St. Croix River report by Croixsippi Guide Service

09 26 2011 Fishing on the St. Croix River for walleye is very good. I have witnessed some mornings being slower than the others, however when multiple times in a week you limit out on half day morning trips, including a 15 keeper morning last Saturday I can safely say the bite is very good. Big fish are not common, but we got a 27.5 walleye Saturday.

For walleye trolling and jigging in 20 to 30 feet of water, I am using Rapala shad raps still, vertical jigging ¼ ounce to 3/8 ounce jigs with fathead minnows. I am also starting to slow troll three ways with baits, and this will produce very well soon as the water continues to cool. With three ways I will also pull original Rapala Floating minnows, plastics will take fish here.

Sturgeon fishing is also picking up and anglers are doing pretty good, and catching moderate numbers of these hard fighting sportfish. Sturgeon angling is conducted while the boat is anchored and you soak your baits on the bottom and wait for the bite. If you like the aspect of muskie fishing for the fight of large fish, you will LOVE sturgeon fishing because they fight harder than muskie and you catch many times more sturgeon on an eight hour day than you would ski fishing. An average sturgeon fishing day would number about 5 to 8 sturgeon caught, and on a good day 14 to 20+ fish can be caught on eight hour trips, no kidding. For sturgeon best baits are minnows, crawlers, cut bait (suckers), and dead shad. A common depth to find sturgeon is 35 feet deep.

The weather is sweet; guys are wearing sweatshirts and jackets over them, long john time for early morning trips. The fog is hovering over the water till 8:30 in the morning, then the blue sky and sun burns it away. Keep Catchin’