September 20 2014,
Peter with his personal best walleye caught on a fathead minnow. Great fighting fish in 15 feet of water. As a sign of the times Peter has his cell in hand and ready to take a picture, he says “I am going to send it to my buddy at work” C & R. I say let all go over 20″.
Fishing is like life, you have your ups and down, days when you are catching fish and days when it is just plain tough to hook your quarry. When the St. Croix River opens for walleye fishing on the Saturday closest to May 1, the bite is good, it peaks near the end of May and is solid for another another few weeks. The bite drops off for about ten days in late June as fish stage in summer locations, then for three weeks after the baitfish settle into their warm water pattern it is good fishing for ol’ marble eye again centering around the 4th of July. About ten days to two weeks past Independence Day the walleyes start to suspend and can be difficult to catch till mid September. From Mid September to late November the cold water bite on the river is every bit as good as the may peak, and in my opinion better.
The walleye fishing timeline I listed above has some nuances and variances based on water levels, but after 16 years of professional guiding I can tell you it is historically accurate.
This is a timely report since we are poised on the edge of the start of the good fall bite. it am going to report on the current bite and add so projected technique information.
Mike with his personal best walleye caught on a fathead. Mike had the pole bending all morning. C & R.
Right now I am very pleased to report the past week has been very good walleye fishing for both large walleye and numbers of fish for the take home box. I am also pleased to say the technique at this time is easy straight forward livebait rigging. The weights have been in the 3/4 to 1 ounce range – chosen heavy mainly based on the boat speed of 1.0 average by wind drifting and/or bow mount power trolling with four people in the boat. We tangle far less with heavier weights than longline fishing especially in areas that require boat turns. For leaders a standard five to six footer Suffix Elite 6 lb. leader to a #6 Suffix 9299 style (octopus) hook. Then we skewer a fathead minnow under the chin and lightly through the nose.
The river is still 3.5 feet high and listed at 678.5 feet above sea level in Stillwater, MN where the gauge is located. The normal regulated pool level is 675.5. With the water three feet high the fish are shallower than where they normally would be. We are getting them in the 15 foot range plus or minus 3 feet.
Ryan was the man on the day of his groups trip, He told Ed (in pic below) all about it and kept catching fish. A friendly rivalry is always entertaining to the guide… Ryan caught this fish on a fathead minnow- the depth was shallow for this time of year 12 to 15 feet deep only. The shad were there though. Nice job Ryan. Catch and release.
Bait is extremly important right now to finding active walleye and sauger. I mention sauger because sauger and white bass are the species heralding the fall bite, once you see them in the nets the fall bite has commenced. We have caught very nice sauger and big white bass recently with the method described above.
Crawlers still will work, but I give a minnow the edge right now. Cranks both longlined, lead cored, three way applied also are working. I know river rats that are putting fish in the boat with cranks. I have not cranked much lately as customers far more enjoy livebait fishing than trolling. However if a customers higher goal is fish in the box and the livebait is slow, I don’t skip a beat and fire up the T8 kicker and try to get the white tips that way. Rapala is my brand and I like minnow raps, original floating, shad raps, and shad raps SRS.
Ed is a master angler with more wall mounts than you can count. Nice job Ed! C & R.
As the water cools plastics are sold at catching fish too. Walleye, sauger, and white bass will drop deeper as the water cools.
Fall fishing is weather dependant on The Croix and lasts until freeze up. The latest I have ever guided and caught fish on the river was December 7. Very very late almost pre winter fishing is a whole other affair entirely, the bite is 75% or more sauger and ultra speed dependent. Right now there is a lot of room for error with your speed.