 Rank: Caddis Fly
Joined: 2/22/2015(UTC) Posts: 133 Location: St. Paul
Was thanked: 2 time(s) in 2 post(s)
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With this recent heat wave hovering over the upper Midwest, bushwhacking through some dense undergrowth on the trout streams would be a little too much work. Instead, I figured bass and carp would be a much more enjoyable pursuit. I decided to fish an unnamed beach on the St. Croix despite never fishing it before. With all the recent rain the beach I was fishing from was completely submerged. I was standing in waist deep water where the beach would normally begin in normal water levels.
I tied on a chartreuse and white clauser minnow and didn't take it off for the whole night. Standing waist deep I worked edges of a submerged forest. Immediately, white bass began slamming my fly, and let me tell you, they fight hard. I'd never caught one before and was really surprised how aggressive and fun they were on a fly rod. There was some type of insect hatching as well so the white bass and smallies were taking big gulps off the water. Seeing the surface activity really made it too easy. I just cast my clauser minnow right where they were feeding, gave a couple second countdown and started stripping and let the drag scream once I hooked a fish. All these fish were within 30 feet of the beach and water wasn't deeper than 4 feet.
Around the 8:45, as light really started to fade I noticed an incoming wake from some fish swimming close to shore. A quick cast towards their direction was rewarding with an aggressive bite. But unlike the bass which displayed some amazing acrobats while hooked, this one stayed down. But no freshwater fish can handle the drag on my Nautilus CCF-X2. As I brought it closer I saw a flash of white on its tail and some spooky, glowing eyes - a feisty walleye. I was blown away, I've caught plenty on spinning rods but never a fly rod. A woman who was walking her dogs was so blown away by this and thankful when I gave her the walleye to take home for dinner. The entire school of walleye swam past over the next thirty minutes and it was easy fishing. Just a great night on the St. Croix.
I do have pictures but it won't let me post them. I am probably doing it wrong.
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 Rank: Super Fly
Joined: 7/24/2011(UTC) Posts: 3,511 Location: Sussex Wisconsin
Thanks: 188 times Was thanked: 198 time(s) in 152 post(s)
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TheDancingMan wrote: I do have pictures but it won't let me post them. I am probably doing it wrong. I thought Mark or Eddie had done a write-up on how to post photos to this forum, but I can't seem to locate it at the moment. However, it's pretty simple. You first need to upload your photos to a separate photo hosting website, such as PhotoBucket, PostImage, imgur, or any of dozens of other similar free sites on the web. I would recommend resizing and cropping your photos before uploading them to this forum. Images are not automatically resized on the DTA website. I use an app called FastStone Image Viewer, which is free and works great. There are dozens of other options, including MS Paint, which is pre-installed on most Windows based PCs. Resized photos to 1024 x 600 fits well on most screens and takes up less space on the hosting site. Once you've tweaked your photos, copy the image link from the hosting website and simply paste the link in your DTA posting. Most hosting sites have a separate hyperlink for forums. The hyperlink should look something like this: [~img]https://s20.postimg.org/cle73gpst/DSCN1730_resize.jpg[/img] but without the tilde (~), which I put in to prevent it from actually displaying the photo in this example. Or you could watch this YouTube video.Good luck! -Bill |
“You'll never look back on your life and wish you had spent more time in the office." -- Brian Trautman, Captain SV Delos |
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 Rank: Caddis Fly
Joined: 2/22/2015(UTC) Posts: 133 Location: St. Paul
Was thanked: 2 time(s) in 2 post(s)
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 Rank: Dragon Fly
Joined: 6/30/2011(UTC) Posts: 604 Location: Far west suburbs of Chicago
Thanks: 25 times Was thanked: 21 time(s) in 18 post(s)
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Those look tasty. As far as the white bass, they are a great fly rod fish. They get overlooked around here because most of us have easy access to trout and/or smallmouth. In other parts of the country, where trout and smallies are scarce, Texas and Oklahoma for example, white bass are more of a high priority target.
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 Rank: Stone Fly
Joined: 6/14/2013(UTC) Posts: 229 Location: St. Paul
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Awesome report! Thanks for the pictures as well
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 Rank: Dragon Fly
Joined: 7/26/2012(UTC) Posts: 1,190 Location: New Brighton MN
Thanks: 64 times Was thanked: 27 time(s) in 19 post(s)
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Now I am going to have to tie some white and chartreuse Clousers. Thanks for the great report. |
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 Rank: May Fly
Joined: 2/24/2013(UTC) Posts: 360
Thanks: 2 times Was thanked: 13 time(s) in 12 post(s)
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I've caught a few walleye incidentally with the fly rod.
I typically get a strange look from anyone when I tell them about how possible it is to catch anything from trout to carp to catfish with a fly rod since it's assumed it's all about what's on top of the water.
Sounds like a very cool experience!
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 Rank: Caddis Fly
Joined: 2/22/2015(UTC) Posts: 133 Location: St. Paul
Was thanked: 2 time(s) in 2 post(s)
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And I caught a huge crappie last night on the St. Croix. It's like the size of a dinner plate. 
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 Rank: Dragon Fly
Joined: 9/18/2014(UTC) Posts: 1,239 Location: Prairie Du Sac, WI
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That's the great part of fishing rivers, you never know what you are going to catch. Your experiences are very similar to mine when river fishing, bass etc. early, and then walleye right at dusk as they move shallow to feed.
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 Rank: Administration
Joined: 2/27/2010(UTC) Posts: 4,903  Location: Minnesota Thanks: 8 times Was thanked: 29 time(s) in 21 post(s)
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I'll eat those walleye and crappie any day of the week over trout! Good job. |
-Mark Board Owner
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