So what’s this rising, muddy water going to do…

Elaborate please!

Wow was the river up again yesterday. The highest we fished since the nephew got the boat. I warned him once we got to the spot that this might be the first skunk of the year. I was right and I gave him the excuse that I jinxed him.

I hate it when the next day I think things through and realized we may have missed an opportunity had we gotten to our second spot with some daylight. I am trying to get him to go out tomorrow so we can hit it before she starts coming back down.

I’m pretty sure it is going to get depressing. Another night wasted with storms passing through.

My best June ever came during near flood stage flows in 2004.

It is not at all unusual for flatheads to be spawning in early July – this isn’t particularly late. If anything it extends the prespawn when this topsy turvy flow/temp thing happens.

Hold your bullies down by lip-hooking them and using 4oz of weight.

Your welcome.

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Hold your bullies down by lip-hooking them and using 4oz of weight.

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I refuse to lip hook a Bullhead, they dont struggle nearly as much as dorsal hooked!

It was free advise Doc.

I’m really impress on how much flow a larger bully can handle hooked in the back.

I’ve been taking all the larger ones and leaving the “walleye” sized ones at Everts.

It’s funny, this years walleye size was last years 6 inchers.

Lip hooking works for circles.

With this fast current, I think they struggle as much as when I back hook them. At least my line has been dancing a lot. That’s all I need to be confident she is sending out the right signals. I generally do think they struggle more back hooked though.

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to the flathead fishing this weekend?

Going to focus on feeder creek mouths?

Wood along the main channel?

Edges of the main channel?

Since the water’s been so cool, anyone seeing ripe females yet? None on P3/4 that I’ve seen.

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You’re the guide, you tell us.

I had no luck the couple times I hit feeder creeks earlier, but who knows. So what is your thoughts BK?

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We were out on Saturday night and the water was up at least two feet from the previous weekend. We tried shallows, feeder creek mouths, edges of the main river, many snags, in the fastest current, and off of islands and points where there was a break in the current. The result: two small hits, one tiny run (we’re talking 3 clicks of the drag), and no fish. We were using bullheads of small to large size.

We thought about fishing in the 5-6 foot range in areas that cannot be reached unless there is high water, but figured it was too shallow and calm for the flats to be in there. Were we wrong on that? Should we have fished those shallow areas that were just outside of heavy flowing deep holes? We were marking a few fish in those areas.

Would it be a good idea to fish up the feeder creeks a bit or would we be wasting our time?

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Would it be a good idea to fish up the feeder creeks a bit or would we be wasting our time?

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No Sir! Besides if your not catching them other places, why not waste your time in a new location.

Our Fathers Day Flat came from about 4 feet of water and my FW’s personal best 42 pounder came from less than 4 feet.

Catdad told me once while we were fishing that he saw the back of a 20ish pounder foraging around in the weeds one time. My thought was, yeah…that happens once in a person’s life time. Two nights later I witnessed the same thing. A few weeks later I saw it again 1/4 mile away.

No such thing as too shallow…more so in high water.

Welcome to IDO! Let us know if you stick a big one this weekend!!

I think Matt has proven his tactics a few times…

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No such thing as too shallow…

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Especially when the fish is closer to a flounder in shape than a sunfish.

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I think Matt has proven his tactics a few times…

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Once or twice.

I’ve seen big flatheads chasing shad in less than 2 feet of water on pool 9. I used to fish a snaggy spot and on the other side of the cut was a sandy flat that gradually went from 3 feet deep up to zero and a sand bar was out of the water. You can’t mistake the dorsal of these fish when it is sticking out of the water. Eventually we camped out on the bar used the cast net to get some shad and many fish were caught here. Sight fishing for these fish is a new experience.

Years back when the water used to actually drop to a managable level , I saw a big flat herding baitfish around down on the Minnesota. Definitely no mistaking that dorsal, especially when half their back is out of the water!

Sight fishing…

Kev, did you have any luck casting to them/it?

I was surprised my spotlight didn’t bother him, but plopping a bully and a 4 ozer 5 feet away sure did!

Sight fishing for flatheads? My bassing skills could come into play? That would definitely be quite the experience.

Yeah we casted right in front of them but you had to use the shad they were after and we used lighter gear and a lighter line and a bobber. This was really the genesis of my current presentation for channel cats. It wasn’t the kind of place where you found them all the time though and the dang walleyes would come and steal your bait too.

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the dang walleyes would come and steal your bait too.

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I would have moved locations.

Interesting. Were there any that spooked on the cast?

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the dang walleyes would come and steal your bait too.

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I would have moved locations.

Interesting. Were there any that spooked on the cast?

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Once again! That dreaded w word you hate so much. They are sending you a message

They were not spooked unless you hit them with the bait. That was half the fun of it was trying to lead them a bit. these fish were cruising and you could tell when the bagged a shad they would stop in one place for a couple minutes and chew on them.

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That dreaded w word you hate so much

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I don’t hate Whiskerkev!?

Sounds like fun Kev!