Am I just that bad at this or what?

I have a confession to make. I have caught only one catfish so far this season. I am confessing this in hopes that doing so reverses my luck.

I typically fish between Coon Rapids Dam and Mill Ruin Park using very heavy gear and very long casts out into current and/or eddies/riffles/current breaks, etc… mostly above Pool 1 and almost entirely from shore. The late-season bite patterns I got down pretty well the last couple years, but this year vie been having really B.A.D. luck with the early (pre-spawn) bite.

I have, however, twice hooked into fish that I couldn’t move off the bottom and ended up opening hooks like the #4 Gamkatsu octopus hook that got ruined a couple nights ago. And yes, for the most part, based on feel and action, I am sure they were fish and not snags.

Exciting stuff, but I wanna land some of these monsters everyone keeps talking about! I had better luck when I had NO clue what I was doing. How many seasons will I be lost in the no-man’s-land that lies between the Land of Teh Sucky N00b and True Catfish Heqven????

Thanks for letting me let off steam… there are a whole bunch of guys on this forum that I’ve come to look up to and try to emulate in my fishing (yes, even you BK) ;-). I’m hoping that I can turn my luck around, but as much as not I just need to whine about it.

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I have, however, twice hooked into fish that I couldn’t move off the bottom and ended up opening hooks like the #4 Gamkatsu octopus hook that got ruined a couple nights ago.

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That statement is kinda odd……Any fish should move off the bottom before you straighten out that hook. What strengh line are you using to do that to a hook? and not move the “fish”.

If its the bigger fish you want, I’m afraid you are going to have to have a lot of patience, heavier gear, and some luck sprinkled in.

The normal prespawn bite usually starts mid May. This year warmed up a bit faster, but then cooled again. It’s basically shaping up like an average year as far as the bite goes.

What that means is that starting about right now until mid to late June, put in as much time as you can, you’ll be happy you did. Consider your previous trips this year training.

Beef up to bigger bait and bigger hooks (7/0 minimum).

The past few nights we’ve had a really good bite. Last night we almost hit double digtits….and they are getting bigger

Good Luck and keep at it

Well the nice thing is I work from home and don’t have to be to my desk till 10AM… so late nights aren’t bad at all.

PS – I sent you a PM, dtro…

J

Keep working it…. Some sections of the river are turning on a little bit quicker than others…
Keep doing your research and homework…. go through and read old posts, surf the net, and put as much time on the water.
As your knowledge increases it you will start seeing the patterns and start dialing them in.

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I have, however, twice hooked into fish that I couldn’t move off the bottom and ended up opening hooks like the #4 Gamkatsu octopus hook that got ruined a couple nights ago.

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That statement is kinda odd……Any fish should move off the bottom before you straighten out that hook. What strengh line are you using to do that to a hook? and not move the “fish”.

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80# PowerPro. It was 10′ this way and 5′ that way, stripping line off my reel even with the drag progressively tighter… whatever it was it was huge. And the most interesting part is that it opened the hook without damaging either the barb or the point. It was a bit insane and definitely intimidating…

Do more fishing 4′ from shore. I’ve tried to catch fish in spots that are hard to cast to a lot but I’ve caught more fish close to shore than anywhere.

You ain’t gonna catch nothin if the line’s under a rock or around a snag and the line is dangling 20′ behind that.

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I have, however, twice hooked into fish that I couldn’t move off the bottom and ended up opening hooks like the #4 Gamkatsu octopus hook that got ruined a couple nights ago.

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That statement is kinda odd……Any fish should move off the bottom before you straighten out that hook. What strengh line are you using to do that to a hook? and not move the “fish”.

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80# PowerPro. It was 10′ this way and 5′ that way, stripping line off my reel even with the drag progressively tighter… whatever it was it was huge. And the most interesting part is that it opened the hook without damaging either the barb or the point. It was a bit insane and definitely intimidating…

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There are no flatheads in the stretch that you are fishing, only below mill ruins and beyond. I am a little confused that something would bend your hook – I’m guessing a tree or a rock…..

Your more then welcome to come out with us sometime if you would like. Usually we are out 4-5 nights a week.

Keep at it!

I agree with the other guys. As a guy that typically shore fishes channel cats in the Fridley/N Mpls area area, I can tell you there is NOTHING in the fish family you can’t move off the bottom with the gear you describe. You sir, have a snag, sorry to say.

I was just out this afternoon and had luck with 3 decent channels in shallow water in a big eddy off the main channel using frozen suckers. Man, the carp were cruising too!

Try different areas and move as often as you can if you aren’t getting bites.

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There are no flatheads in the stretch that you are fishing, only below mill ruins and beyond. I am a little confused that something would bend your hook – I’m guessing a tree or a rock…..

Your more then welcome to come out with us sometime if you would like. Usually we are out 4-5 nights a week.

Keep at it!

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Actually I’ve caught flatheads in that stretch of river (just below 694), and I’ve seen pics of fish taken around Anoka, too…

I also know there are (tho arguably few) sturgeon upstream from the coon rapids dam… toss in the occasional 50+ # carp and put it in the main current below CRD, and it doesn’t seem that out of the question to me.

(Ask BK about the styrgeon I couldn’t get off the bottom when I was out with him… it took 15 mins to land a 10# sturgeon!)

Either way, I can’t say it was a fish cuz I never did see it, so it’s a moot point, really.

Id love to go out with u guys some night tho… Where do you usually fish?

I don’t mean this in an doubting way, but I would love to see picture proof of flatheads around 694 and upstream. That would be pretty cool.

You don’t happen to fish the dock on the westside just downstream from 694? I saw guys on there one day with big cat poles. I used to fish the other side growing up and I don’t think I ever saw a channel bigger than 3-4 pounds. But I also never used anything but night crawlers.

There are definitely bigger fish upstream from St. Anthony Falls. I have caught channels above 10lbs and at least one above 15lbs.

I have never caught a sturgeon or flathead upstream of St. Anthony falls though. I suppose flatheads could get into the water in the lock and swim out if they really wanted, but from what I understand the composition of the bottom starts to change pretty quickly upstream of the falls and is not condusive to flathead habitat.

I didn’t think St. Anothony had a lock? I think it’s just a flood gate at mill ruins right? I know I’ve never seen anyone run upstream through a lock there.

It’s a lock. It doesn’t get a lot of traffic though.

Nice, thanks – as you posted that I was reading:

http://www.johnweeks.com/bridges/pages/saf_upper.html

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I have never caught a sturgeon or flathead upstream of St. Anthony falls though. I suppose flatheads could get into the water in the lock and swim out if they really wanted, but from what I understand the composition of the bottom starts to change pretty quickly upstream of the falls and is not condusive to flathead habitat.

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The sturgeon is a reported sighting from the guy who owns Lehmann’s Bait and Tackle in Anoka. He was out in the boat and saw it. He’s a reputable guy, I have no real reason to disbelieve him.

As for the flatheads, I have no in-situ photos to prove it, just my word that in the summer of 2008 I caught not one but two 20″ flatheads fishing off the concrete pier just downstream from the 694 bridge. (That should answer your question, Pug!) Granted they were just babies, but they were still there. In a shallow, tiny backwater full of logjam, no less.

And I have a friend who reported a 40#+ flathead coming out of the hole at the south end of the island between the spillway and the main dam at Coon Rapids Dam (CRD). He’s also a reputable source and I have no reason to doubt him.

Also last year I had a 9″ bullhead get hit shore fishing by the main dam… it got hit, the drag screamed in pain and then the line went slack. When I pulled my line back in the bullhead had been crushed and big patches of skin scraped off. Could have been a channel, but the scratched-up areas on its body were offset and the most forward one was wider than the other one. Looked pretty flatheadish to me… if it was a channel it was a huge one.

And lets not forget the possibility of record-setting carp in this area. I’m pretty sure that pulling a 60# carp sideways thru heavy current is going to prove a challenge to any hook.

Anyway, I know that without pics it never happened… so you guys have no reason to believe, either. Just sayin. if you spend a good deal of time up here and talk to locals who fish the area, it’s not quite so straightforward as “there’s nothing like that up there”.

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I didn’t think St. Anothony had a lock? I think it’s just a flood gate at mill ruins right? I know I’ve never seen anyone run upstream through a lock there.

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Yeah I was just there last night when a local cruise liner yacht Minneapolis tour boat went thru there up and down stream. You can put your boat in at Camden and get down into Pool 1 really easily (but you have to go thru 2 locks, one at St. Anthony Falls and one just below that into Pool 1).

Oh, and I had a few decent strikes but I didn’t pull any fish in…

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I didn’t think St. Anothony had a lock? I think it’s just a flood gate at mill ruins right? I know I’ve never seen anyone run upstream through a lock there.

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Yeah I was just there last night when a local cruise liner yacht Minneapolis tour boat went thru there up and down stream. You can put your boat in at Camden and get down into Pool 1 really easily (but you have to go thru 2 locks, one at St. Anthony Falls and one just below that into Pool 1).

Oh, and I had a few decent strikes but I didn’t pull any fish in…

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Learn something new everyday I think TCCAT was the one who tried to convince me there was no lock there. lol I always thought different, but just went with what he said because he has lived in the city all his life.

Like I said, I don’t question the validity of your claims.

Dang, I tried that point of the island for channels a few times when I lived up that way. It seems like a perfect area with root wads and a deep hole.

I’ve pulled a few decent channels out of there over the last few years. Well, good eaters anyway . Facing south, there’s slack water to your left (towards the spillway) and heavy current to your right, and the scour hole is right there plus there’s a lot of sandy bottom with scattered boulders in about 6′ of water. So yeah, it’s perfect habitat for a good number of fish species.

He insists that if you throw large live suckers on the bottom out there you’re as likely as not to hook into 10-20# channels as you are flatheads. *shrugs* I’m still desperately trying to break the 10# mark.

I like using live suckers sometimes in the hopes a bigger channel will bite.

My problem yesterday is that I like to hook the suckers through the snout. I feel they’ll kick longer that way, as opposed to hooking them in the back. I believe that because hooked in the back, they will wear themselves out in the current trying to keep themselves upright.

The channels like to pick them up and ‘suck’ on them. I let the second one run with the sucker longer than the first, for about 20 seconds. Then I grew nervous that he’d drop it, so I tried getting the circle hook in him. Nothing.

Reeled in the sucker to find its eyes bulging out like something had squeezed him. The cat basically clamped down behind the head where my hook was. No tooth marks, just a little sandpapering, so it wasn’t a pike or walleye (got a little one there too). I suppose it also possible it was a bigger sheephead, but I doubt it.

I’m working on a sucker rig for catfishing so you can get the longevity a snout-hooked sucker and yet be able to hook up on them when they just want to suck on the bait. I’ll show it to you when I’ve got it perfected (I’m still working out a bunch of kinks…)

I have yet to see a flathead up here in Anoka. A lot of river here to say there can’t be though. Has to be a few.

I guess I won’t rule anything out in the river. When I went to school in St. Cloud I saw an iguana swimming in the water near shore. Obviously someone’s pet gone awry, but still, go river!

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I guess I won’t rule anything out in the river. When I went to school in St. Cloud I saw an iguana swimming in the water near shore. Obviously someone’s pet gone awry, but still, go river!

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Could have been a musky guys bait that got off too. Those musky guys like expensive bait.

w00t! w00t! I broke my cat-less streak this morning around 6 AM in 4 FOW on the downstream side of a submerged sandbar. It’s a real hit-or-miss area, but this morning the cats in there ate a whole tub of chicken liver in less than 90 minutes!

The one I pulled in was 3.24# but the action was near constant and I just couldn’t keep bait on the line. I really was wishing I had some frozen sucker fillets to use.

Anyway, thanks for the advices guys… I’m just happy to have broken the losing streak.

It’s a start for sure

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but this morning the cats in there ate a whole tub of chicken liver in less than 90 minutes!

I just couldn’t keep bait on the line.

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Have you ever tried wrapping your livers in a piece of nylon (the kind females put on the legs )?
There are a couple of different methods, but if they were biting on livers ,it doesn’t seem to slow anything down…

I have tried “prepared” livers before ,they stay on the hook real well,but the results were a bit disappointing.

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It’s a start for sure

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I just couldn’t keep bait on the line.

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Have you ever tried wrapping your livers in a piece of nylon (the kind females put on the legs )?

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Oops, maybe you misunderstood me. I meant that they were hitting so fast that I’d throw the line out and within 5 minutes I’d be cleaned off again. That’s the one major drawback to using liver… they can pretty much suck it off the hook without ever getting close to the barb.

I’m working on that one… I’ll let you know when I patent my catfish rig.

As for nylons… yeah, we’ve tried those as well as onion bag mesh and a few other things. They all seemed to obstruct hooksets pretty badly. That’s what I like about these #4/0 hooks from Gamkatsu. I’m using about 2′ of 80# test powerpro for a leader and the hook is so light that they seem to be able to suck the hook in with the liver really easily.

Can’t wait to get back out tonight!

Nice Work Jared!!! Its gonna be my turn in the next few days!!

Might want to try something a little more easily kept on the hook and is less expensive than chicken liver.

Recommended by Everts Pro Staff cat guy, Clive.