August 31, 2010 just a quick note same bite as last report, but the river is dropping fast from last report and is 676.33 feet above sea level in Stillwater, MN.
August 26, 2010 The St. Croix River is full of forage fish for the walleye, bass, muskie and all other gamefish to eat. Large pods of baitfish abound suspended off of structure and on structure. White bass fishing has been particularly good this last week on sand structure in and around the bait pods. These fish will take a jig and minnow without hesitation and produce a great fight. Sheepshead also are hitting jigs, as well as walleye, channel catfish, and sauger. Lots of action on the river.
I had a grandfather and a 14 year old grandson trip yesterday where they wanted to get their feet wet and become acquainted with the mighty muskellunge. We muskie fished for a little over two hours and had two blow ups on topwater baits and one boat side follow. The grandson had his big toothy critter on for a long second but the hooks never were driven home. The brief fight was a thrill for him and all of us on board none the less. Another -big one that got away- story was birthed yesterday
Back to the baitfish. Every year the walleye bite slows right about now and will be slower until the fall bite gets going strong. There are two reasons the walleyes really bite strong as fall approaches. One is the forage base becomes depleted and the second is the forage bases grows to a size where they are not as easy pickings anymore, it seems the bigger you are the harder you become to catch. When this happens an anglers lure or bait becomes more acceptable to the fish again. Muskies do not have the above issue as they bite this whole time until late fall. White bass will continue on a good bite until late fall, sheeps and channel cats will drop off, but flatheads and sturgeon will get hot. This could be a banner flathead fall bite as the summer has been slow. There will be reports this fall of 30 to 40 pound flatheads caught accidentially on walleye gear, and of course by catmen trying to handle them beasts.
Best depths for white bass, walleye, sauger and sheeps have been from 14 to 24 fow on 1/8 to 3/8 ounce glitter jigs.
Have fun out there and keep catchin’ Turk
I have Eleven years professional guiding experience, Seven 1st place finishes in St. Croix River fishing tournaments, and many repeat customers! Signed Turk Gierke
USCG Licensed Captain
St. Croix River Fishing Guide
Mississippi River Fishing Guide
Previous reports below...
August 18, 2010. The late summer bite is upon the St. Croix River and can be a much tougher time of year to boat walleye and sauger. The good news is if you wish to catch fish then this is the time of year to angle. Much action abounds with sheepsheads, catfish, buffalo, and white bass. On Tuesday on a half day trip the guys brought home five keeper walleye and sauger combined, and caught over 70 fish total, the catching is lots of just plain fish and not eyes and sauger (walleye action happens in the fall when nearly all the bites are eyes or sauger). Simply put you need to weed through the sheephead to get to the gamefish.
Best presentations have been jigging fathead minnows on 3/8 ounce jigs and trolling shad raps in 20 to 28 fow.
July 30, 2010 despite the heat and humidity the walleye and sauger bite is pretty good. The fish are always cool and swimming in their pool so what do they care? It is us anglers above the surface sweating our shirts off! When I mentioned the fish are biting, I refer to an anglers bait or lure, because fish always feed in the summer and feed heavy they do. In the river their main forage base is shad. Finding the shad bait balls on the graph is paramount to catching eyes and saugs.
Top fishing presentation/technique summary: Troll well tuned cranks in 18 to 29 feet of water. Rapala tail dancers, shad raps and RS, Storm Thundersticks – colors to use: , flash perch, crawfish, bleeding olive, chartreuse, and blue combinations. Rigging crawlers in the same depth with ½ to 1 ounce weights at .5 to .7mph. Key is finding bait balls on graph.
Trip story: Yesterday I guided Cay Hellervik and her grandson Malcolm Martin, he was in town from California. My plan was to troll Rapalas until we found fish and then rig them up. The trip started out well with Malcolm hooking nice fish on the second pass in a warm up spot I like to fish to get guests used to trolling, it is an area with nice clean sand bottom and no weeds. This fishing rod pumped like a sheepshead but dug down like a cat, he had a tough time reeling it in. We were all pleased to see a 19” walleye come to the net. We went through the warm up spot two more times with nothing tugging and then moved.
This trip started after lunch and these two fishing buddies did not have lunch yet, so we cruised at idle speed to the next spot. Out from their cooler came some Trader Joe’s cold salads, and Cay was kind enough to think of the guide and brought me one. I have had customers feed me many times and well too, but I will say a cold salad hits the spot in July on the Croix better than any chow on the boat I can remember. Topped the greens off with some cookies, cleaned up, and speed off full throttle.
It must have been the salads or the fact that this group was the first to wear my lucky type I lifejackets blaze orange and all, but either way the fish were snapping. First trolling pass through the next spot, Malcolm hooked a sauger just too short to keep. The States of MN and WI give the saugers no rights, but I make them be 14 inches to keep (fyi- eyes must be 15inches minimum and I do a voluntary release over 20 inches). Then we doubled up on keeper walleye and saugers or combinations of saugers and walleye too short to keep for an hour straight. Really fun stuff with synchronized hooksets as Malcolm would say -got one!- and then so would Cay. Cay would later put the rod down, and just shoot pics of him enjoying catching fish.
The trolling died down as the baitfish left the spot, and I wanted to switch gears and crawler fish with heavy split shots. We did this for the last part of the trip and caught sheeps and saugers. It was a great trip in the middle of the afternoon in hot July. Thank-you.
More trips in the heat went well this week, even on Tuesday when it was equatorial Africa hot and humid, Nick and Jeff Milleson hooked sauger and walleye, plus cats. That day they brought in 2 walleye, 6 saugers, 4 large crappies, and 6 good sunfish. Jeff had on another big cat from the same spot Tim Carter had caught his 35 inch channel cat.
There is a lot going on the St. Croix River from saugers to catfish to muskie (even though I have not been able to fish them much with booked walleye trips, I know were those big toothy suckers are! ha.) Have fun enjoy the summer because in a blink its going to be September.
Keep Catchin Turk
I have Eleven years professional guiding experience, Seven 1st place finishes in St. Croix River fishing tournaments, and many repeat customers! Signed Turk Gierke
USCG Licensed Captain
St. Croix River Fishing Guide
Mississippi River Fishing Guide
Previous reports below...
July 28th summer patterns have become established for walleye and sauger fishing now that the water levels are normal for late July. Walleye and sauger are set up on off shore structure in 24 to 29 feet of water. The summer patterns are also in play as the baitfish are showing up in these off shore locations. Same fishing presentations are catching fish as last week where rigging with bait crawlers, leeches, and minnows are catching fish. Also trolling with Shad Raps and SRRS is working well. It is hard to use a bad color; I do like firetiger, perch, and shad. The bite does seem to change from day to day and so mornings are better and some afternoons are better, so the bite is can be spotty, but last Wednesday we had a big basket and had fourteen keepers (mainly saugers, and many of these were nice fish in the 15 to 18 inch range, with a 20inch sauger as well).
Gulls! Saturday morning was the first time this season I have seen a good number of gulls on the water, which signals that the white bass are pushing the shad to the surface. The gulls then dive into the water for a shad as the white bass are pushing the shad up to the top. Crankbaits, twister tails, and spinners all catch white bass. I have even caught a white bass on a popper!
Channel cats are very active right now and are being caught by walleye anglers. Cat anglers are reporting good catch rates as well. We had a 35” channel cat hit a jig and minnow and scream off peeling line off so fast I had to pull anchor and follow the fish with the boat. This fish was a super fighter, and on 6lb test line a real challenge to even get off of the bottom. I would guess that cat was 20lbs. Tim Carter caught that fish while his two sons sat and watched in amazement.
Muskie. I am not hearing a lot of muskie news lately and have been booked with walleye anglers, so I am not fishing them much to speak of yet. I can say traditionally this is the time of year to get hooked. Throw double bucktails, bulldawgs, and top water prop baits for muskie in 3 to 8 fow.
Lower St. Croix River fishing report July 19, 2010. Saugers are biting well and are mixed in with the walleye in deeper depths than previous weeks. As the river is dropping, it is just about a foot above normal pool elevation, and walleye and sauger are in their mid summer depths and found from 19 to 27 feet of water. Many of the sauger are from 13 to 16 inches, with 14 inch fish and larger being nice to keep for a fry. The walleye are larger and run from mostly 15 to 18 inches and much thicker fish. Crankbaits, crawlers, and leeches have been the top walleye and sauger catchers. Lindy rigging bait and spinners with bait are catching fish. Trolling Rapala crankbaits are just as effective. I personally like to troll and find fish then rig or spinner them up. Effective crankbaits are still the same as previous weeks, shad raps and shad rap RS. Soon wide wobblers with more action should become the go to option.
The muskie reports are up and down but I am hearing of very nice fish being caught. I have not had much time to go for muskie as all my trips have been walleye/sauger trips. Trolling cranks and casting bucktails/topwaters work well.
White bass are active for short periods of time during dawn and dusk. Maybe with the lowering water levels the typical summer patterns of great white bass fishing might start.
Notes - Last Friday on a half day trip my customer brought home nine keepers, three were walleye and six saugers. We also tried a little muskie fishing, but that is a hunt and serious time needs to be dedicated during the day for muskie hook ups. Very little angling pressure, pleasure boaters out in force starting at 10:30. River very clear. Thermocline at 30 feet.
07-11-10 St. Croix River walleye and sauger are biting even in July. The bites come in waves lately and when they are going it is a solid bite, and when slow it is slow. However nice chunky walleye and sauger are the reward for the slow phases, these fish are in the 16 to 19 inch range plus large walleyes from 22 to 28 inches. As the bite has been up and down what the fish want also changes from day to day. For instance last week on Wednesday the walleye and saug dogs wanted livebait, then the next they wanted Rapala shad raps regular and RS, and would not touch bait. Our best fish of the week hit a crawler, and the other nice ones we have caught were from rigging crawlers and some on spinners (do not forget that option). For rigging we have used five foot leaders. Productive crankbait colors are hot steel, crawdad, bleeding hot olive, and firetiger. More about the bite, you can sit on a spot and not even a sheephead or sunfish will hit then the light switches, and you have about a half hour to catch them, then another lull starts again. As the water is still high we have been getting eyes and saugers from 9 to 20 feet of water.
In the last week alone I have heard of two instances were the skis have clamped down on an angler caught fish and taken the hooked for a fish for a ride. I have seen numerous muskie porpoising (breaching) lately and know of two spots that are holding fish though I have not been able to hook any gray ghosts yet. In regards to muskie hitting the hooked fish, I have been told that one of these skis was a flat out GIANT fish, and this friend of mine is not much of a tale teller.
The river water level is reported to drop all week and been two feet lower by next weekend. There has been very little surface action for white bass. Have fun out there! Turk
August 31, 2010 just a quick note same bite as last report, but the river is dropping fast from last report and is 676.33 feet above sea level in Stillwater, MN.