St. Croix River & Mississippi Pools 1–4 · Stillwater, MN
By appointment (612) 219-6165
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Your guide
Thirty years of fishing. Twelve of them on the St. Croix. One rule: you tell him what you want to catch, and he goes and finds it.
The short version
Jamison started fishing at four years old and never really stopped. Growing up it was whatever water he could get to — farm ponds, lakes, rivers, ice. Thirty years later the obsession has not worn off even slightly.
Twelve years ago his family landed in the St. Croix River Valley for work. They came for the job and stayed for the water. Somewhere in there, the thing he did every weekend turned into the thing he does for a living.
These days he holds a U.S. Coast Guard Master Captain’s license and runs private trips on the St. Croix and the Mississippi — sturgeon that bend a rod in half, walleye for the freezer, smallmouth on the rocks, crappie for the kids, and catfish after dark.
“I’m more detail-oriented than most guides out there. I do my best to put people on fish — and on the fish they came for.”
Capt. Jamison Johnson
At a glance
How it goes
No mystery to it. Four steps from the first phone call to the drive home.
Call or email with the dates you are looking at, how many people, and what you would like to catch. If somebody in the group has never held a rod, say so — that changes the plan for the better.
Once he knows the target and the date, he decides which river, which pool and which stretch gives you the best shot. Water level, water temperature and what has been happening the past week all feed into it.
Fishing trips launch from The Beach House Marina in Bayport. Cruises and tours leave from Boomsite Marina in Stillwater. He confirms the spot and the time when you book.
He runs the boat, rigs the rods and nets the fish. Want to learn how he is reading the water and the electronics? Ask — he would rather teach you than keep it to himself.
The fleet
One is built to chase fish. The other is built to keep six people comfortable all afternoon. Which one you get depends on what you booked.
Fishing rig
Fast, tight and purpose-built to fish. This is the boat when you are here to catch something and want to move the second the bite moves.
Aboard
Comfort rig
Enclosed cabin, air conditioning, a restroom and a galley. This is the one for families, bigger groups, fall color tours and long afternoons on a sandbar.
Aboard
Off the clock
Jamison volunteers at youth fishing clinics around the valley. Somebody put a rod in his hand when he was four years old, and that turned into a life. Handing that back to a kid who has never caught anything is the easiest yes he gives all year.
It is also why he is genuinely good with young anglers on a trip — patient, unbothered by tangles, and happy to spend the whole day on panfish if that is what keeps a nine-year-old grinning.
How he treats the river
By appointment
Tell Jamison what you want to catch and when you can get out here. He will tell you straight whether it lines up, and what will.
