Barges, Beavers and Flatheads

I spent Tuesday evening finishing up a chain link fence with a friend of mine. This job was way underestimated so I haven’t been out to chase flatheads much this past week.

I got home at about 8:30 last night, sat down, and the catfish bug bit me right in the .I grabbed some bullheads and I loaded up the boat. I got to my first spot at about 9:30. This was an old spot I haven’t fished in a few years, but I did catch flatheads there when the water was high. It was about an hour and I was just starting to think about some other spots when my clicker took of slowly. I thought it was my bullhead at first but when I picked up my rod the fish pulled out line much faster. After a short fight I had a 7lb flathead in the boat. Barely 5 minutes later I had another run and pulled in a 10lb flat. Just as fast as the party started….. it ended.

The beavers showed up and started doing cannonballs off of tree limbs. I actually got sprayed from some of the commotion. Scared the bejeebers out of me. A few minutes later and a tugboat parks his rig about 50 feet from me and they start to tie up a barge. The water was boiling around my boat and the fishing died off completely. Well, that’s it, the bite’s over.

The barge left after about 10 minutes and it got pretty quiet again so I thought I would sit it out for a little while. About 40 minutes later I had another good run, this time the fished pulled pretty fast. I bent forward and set the hook. After a nice battle, which sent me up and down the boat a couple times, I was able to grab her and put her in the boat. It was a good flathead that weighed in at 23lbs. I tried to take some pictures of her but it was kind of difficult since I was alone in the dark. From that point, I landed 4 more flats for a total of 7 for the night. They were 5, 8, 11, and 14 lbs.

All the fish caught were in a slow current area in 6 to 12 feet of water close to the bank.

It was a beautiful night. No wind, no mosquitoes, and the flatheads were chompin. I had to pull up the anchor and leave at about 3:30 because I ran out of bullheads. I guess I’d better bring more next time.

23 lbs.

nice grill!

Nice looking cats

Looks to me like that babe could have cleaned up the area on beavers!

Seven fish in one night! YES!

Great job, Tim. Sounds like you had a fun night. I was out last night too and the beavers were driving me nuts also. I tried lighting them up with my spotlight, hoping that would chase them away. It only made them madder. Pesky critters when they are thumping the water in the dark.

I found the same to be true when I put the spot light on beavers. They go nuts! The racoons were sure busy too. How did the Croix treat you last night?

I’ve heard a rumor that if you feed a beaver Copenhagen and Starburst’s …they go away…but then agian…most anything would!

Hey Tim, the St Croix was pretty slow last night. I fished channels from 7:00pm to 9:00pm. I picked up two channels on cut bullhead about 7:30. I went to two live bullheads fishing for flats about 9:00pm and fished until midnight with no luck. I didn’t move from my favorite spot and I probably should have after the 1st hour was a blank. Nice night even though the Twins lost.