St. Croix River fishing report

September 26, 2010 St. Croix River walleye bite is going strong and many anglers are catching nice walleye and sauger. Walleye are biting on minnows and crankbaits, as well as some blade baits. For minnows vertically jigged works as well as lindy rigged. For crankbaits both styles: the stick bait and shad style are producing. Bright colored cranks are working best. Jigs from 5/16 to 3/8 are in order. Depths from 26 to 12 feet of water are holding walleye.

Sturgeon fishing has been slow with the high water, and few catches being recorded. Muskie anglers are having a tough time on the water as well. White bass are going well, but they are subsurface, use your graph to find them. Usually this time of year the flathead catfish bite the walleye anglers gear and that has happened some. Buffalo are currently a common catch they hit jigs and crankbaits, so much for the bottom feeder stigma.

Many of the walleyes being caught are from 15 to 17inches and perfect to eat if you so choose. Two chunky 17 inch walleye will provide more meat than you would normally expect based on how stout the fish are.

The river is scheduled to rise five feet in a week, this will absolutely make the fish move and make us anglers work more, however I am confident though that if found the fish will bite. Look for the water to darken and floating debris to increase. This is also the time of year to get a dandy walleye we got a 28.75 inch eye last Saturday (released). (No wake rules will be in effect when the river rises to 683.00 and higher…as of today many launches are closing till water drops)

The trees are approximately 40 percent peak color stage now, and with frost showing up early in the day, mornings on the water are heavenly. Keep catchin’ Turk