September, 1921 
FOREST AND STREAM 
393 
sion is that if the merits of St. Croix 
fishing are rehearsed the river will 
swarm with fishermen and so the good 
fishing will soon be a thing of the past. 
I believe this an erroneous impression, 
for it is only the highest type of angler 
who is appealed to through the pages of 
this magazine — men, indeed, who are 
first, last and all the time sportsmen 
and who recognize the very highest 
ideals. 
It will always be a lasting regret to 
me that I could not know Charlie Stapf 
better. As a guide he ranks high and 
anyone whose footsteps lead him to 
Prescott (which, by the way is but 
twenty miles from Minneapolis), will 
find in him a man who knows every 
bass in the St. Croix personally. Stapf 
told me that last spring he saw a school 
of bass three blocks in length near the 
mouth of the St. Croix. 
Here I must state rather an oddity 
about the St. Croix and its best bass 
grounds. A person who believes that the 
whole length of the St. Croix is ideal 
ground is mistaken. We fished from 
Prescott up to Taylor’s Falls, in the 
Dells of St. Croix, and, save for the ex- 
ceedingly good bass fishing we had in 
Berger’s Lake in the Dells, the upper 
river provided little sport worthy of the 
name. To say that on the lower St. Croix 
the good fishing begins at Prescott and 
ends at Ilwaco Springs is to very nearly 
sum it up. 
In the distance of eleven miles be- 
tween these points, on the Wisconsin 
side of the river, good fishing obtains. 
There is little 
fishing on the 
Minnesota side 
save a three mile 
stretch from 
Prescott on up 
river. 
Probably you 
will ask: Why 
does the good 
fishing obtain on 
the W i s c o nsin 
side and not 
along the whole 
river’s length? 
The reason may 
be simply stated 
that on the Wis- 
consin side of the 
river, within the 
prescribed length 
are found rocks 
and boulders in 
the water; indeed 
this length of the 
river presents a shore line that is 
crowded with them. 
Only here and there elsewhere along 
the river are found rocks and boulders 
so common; generally none whatsoever. 
And where the good fishing happens to 
be in the three mile stretch on the Min- 
nesota side from Prescott on up is where 
the shore bottom is studded with rocks. 
Thus we have eleven miles of this con- 
dition on the Wisconsin side, and three 
miles of it on the Minnesota side. 
The question will be asked why the 
bass are found here, where the rocks 
obtain. The reason is simple: the rocks 
harbor and conceal the food that the 
tass feed upon and the very choicest of 
this is the freshwater crab. In my ex- 
amination of the stomach contents of 
bass caught on the St. Croix I found 
at least seven kinds of water life repre- 
sented, foremost of which was the crab. 
Therefore it is where the food is found 
that the bass keep themselves. 
The lower part of the lake is their 
choice, in fact, most of the St. Croix 
bass have moved down from up-river 
to these lower waters. The bulk of the 
small-mouths of the St. Croix are there- 
fore, by choice or by migration depos- 
ited in the river from Ilwaco Springs 
to the mouth of the river. 
1 AM not the first to write in apprecia- 
tion of the St. Croix. It has been 
lauded in print by many men; and 
within the last few years some have 
called the St. Croix the best waters on 
the continent. They are. We who have 
fished a little everywhere are able to 
say this. 
However much we may gloat over the 
Mississippi waters between Read’s 
Landing and Winona, or more accurate- 
ly the Mississippi waters between 
Read’s Landing and Alma, Wisconsin, 
there are some aspects about the St. 
Croix that these waters do not possess. 
Let me single out a few so that you get 
your bearings: 
In the first place the St. Croix is en- 
tirely made up of springs; from source 
to mouth it is one great volume of 
spring water pouring into the Father 
of Waters. The trickle of springs is 
common music along its banks. On the 
upper St. Croix one passes a shore 
composed of rock, sometimes blocks in 
length and the whole side of that rock 
is a dribble and tinkle of springs; the 
whole wall wet with the dripping water. 
Over four hundred mineral springs 
have been discovered within four miles 
of the town of Osceola. The St. Croix 
water is the healthiest to partake of 
in the north. And it is in this pure 
spring water that the small-mouths 
make their home. Do you wonder that 
we say it is the choicest of choice haunts 
for them? 
Aerain: the Mississippi waters act as 
sewage carriers from the great cities of 
St. Paul and Minneapolis; and it is 
these same waters that pass on to the 
homes of the bass in the wing-dam re- 
gion below Wabasha. I do not wish to 
say that the famous wing-dam waters 
are spoiled by this, for it is my belief 
that when the sewage-charged waters 
of the Mississippi enter Lake Pepin the 
sediment and grosser elements subside 
so that when the river finally comes out 
again down near Read’s Landing the 
waters have been comparatively cleared 
of their polluted matter though certain- 
ly not cleared of the matter that is in 
solution. It remains for the Chippewa 
River above Read’s Landing to cut into 
the Mississippi and take command of 
it from there on down. 
That it is the influence of the Chip- 
pewa River waters that attract the 
wing-dam bass, just as their kin are 
attracted by the St. Croix waters goes 
without saying. At one time all the 
upper Mississippi River waters had 
bass in them, but the sewage in the 
stream drove them down. That they 
all migrated and took up their home in 
the little lakes formed by the wing-dams 
is a practical certainty. 
The St. Croix waters are not polluted 
for the running of sewage into the river 
is not permitted. It is for this reason 
that the St. Croix is so perfect as a 
home for the small-mouths. One can 
take water to drink from the stream 
anywhere without laying himself open 
to disease infection. 
C HARLIE 
STAPF has 
said with 
vigor and vim 
that the large- 
mouth bass is a 
rough fish com- 
pared to the 
small-mouth. This 
is an open chal- 
lenge and offers 
itself up for de- 
bate; — but, you 
see, Charlie is 
thinking of large- 
mouth bass in 
comparison with 
the St. Croix 
small -mouths. 
Having tried both 
varieties of this 
superior member 
of the sunfish spe- 
cies, in various lo- 
calities and re- 
gions, I am prone to say that never 
have I seen bass fight so lustily as 
those in the St. Croix. 
You may chant of the French River 
bass of Ontario; the dashing ones of 
the St. Lawrence; of the Grand of 
Michigan, or the various others in the 
country, but never will you find one 
that can put up a better fight than the 
St. Croix bass. Charlie Stapf is right. 
Compared with St. Croix bass the large- 
mouths are rough fish. One is never 
sure he has really captured a small- 
mouth until he has him securely in the 
boat. 
(continued on page 414 ) 
Charlie Stapf preparing supper 
