upper st. croix tips

[eckum54]

every year my friends and i go on a catfish outing...last year we went just below taylors falls, and this year we are looking to go above the dam and camp out in the state campites along the MN side...any tips as to how to catfish these waters...i have had the best luck with cut bait so that is my plan, and from what i have heard it i very sandy up in these parts...any depths i should be looking for or should i just huck out a hook with a minnow and let it sit on the bottom. also any times that would be best for fishing these beasts...any advise would be appreciated

[Potsie]

Right now we're catching our smaller cats, under 10 pounds, on crawlers and the larger fish, over 10 pounds, on white suckers. They're deeper during the day and move in shallow when it gets dark. I catch most of my fish in the shallows when they move in during the evenings and really good fishing lasts til about 10:00pm. Right now I'm fishing everything on the bottom with a 3oz sinker, but could go to 2oz now that the river has slowed down. With the suckers, I use a double 6/0 circle hook rig (of course with a bead and spinner so it counts as one hook) and split the belly open. With crawlers, I use a 3/0 circle hook and load it up. The best part of fishing crawlers, and the reason I still fish them when I catch my bigger fish on suckers, is that everything in the river will eat them. On every outing, our crawler lines hook smallmouth, suckers, sturgeon, and cats. I had fun with a 50" sturgeon on my crawler line earlier this year. Look for eddies, boulders, inlet streams, river bends, and where deeper water quickly transitions to shallows. Just be careful on the upper croix cause it can chew up a lot of props.