June 26th As expected with all the rain we have experienced the river is rising and is scheduled to rise another two feet by this time next week. The river level currently is 679.33 the water is still relatively clear for a water rise. I believe the abundant zebra mussels north of Stillwater, Minnesota are clearing the water so well that even when the water rises it is still relatively clear. Really no other explanation can account for why the river is so clear and vegetation is sprouting in places not seen before.
early June...
I am proud to say that Scott Hale and I won the first annual Paul Koval Memorial walleye fishing tournament held last Saturday on the Croix . Scott put the hurt on the fish, and I did the boat control. We brought in 16.3 pounds of walleye it was a ten fish tourney meaning you could weigh 10. Not an enormous bag at 16 pounds but we weighed 10 good eyes. That new Alumacraft from Warner Dock I bought is a fishy boat...
Article...
It was a conversation that happened when I was just starting to break my way out of my walleye fishing shell. Gordy, a former pipefitter, and at the time the owner of Sah-Kah-Tay Beach Resort in Cass lake, Minnesota, said in a journeyman tone to the apprentice questioning one to many times, -Yes, walleyes bite on lures with no bait-. -With no bait?- I said, -No bait! follow me around tonight out on the flats and you will see, just toss this Shad Rap out about 40 feet back and hold on.- I could not believe a word of it, at the time I had no idea what a Shad Rap was, my walleye universe revolved around minnows. Of course he was right, and ever since that day, walleyes continue to surprise me and get caught -out of the box-. The following is a gathering of happenings where walleyes hit on bigger baits, in depths too shallow, and on non traditional baits and speeds than they -are supposed- too.
Fishing rivers for most of my career has shattered my original text book notions of where walleyes should be, you know holding on breaklines of points, or cruising rock piles as the sun sets.
Walleye come and go with the rising and falling water. When the banks fill up and the water hits the trees, the walleyes follow. This is proven ever spring down on the Mississippi when we get fish -out of the trees-. Fishing in the trees, is not an early spring time event only. I remember a June high water period on the St. Croix when the water rose many feet higher than the normal pool level, and we caught many walleye and smallmouth bass on white spinner baits from openings of flooded willows. Not only do walleyes locate shallow in the high water periods, but some days, at high noon, with plenty of sunshine while fishing for smallies, it is not unusual to catch several nice walleye on black tube jigs from 2 feet of water.
Walleyes pursue and eat fish far larger than I imagined, and only did the following event lead me to believe that they do. Three springs ago, we caught a really big walleye, I am a strong CPR guy and think a photo like a mount lasts forever. When we get a picture fish, I quickly put the fish in the livewell and turn all pumps on. Take a photo and let her go. It was at the end of the day when I was putting the customers eater fish in the cooler that I saw a 14 inch sheephead in the livewell. I laughed right away and acknowledged that they -got me-, nobody fessed up to putting the sheeper in the livewell. Then I could see it was partially digested, and was coughed up by the big eye. Having not seen that sheep, I would never have known that a walleye would hit a fish that big. Since then several walleyes in my boat have been caught while muskie fishing the flats with giant muskie jerkbaits.
Nowadays it may seem hard to understand an angler could not know that walleyes can be caught on crankbaits, but 25 years ago the fishing information was not out there like it is today, but there are still many fishing facts that are not known. Such as jig and plastics for walleye in the spring, they simply need no bait and are better without it. When on the Mississippi and using ringworms, a popular plastic bait, I need to tell some guys several times a day to take the minnow off the jig as they do not want it. Something about a jig means minnow, but when the water is cold the straight up plastic is the real deal.
Nightcrawlers are also a bait that anglers view as summer time bait. In fact today I had a discussion on the phone with client and he asked about what type of fishing we would be doing, and he was surprised that I said light line nightcrawler fishing. -In early May?- he said, -Yep, I’ve been using them for about a month,- -Really?-, -Yes sir.-. I guess it is the fact that I coldwater fish for walleyes when other anglers are sitting on the ice, so when I take out crankbaits in March and I indicate we are going to be trolling, I should not be surprised that they are surprised.
I also remember a time eight years ago, when it was one of those trips you dream of, everything went right, and the fish were committing suicide. The rods were bent, and the net getting wore out. Then the sky got black. We hauled tail to Beanies to get out of the on coming storm to watch the radar, and have coffee. Then came the lightning and thunder crack after crack. This storm raged for 20 minutes non stop, the it stopped the radar showed there was nothing behind it, just rain. I told the guys it looks like the party is over and the fish would be turned negative because of the storm, but we could try it anyway. We decided to go back to the spot, maybe just to relive the excitement, as it was a walleye feeding frenzy. We dropped the lines and it was as if we never skipped a beat, we continued to catch eyes until the trip ended. I could not believe it.
As true as walleyes love breaklines on points and irregular features on off shore underwater structure, they are far from a fish characterized by these places alone. The next time the normal walleye fishing places and presentations does not go your way think a bit out side of the box and you maybe be rewarded with some pleasant unexpected catches. End.
The St. Croix River opens for walleye and sauger fishing May 1st. May is a very good time of year to fish for walleye. We do well fishing with nightcrawlers and trolling crankbaits, but if they are biting on either, the light line fishing with nightcrawlers seems to be everyones favorite. The bite is just a tiny tap and then you wait till they got it and SET THE HOOK!!! Excellent eating fish. We release them over 20inches.
Looking forward to guiding on the Croix again. Pool four has been good this spring lots of limits including four person limits and three person limits!!! with only a few trips where the numbers did not come in. Biggest two of the spring where 29.75 and 29 inches. The Mississippi can be great in late April.
June 26th As expected with all the rain we have experienced the river is rising and is scheduled to rise another two feet by this time next week. The river level currently is 679.33 the water is still relatively clear for a water rise. I believe the abundant zebra mussels north of Stillwater, Minnesota are clearing the water so well that even when the water rises it is still relatively clear. Really no other explanation can account for why the river is so clear and vegetation is sprouting in places not seen before.