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I work 3 blocks from a blue ribbon trout stream that I drove 1.25 hours to get to at one time.
The Kinni is overrated anyway. A normal Class I trout stream has 1,000 fish per mile, but the Kinni has 5,000. What do you think that does to the size of fish on average? I just like to go out for early-season because I can cast a lure in open water.
-Mike
BK originally posted that on May 3rd… And it still reads the same. 
The autoupdating hydrograph that predicts the future? Was it right?
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The only thing I know for sure is the old timers on the St Croix say there are less walleyes, channel cats and now white bass then there were about 10 years ago.
We caught three white bass (all about 14″) last year on a warm July day, before the river was unfishable. It was a shallow backwater and we were throwing Mepps and Rapalas for northern.
That’s the extent of my experience with the species … no tags though.
-Mike
As of Saturday night the water was well into the parking lot at Somerset Landing. The high water makes for easy use of the “secondary” launch, that isn’t really a landing. There were 30′ logs coming down the river. I can’t remember if the River was ‘83.5 or ‘82.5 though.
-Mike
Way to go!!! Mallory and I haven’t gotten a chance to go out and do our yearly cleanup yet.
-Mike
Already talked to him, and it is a go. Tonight I’m targeting up-river though, seeing as water is rising and I won’t be able to get my boat out of Somerset Landing later in the summer.
-Mike
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that’s a nice offer from the “catfish king” himself, a little drifting and listening to the Twins sounds like a nice time
I couldn’t have said it better myself.
-Mike
I seem to remember a very similar thread last spring. Oh well; I like to let some suckers sit in a gallon ziploc bag in my front yard for a few days. Once they get soft, I mix them into my Sonny’s
Last year, I tried to stretch a batch leftover from the previous year by adding more sucker and corn mean, but I saw a big decrease in fish productivity.
-Mike
If by pictures, you mean the boat… here she is. No fish as expected. The beauty of a 115 horse over a 10 horse is that you have a lot more time to catch nothing when fishing five miles away from a landing.
-Mike
I’m trying for some channel cats in Hudson tonight. I don’t expect to catch anything, but there is a new boat involved 
I fish with a Wisconsin license which come with a little different set of rules. The way the law is written here, you can only use live bait from the water where it was taken up to the first impenetrable barrier.
Even though the Willow River flows into the St. Croix, I can’t catch my bait in the Willow and use it in the Croix because there are dams in the way. However, I can catch it in the Kinni up to the first dam.
If I were so inclined, I believe I can even use game fish as bait (as long as they fit minimum length requirements and daily bag allotments)…
I agree with BK. Purchasing bait is all about piece of mind for me. If I catch it, I would be lying to a warden if I told him that it came from the same place I was fishing. If I buy it, it saves me some personal gripes, time, and I know that (however unlikely) I’m not spreading diseases.
I need to worry about catching fish in the first place before I worry about rising or falling water.
My margaritas are good; not blended and made with agave nectar… It’s one of the few things I taught myself to do right (that must be why I don’t catch any fish).
Sometimes I wish we didn’t have freshwater drum… They are good for boredom though, when I’m catfishing during the day with a slow bite, I’ll put a crawler on my 5′ ultralight with 4 lb test just to hear my drag going out 
One of my favorite ingredients for stink bait is minnows. Much like leaving the liver on the porch for a few days, I leave my dead minnows in a gallon ziplock bag in the sun. Then after they’re soft, it only takes about a day, I mix them in with an electric mixer.
On a side note, a lot of the channels I’ve been catching (and missing) haven’t been running with the stink bait like usual. They just tug on it enough to make the ends of my poles bounce.
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Sonny’s blood has been working for me.
I’ve been having trouble finding fish with Sonny’s lately, however chubs have been a decent go-to.
-Mike
Also, very nice fish.
I like catching big fish, and 4 ft is big in my book. Plus, I’ve never caught one before. It put up a pretty great fight. As you can see by the expression on my face, I was pretty stoked.
-Mike
Thanks BK. It was pretty slimy, and it fell on my leg. I’ve got some pretty good scrapes from its teeth. Unlike a pike, it had fleshy gills, so it wasn’t too bad to hold once I had it up.
-Mike
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I aways thought that fishing in a swimming area wasn’t allowed because of the chance of break off’s and hooks laying on the bottom.
I was brainstorming after I made this post and came to the same conclusion… Anyway, there is a designated swimming beach, but it’s not like swimming is actually limited to this beach. Maybe it wouldn’t bother me so much if they posted “no swimming signs” in the rest of the park.
And, there were two officer/ranger/wardens or whatever you want to call them (they have guns and can enforce the law (but technically speaking, they were rangers)). One younger guy and an old one.
-Mike
I spent the last couple days camping at Sunrise Ferry Landing north of St Croix Falls on the St Croix river. We caught about 10 fish, but these were the biggest.
The first one was 35.5×19 and 19 lbs (not sure if the spring scale we were using was accurate).
The second fish was 33.5×20 and also 19 lbs.
-Mike
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Can you use two lines in Minnesota this year?
In boundary waters you can; I’m guessing you can use 2 or 3 lines depending on which license you hand a conservation warden…
-Mike
I’m leaving to get the boat and bait ready in a few minutes. I hope to be on the water by 5 to do a little scouting. Good luck to everyone else tonight.
-Mike
I’m sure it takes a special kind of woman to put up with you.
Happy Birthday Deb! He better have gotten you a good gift, especially since he’s out kissing fish all the time! 
-Mallory
Nice fish 
That’s the instrument and the fish, right?
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where do you draw a line, is it their right… especially the blond haired “Indians” from Wisconsin..
It’s a $hitty deal all around. If someone wants to fish in a traditional way; they should be able to. It shouldn’t be just natives. Anybody should be able to fish using traditional methods.
These methods need to be regulated.
1. There should be bag limits.
2. There should be an open and closed season that makes sense (ie no pre-spawn fishing)
3. Size allotments for the nets used, or no gill nets at all
4. No pneumatic spear guns
Is there something like gill nets that the Natives used traditionally, or is it something they picked up post treaty?
-Mike
