Upper, Upper, Upper St Croix

The past 2 weekends the flows have been perfect to float a very upper section of the St Croix from County T Landing down to Louise Park Landing.  On the map it doesn't look like very much water but the water is prime, the shuttle is short, and the fish don't have any pressure. 

Russ, Austin and I floated August 20th and we got a number of quality fish.

The picture I wish I had would be of Austin holding a 35 plus inch Muskie.  He was fishing the Skitter Prop when a big fish took it.  Austin did great and battled the fish close enough to the boat for us to get a good look at her before the she turned her head and bit him off.

The 27th Brian and I fished the same stretch of river and because of the previous weekend's results, I had high expectations and it didn't disappoint.

Brian caught a bunch of nice fish with this 20 inch fish as the best.

I also finally put the Bank Robber through a little test and loved it.  Hopefully next weekend and can get some better use and I'll right a little report.  I was using the heaviest tip on the Rio Versitip for a 7 wt and it casted great - and I was throwing an articulated Butt Monkey - Kelly Galloup would be very proud.

St Croix report and devastating hook set

Fished the St Croix last Friday and it was really good considering the water levels leading up to it.  The record high waters had receded considerably but the Kettle and Snake were still sending above average flows down the river.  Last year I was dragging the boat - this year I'm not even touching rocks.  We decided that our best bet was to put in at Nelsons above the Kettle and Snake.  Fish were right on the bank and we definitely caught some quality fish like Bob's 17.5 incher -

Jeff did boat the biggest of the day with this beauty that was 19.5

Overall we landed 16 plus fish with 10 of them 16 inches or bigger.  I was surprised by the clarity but probably should have expected that it clears faster than it drops. 

Saturday we slayed the bluegills off the cabin dock and had to share two great pics.  One is of Gus's great over acting hook set

The second is a cool shot of the bluegill

St Croix Report 7-29-11

Hit the St Croix Friday with Bob and John.  I thought the flows seemed great but looking at the clarity it was murky.  Fish were not on top water as they were earlier, most likely to due to the conditions.  We did manage a few fish including the 18 inch beauty by Bob.

You really had to get the lures right in front of the fish.  We went larger and if you hit the bank there were fish.  The catch of the day though was a turtle.  Bob put the size 9 Shallow Shad Rap right on a grassy bank and a soft shell turtle bit it.  I wouldn't have believed if I didn't see it for myself.  See the pics

St. Croix and Kinni - big weekend

Started out the fishing weekend Friday taking Tom and Dana on a float down my favorite stretch of water from Fox Landing to Hwy 70.  Driving across the river to Wild River Outfitters there were 2 drift boats already in and fishing and a 3rd at Wild River.  It was to be a beautiful day and it didn't disappoint.

Fishing started a little slow and I was surprised the fish weren't in the faster water yet.  Seams and pocket water held fish but mostly slower water by drop-offs and steep shorelines.  Overall I think we got about 15-20 smallies - all on top water and a few pike and walleyes.

The next day Brian and I took our eldest out for the first joint trout fishing on the Kinni.  We went in at River Falls and had low expectations.  There were few people out so we were able to hit some nice water right away and to our surprise caught a few - I think all on prince nymphs.

The more humours part was that Gus and Collin got temporarily separated from us.  Since they were fine it was pretty funny - they stayed close by for the rest of the morning.

4th of July and a huge storm

Brittany the boys and I took an extra long weekend at the cabin in Minong over the 4th.  Blake, Grant and I floated the upper St. Croix at Cty Rd T to Louise Friday - caught a bunch of smallies but nothing of any size.

 Grant Grinna (Double G) was in the bow of the boat and hooked this catfish on a shallow shad rap in a riffle (which I initially thought was a Muskie) and from the picture you can tell he didn't want to touch it.

The big news happened that afternoon however - we had 80 mph straighline winds that destroyed the area.  Fortunately we were not hurt badly but look at some of these pictures (not all mine).

Wall cloud from Solon Springs

 Red pine plantation by Danbury.

 Tuber shuttle smashed at Riverside.  The Riverside landing is destroyed, this was still there Tuesday on our drive back.

Red pines by Totagatic Cty Park on the Minong Flowage.

We canoed the St. Croix Saturday

 I thought Henry was going to be scared for life after the first 2 rapids - he recovered and both did great on their trip.

 The take-out was destroyed though - look at this tent.

And this is what we had to drag the canoes over.

Lastly, I tried out some of the camera functions - look at these firework shots that night - I need my tripod next year.

Catfish dreams

Well I finally made it out with my good buddy Pete to fish the Minnesota last Thursday.  He bought a G3 jet a few years ago and has really figured out how to catch channel and flathead catfish.  Pete has chased many big fish which still includes spending summers guiding in Alaska east of Bristol Bay.

The bite had been slower than normal with the temperature, high water, and moon phase working against us but we had it scheduled so we had to go.  We hopped around to a few places tying off to tree limbs looking for sharp breaks and hungry fish.  Flathead rods had 4"-8" bullheads hooked through the back and channel cats had deadbait.

It was slow to start as expected but it was a nice night, the grill was going and the beer was cold.

Finally we got a few bites and action was fast for about a 1/2 hour.  Now I grew up set-line fishing on the lower Wolf River.  There were many a summer morning when we would take the 76 Lund out and be pumped to have 3 10lbers on the line.  But that wasn't fighting them in the dark, with head-lamps, by brush with fish pulling drag out.

The first nice one was about 17lbs.

The second big boy was my biggest flathead ever - 41 inches and 30lbs. 

He still had lots of fight when we let him go and Pete got a little wet.

We got off the water around midnight

We made it home late but mainly because we were waiting in the McDonald's drive-thru for the shake machine to fire back up (did get 4 free meals passes, 2 of which are on a hand-written piece of cardboard).  It was a blast and something anyone who likes to fish would enjoy.  Pete's in "Cat-Leauge" and he knows the river and has a lot of guide experience - you won't be disappointed.

Hot Muskie Action

Matt and I fished the Flambeau River with Cory from Hayward Fly Fishing http://haywardflyfishingcompany.com Friday.  Cory guided me to my first Muskie on the fly - a beautiful 42 incher last November. 

Friday was overcast and mild with very little wind.  The day started out fast and would end up being fantastic.  Right away we saw 3 fish in the first hour and a half.  Two swipes but no hook-ups.  I got a few nice pike however (right on the weed edges).

Since we started with some smaller flies (smaller for Muskie but huge for smallmouth) we also got a  few nice smallies.  All the while we kept seeing Muskies and some really nice ones.

Matt finally landed his first Muskie on the fly with an EP Perch pattern.   (I have some video of him landing it that I need to work on).  He did a great job and it was a huge relief to get that first one in the boat after seeing 7 by that point.

A little later Matt had an attacking take that cut him off instantly (losing the EP Perch) - my reaction was to try and one-up my brother and I got him.  He hit on a jig fly I think which looks like an oversize Whistler.

In total we saw 10 Muskies for the day.  Landed 2 and botched the hook-sets on maybe 3 others.  I had one follow my fly all the way around the back of the drift boat and another snap at the "L" turn at the boat.  Smallmouth fishing is a blast and I do it a lot but there is nothing like Muskie fly fishing and how quickly your heart starting pumping.  This was my second trip with Cory at Hayward Fly Fishing Co and I highly recommend going with them.