or 4 in 2 hours of casting #5 Shad Raps Saturday afternoon. Also , caught 2lb Redhorse on a Perch color Shad Rap. The Sunshine and smell of fish on our hands was never sweeter. Come on SATURDAY….!!

Mike T. , what’s the best time of day for the Crappies on Bass…? That sounds like a nice tip. Those crappies can be decent size at times..!

On Friday we were sitting in the “Docks” Restaurant chowing down. I coudn’t believe the amount of boat traffic we were seeing. By mid afternoon Friday you would have to be “cracked” to be out there!

Mike , the area south of Copas can be real tough. The fish seem to really be scattered. Mostly it’s the occasional Walleye
or Silver. There are a few Northerns to be found but they run small. The best thing going around Marine would be the smallies. There are lots of long rocky shorelines where smallies seem to congregate. We usually throw Fat Raps or Rattle trap type lures at them. Right now is when they’re starting to get active! Overall the TF area is a much better fishery.

Mike , You mentioned fishing the Marine area. I live along that stretch and fish it heavily. My suggestion is this: launch at the Copas landing , go north to the “swing bridge” and try Your luck. The bridge is about a mile and a half up It offers a nice “mixed bag” of Walleyes , Crappies , Silver Bass and even the occassional Muskie! It all depends on the day You’re there. Lately We’ve been seeing some nice Walleye action lingering in the deeper water under the bridge. Try a live bait rig and crawler combo. Good Luck!

In the Marine area the action has been spotty. The past 10 days have seen a fair number of Walleyes hitting crankbaits. Going back to the conversation earlier , I agree , the fish leave for the bigger water now. I’ve seen all the best Walleye activity from the last week of May to The first 10 days of June every year. After that the only Walleyes You see are little 8 inchers I beleive are resident until they grow larger! Around Marine our attention now turns to Smallies.

In the last week the Walleyes picked back up between Osceola and Copas. This past Wednesday
we got 4 legal fish including a 26 incher and several non-legals. The fish have been shallow and smacking
countdown Rapalas and Husky Jerks in any color as long as it’s bright!

Thanks for clearing up the confusion. I’ll be on the upper St. Croix this evening and will try the snapping

approach. Our best luck lately has been dragging Shad Raps in the back channel areas.

There is a long deeper stretch in the main channel I’d like to jig tonight… we’re seeing good action up here on

Walleye’s , Silver’s and Sheepies.

So the “snap” jigging presentation is simply a popping motion off the bottom as the jig is traveling along with the current.

I’m assuming this is not the same as Gryz’s Rip jigging approach mostly used on Winnie , Mille lacs and Leech…..

I’m in interested in Your snap jigging comment for river walleye’s.

At those depths , what weight jig are You using. Normally on Winnie We’re fishing much more shallow and get away with 1/8 oz. jig/fathead combo..

Ferny , I’m wondering how the Croix would be for mixed bag fishing.

The spot across from Bayport on the Wisconsin side gets decent Crappie/Sauger action.

This year a snowmobile or 4 wheeler would be best for getting back and forth.

Thanks Carp Guy , that’s music to my ears. I hate fishing for anything after dark. By the way , there is a group of people up in my area that fly fish for carp. A lot of these guys go south for the winter and are really into bone fishing the Florida Keys. They say chasing these carp in shallow water is very similar to the Bone fishing they do down there. They get up high and pole through the backwaters looking for fish and throw flies ahead of them….

Thanks guys for the excellent info. I’m going to give it a try and see what happens. I’ve got a good spot I can round up some “bullies”. What time of night is usually best? If I go out at 9:00 pm and stay til midnight will I catch any..?

Just curious , where do you Cat guys get your Bullheads for bait? How big or small would you normally use?

I fish mainly between Stillwater and Osceola on the St. Croix. Mostly for Walleye’s and Smallmouth. Occasionally I fish small time bass tourneys and use Carolina Rigs. The Carolina Rig , I’ve found , is an excellent “big fish” presentation. Often you won’t get as many fish but you’ll tend to get the larger ones. The Capra’s know a little about tournament Bass fishing and use that method a real lot!! Sorry , haven’t seen the new Craw Tube you mention…

Bass Boy,you are now on your way to becoming Bass Man !!

Lets all clarify your weekend fishing wrap up. Did you actually keep 8 Smallmouth and fillet them. Or , are you just saying they were legal size but got released?

The walleyes we caught were just a little longer then the #7 Shad Raps we used … there is no way they could have swallowed a minnow that size. I don’t know what they were thinking.

I hit the Croix very hard all weekend. Fished mainly beween the Apple River and Marine on St. Croix. Our results were very poor. We got e few small Walleyes in the 11 to 12″ range and a few smallmouth. It’s been very tough for about 10 days along this stretch. The areas that normally hold fish are dead holes!!

If you’re looking at buying a Suzuki (which I highly recommend) check out Maplewood Marine. They offer excellent service and support and are very easy to work with. I’ve bought a couple of Zuki’s from them and may buy another soon…

The Clearwater to Monty run is 4 to 6 hours if you stop here and there to fish. A person could do it quicker if in a hurry…don’t forget to bring a healthy supply of Beetle Spins!

A couple of years ago we were fishing East Bearskin on the Gunflint Trail. It was during a Mayfly hatch and Walleyes were surface feeding in 30 to 60 feet of water. We used leeches on a slip bobber set 2 or 3 feet deep over this deep area and caught fish. The Walleyes we caught were packed with Mayflies…..

I fish the upper Mississippi a lot. Mainly from Clearwater to Monticello. I would definitely keep your boat size in the 12-14′ jon boat range. Dan Gapen uses 14′ jons with 6 or 8 hp motors. I’ve floated it with my 12′ v-hull duck boat plenty and that works OK too. The water is pretty low right now so don’t stand up in the boat. When you hit a rock(and you will) everyone standing goes over the side!!

The fishing can be good to great on Walleyes and smallies. Walleyes will tend to run smallish. The smallies can be very large especially in the fall. The summer doldrums is the best time to go. Put in at Clearwater and float to Monticello. There is a great little park in Monticello where you can stop and have a cool one in the shade…This float is a wonderful experience everyone should try once , it’s very rural with the occasional cabin or home along the way. It’s what real river fishing is all about.

On the St. Croix between Osceola and Stillwater we’re catching shallow Walleyes. Wednesday afternoon my daughter caught two 15 inchers with a Rattlin Fat Rap in 1-2 feet of water. They were along the Wisconsin shoreline(in the sun) with no visible cover nearby. Also , last friday , a local sharpie picked up a 6 lb Walleye while fishing Smallmouth using a white spinner bait in very shallow water. I can think back many times we’ve caught shallow walleyes in both lakes and rivers. Overall I think the notion of Walleyes having “sensitive” eyes is a wives tale not backed up in fact. My wifes brother has a cabin on a “gin clear” lake in Park Rapids. You can snorkel around the dock mid-day and observe walleyes , panfish and minnows basking in bright sunlight on any given sunny day. They almost appear to enjoy the sunshine! There is deep water nearby and these walleyes seem to prefer being close to the food source…rather than in deep safety.

Thanks Jon J. I already have a bunch of those planer board clips. With the pencil weights I’m all set…

Thanks again guys. Looks like I’ll stuff my wallet with cash and head to town. I also need to stock up on wally divers!!

Thanks guys for the good advice. I’ll fine tune my presentation a little and see if I get good results. The way the Croix has been dropping up here I may not need your snap weights!! I think my problem feeling bottom has been using mono(it has too much stretch). With the Fireline I can feel every “tick”. I’ll try running the weights on Fireline and see if I can tell where I’m at better. Where are you getting your snap weights… Fleet Farm?

We ran a 10 hp Merc kicker on my dads boat for years using the type of product John J. mentions. Off center is no problem… We trolled many miles for Lake Michigan Salmon using this setup and it always worked great…

Greatplains , how are you maintaining contact with the bottom using this setup. I’ve been dropping my weight to the bottom and then cranking up 4 or 5 turns. This seems to be a little hit or miss. I’m always wondering if I’m dragging bottom or too high. I like to know I’m right in the strike zone at all times!!

I’m fishing way up north. It’s a place called Osceola. I’m being stubborn and insist on fishing close to home. I refuse to believe all the 18 and 19 inchers we were getting a few weeks ago have dropped down stream or vanished.

There was a 6 pound Walleye caught up here on the weekend. The guy caught it fishing smallmouth and kept it to fillet. I gave him counseling on catch and release. He caught that one on a white spinner bait in 1 foot of water….go figure.