Best bets on the St. Croix River right now are fishing for crappie, white bass, and smallmouth bass. Saugers catches have been better than walleye but still not as good as they normally are in mid summer. Plus Muskie are going well in the Valley area, a good all day hunt should find a fisherman tangling with the gray ghost. Casting techniques both with surface lures (bucktails)and sinking jerk lures have been successful which is nice as anglers always prefer a cast caught fish to the trolled caught fish, but trolling works well, and gives the arm a needed break!
I recently guided a customer for muskie, and after watching me land a nice one (42 inches) on the cast, he said, -I think I am bit with the muskie madness you hear about!- (So do not try it, If you are a walleye guy, you may never go back! lol. there is some truth to that.)
Crappies are nice size and hitting on the cast jig and fathead. These river fish are averaging 11¯ to 12inches¯.
White bass are starting to bite better again and for longer periods of time. The large schools of white bass are feeding on shad minnows and driving them to the surface where then the white bass are caught on twister tails, crankbaits, and spinners.
Smallmouth bass have been driven deep by the summer heat, but shallow in the early morning then holding deep. Dragging techniques are doing better than casts as a drag will get the plastics down and in the strike zone for longer. Bass in 18 to 28 feet deep.
River elevation in Stillwater Minnesota 675.39, water 77 degrees and moderately stained.
Recently I had a morning half day trip with the Raisanen family. Leading was John the father, his sons, Chris, and his little brother Jake. These guys wanted to get out and do some fishing for the Minnesota state fish, I told them the saugers would likely show up the best, but they had no issue with the saugs. We pushed off the dock at 7am and luckily within minutes of letting out crankbaits, John got a strike and landed a nice 17 inch sauger. We kept fishing with cranks and spinners with crawlers and ended up with a big morning basket of eight keeper sized fish. These kids listened very well, and definitely sharp, A students I was told! Fun trip. This outing was the best for numbers for about ten days (considering it was a half day trip) as the bite has been tougher, especially for walleye. Saugers biting better though. The bite can change on a dime. Two 20 inch saugers came into the launch yesterday and those are big for the Croix. Best depths have been between 20 and 30 fow. Colors from spinner blades and cranks with clearing water have been silvers, blues, golds, and firetigers (not much patterning there if you ask me). Cranks have been all over the board too with very aggressive deep running Rapala Tail dancers to originals floating Raps are catching fish. That action difference between cranks is a head stretcher as well.
Wednesday afternoon, I had a trip with a big group from Missouri, they were up in town for a championship girls 12U youth softball tournament. Longtime guide Lakeland, Tom Norris helped me out on this trip and he took the group of Dads. I took the two kids and one of the Dads. These little guys were something. After the first smallmouth bass caught Cayton, who was no older than first grade or second grade, started saying -Hey, I am pretty good, I am a great fisherman!- Then his partner in crime, Isaiah, same age, caught one and he said -I am a great fisherman too!- We must have been on a nice group of bass, because they really nailed them both kids caught nearly 25 in this afternoon trip. We had one spell were it was fast action with good pole bending, and just then Cayton goes two minutes with out a bite, looks up at me and says, -Can we go somewhere else?- It was hilarious, I looked over my shoulder at Isaiahs Dad and smiled. He said laughingly, -Nope, we are staying.- The smallies have dropped down into the depths now and can be caught with jigs, Carolina rigs, drop shots. Plastic are working: spider grubs, tubes, trick sticks I use Pro Tour Baits and found them durable with good colors. Watermelon with black flake is a very good right now. The topwater action has slowed.
Today I had two half day trips and took out a lovely couple from Illinois, Bob and Kim Doyle in town soon to be married. I knew the walleye and sauger bite would be tough, but white bass action was there. We trolled for walleyes early and could not miss the white bass action. Bob kept looking over by all the commotion that the bass were making on the surface. I said -Do you want to catch them?- He said -Looks fun.- Well it was about six straight for Kim before Bob caught one, and after the early lead she never let up. Both people had also fished in Florida, and were impressed with the power and fight these silvers gave them. We hammered the white bass with Blue Fox spinners on the cast and steadily retrieved. I thank the white bass during the tough days because finding good sized saugers and walleye was tough today.
On the second half day trip of the day, I took out Jim Johnsons group, In the party was Paul Janke, assistant fishing department manager for the Sportsmans Warehouse of New Berlin, WI. Before we pushed off I explained that the walleye was tough and the sauger have been playing hide and seek today, and that I have a crappie spot were some nice ones should be. These guys jumped on the chance to catch some river slabs. On his first cast (I wonder if all Sportsmans Warehouse employees are this good?ha.) Paul sets the hook into a 14inch slab. His personal best. We caught some nice ones there on jig and fathead minnow. The fish bite so soft with a tiny tick, you had to be on your toes.
Best bets on the St. Croix River right now are fishing for crappie, white bass, and smallmouth bass. Saugers catches have been better than walleye but still not as good as they normally are in mid summer. Plus Muskie are going well in the Valley area, a good all day hunt should find a fisherman tangling with the gray ghost. Casting techniques both with surface lures (bucktails)and sinking jerk lures have been successful which is nice as anglers always prefer a cast caught fish to the trolled caught fish, but trolling works well, and gives the arm a needed break!