Catfishing Online Log Book

Mississippi Pool 8 6/15/07

Fished for cats from 7:30pm – 2:00am

Surface Temp on the main channel was at 79+ degrees.

Dropping Barometer, with a slight South to SE breeze.

Air Temp starting off was 90 dropping to 74 degrees.

Bluegills for bait.

Some small Channel Cats and one Small Flatty were caught on crawlers while waiting for a gill to get slammed.

First gill was hit only to be dropped at 8:45.

Set up on the second spot around 10:10 and had a nice fish on only to come unbuttoned boat side at 10:35.

!0:40 put a 24lb Flathead in the boat. Naomi’s personal best.

Set up on the third spot around 12:00am, had a large fish on long enough to leave a bruise on my sternum before freeing itself.

All three spots were on the main channel not far off wig dams holding good structure. We fished 5-15fow.

This was my first time using circle hooks for Faltheads. I liked using them but see were I need some practice staying hooked up! Maybe letting the fish have a longer run will help. Taking the reel out of free spool and letting the rod just double over was more fun than I thought it would be.

Minnesota River 6/15/07 8:00 am – 2:00 pm
Bait: Cut sucker

Shore fished in six spots, at least 30 – 45 minutes each. Lots of bites, but nothing would commit. Only fish came at about 12:15, and hit like a freight train. Thought it was at least 10# until I pulled him in along with the snag he was occupying. 2# and change… Though it was a disappointing fish, it kept me from getting skunked, and it supported my belief that one of the best times to be fishing channel cats is right around noon.

While sitting in one spot, I saw a dead channel floating by that would’ve gone 20# or better. They’re in there…

Ben

MN river. Sun 6/17/07
8:00pm to 11:30pm
Water temp 79F
Depth 12-14Ft
Cut frozen sucker.
3 fish Channels 4-6lbs
numerous bumps… Frozen sucker is very soft and lost alot of bait.
The channels were hungry. Bait would set for less than 5 min and get hit. They all looked to be in good shape, most channel action since March… looks like they are liking the warm water and the big ones should be coming off the spawn very soon.

Monday, 6/18/07

St Croix River

Fished from 7:30pm to 11:30pm – SKUNKED!

Water Temp: 78 Water at normal pool elevation: 675.6′

Weather: Cooling after an early afternoon front passage, tough fishing wind from the WSW 10 – 15mph

I found some spots out of the wind that were fishable but not a single run all night. Fished one rod with cut sucker and one rod with a bullhead. Between the changing weather and the spawning temps the fishing is getting tough. Lots of white bass and smallies chasing minnows – I wished I had brought my casting rod that would have been fun fishing.

Twins lost to the Mets – No fish / Twins lost

Fished 6-18-07 – Pool 3 Mississippi
Live Suckers – 7:00/11:00 pm
Caught 3 small flatheads <6 lbs
1 Channel ~ 4 lbs
1 40 inch Flathead ~ 32 lbs

Wednesday, 6/20/07
St Croix River
Water Temp 72, River at 675.6′ normal pool elevation
Weather hot, humid, with scattered thunderstorms, wind NNW 6 – 13mph
Started out at 7:30pm and setup my first drift about 8:00pm. Drifting cut sucker for channel cats. Had one on right away and lost him halfway to the boat. The wind picked up in front of a thunderstorm and I fought it for about 40 minutes. I have a big drift sock that works pretty good for slowing down the drift in the wind but boat control is still a lot of work. The storm rolled in with a lot of lightning around 9:00. I gave it up about 9:30pm the rain had stopped but still too much lightning. I did a quick run back to the marina in the dark – not much to show for the effort but 1 missed fish.

Wednesday 6-20-07
St. Croix River

Same conditions as the above post. Waited the storm out, then headed out well after dark. Water temp: 78.

Not long after getting set up, I finally got my first Flathead! Didn’t get a tape to it, not very big… some on here would call it a practice fish.

Around 12:30 am, the rod takes a good bend and I set the hook. After a struggle we got him in the boat, 43 inches long and the girth was 26.5″! Both fish caught on bull heads from Moore’s Bait.

Our other lines were rigged with cut bait (fat head minnows), caught 3 nice sheep heads, and 2 keeper walleyes earlier in the evening. No channel cats.

Alright, Jon!!!

Did you get photos? That’s a healthy flathead!!!

Quote:

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Did you get photos? That’s a healthy flathead!!!

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Thanks, Ryan. Unfortunately, no…forgot to bring the camera.

Jon

Miss. Pool 8 6/22/07

Fished from 7:30pm – 2:00am

Surface temp dropped from 80 to 75 degrees in a couple days.

River Stage 5.18

Flow 15.2 kcfs

5mph SE wind

Gills for bait fished in 4-15fow.

Before dark 3, 34-36inch Northern caught in the first spot which was just off the main channel in a snag. The circle hooks worked great on these toothy critters.

One short run was produced shortly after dark.

The second spot was on the main channel off a wing dam holding loads of wood in the scour hole. There is also wood 40 yards below the wig dam. I pulled the boat between the 2 log jams so I could place baits on both sides of the boat. With the low flow a 3oz no roll sinker had no problem keeping my gill from being swept back at the boat when casted up river. This spot produced 1 cat pushing 9lbs at 1:00am and a second slam and run at 1:30am only to get dropped.

6/22/07 St Croix River
Fished the Gentleman’s Honor Cat Tourney from 8:30pm to 5:15am. Sunset was at 9:02pm and sunrise at 5:27am.
Weather was cloudy with light SE wind 6-12mph becoming calm about 2:30am
St Croix river elevation at normal pool 675.5′, water temp 75 degrees
Started the evening trying to drift up some channels. Drifted 2 different areas from 8:30pm to 11:30pm with no luck at all. Did not mark any bait. Conditions were good for drifting but I could not find fish.
Moved up river about midnight and settled in on one of my favorite flathead spots. Caught a small channel at 1220 and missed two other cutbait runs around 1:00am. Caught a 31″ X 17″ flathead at 3:20am and my biggest flathead of the night at 4:00am a 37′ X 23″ (about a 24# fish).
Twins lost to Florida – they should have won that game.

6/22/07 Mississippi River
Bait: Cut sucker
Water temp unknown
Air temp in the 80’s, overcast for first part of the day.
Fished from about 10:00 am to about 2:00 pm.

Used standard slip-sinker / circle hook rig until about noon. Produced 1 small cat, around 2 lbs. Switched to a slip float set to 6′ deep. Immediately hooked into two cats, about 3 lbs each. Had several more hits, but had trouble connecting, as I haven’t used a float for quite a while. It was cool, though, because the wind countered the current for the most part, which allowed for a very slow drift. The bait slowly worked its way around the area, pushed by current or wind in both directions.

Not a very productive day, but it was better than doing laundry.

7/1/07 Mississippi River – Honk yr Horn
Bait: Bullheads
Water temp unknown
Air temp 75 to 80.
Fished from 7pm to 11pm
Water is about atleast 1 to 2 feet lower than normal.

Used standard slip-sinker 3oz/ Gamatsu Oct. Hook. Fished pool 1 by the damn. Slow night. About 8 pm I caught a good sized dog fish on a smaller bullhead. It was my first dog fish since I was 12. After that I caught nothing until 10:30pm. Swing and a miss. Nothing else after that. The other people fishing the area also where not catching anything on worms, or cappie minnows.

Thursday 7/19/07 St. Croix River
Water temp 80, air temp 78 and cooled to mid 60’s after dark.
Fished 8pm to 12:30am.
Bull heads and cut sucker.

Fished a few different spots with no fish caught, not even a drum!

The only action I got after midnight was a turtle on cut sucker (about 12 inches in diameter).

A nice night to be on the river.

Jon