Minnesota state record channel cat fish

So I read a article on this site that is old now But was interesting to me because I fish that same stretch of the Mississippi river, there was some doubt about this fish, last week I ran into a guy fishing for walleyes on the river that knew Terry fussy and we talked about “the fish” he told me about a book that had information about it so I found and bought the book on the internet (Classic Minnesota Fishing Stories copyright 1982) and has in Terry fussy’s own words the story off how he caught the fish. it says that he had Joe Hennessy from the Minneapolis star newspaper come out and they did a write up about it and that he (terry fussy) was learning Taxidermy and Mounted the catfish and has it in his Basement. so there has to be pictures of this fish. I could not find the article in the now star and tribune papers archives (of course they want money) but will continue to look and I will continue to try to beat that record. he caught that fish in February, the river is open, maybe I’ll take the boat out today.
P.S.
I tried to reply to the article on this site but could not.

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Good to see someone else fishes that stretch other than myself.

I’ve been chasing after big channels in there for years. Biggest was probably around 10-12#. Have caught bigger consistently above the coon rapids dam, but quantity keeps it interesting in that pool.

Not sure if I fished for channels once this year, sad. Been after the smallies and wallies. Caught my biggest eye from that pool this early fall.

I like that spot but at night

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It’s great at night, same here as far as size had one channel just over 10lb but I was looking for flathead all summer with live bait, decoy suckers, next year going to try cut bait. and yes a lot of small mouth, some walleye’s but I got that Damn cat fish bug! I do better below the lock and dam from shore, use to go through the locks and that was great til they closed em. I got a 18lb flathead under the 10 ave bridge back then. thought about coming up river from hidden falls but they close the ford lock at 8 pm and that just blows, I don’t need to be told when to get off the river so now it’s boom Island to just north of camden in the boat. well maybe I’ll see you on the river. thanks for the reply.

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Paul,

Welcome to IDO!

I believe most all of us here appreciate any fishing related discussion.

And your post here is an interesting story.

As it so happens, I too have a copy of that book…”Classic Minnesota Fishing Stories”-Joe Fellegy is the author. The book is a treasure for me as part of my collection of somewhat rare vintage books. Some truly great history, nostalgia and stories of fishing legends as well as “characters”.

I looked up and read the chapter you referenced, “Terry Fussy’s Record Channel Cat”. I looked up also…that’s still listed as the MN state record.

If you’re looking to break that record, maybe use corn for bait in February.

I’ve known Terry for almost 45 yrs. I’ve seen the head mount of the fish many years ago. If I remember the story correctly, he caught it on a single kernel of corn while goofing around carp fishing with friends. Pretty amazing that no one has broken his record all these years!

Haa you got it Andy I’ll try corn or anything and yes that’s a cool book. I think I’m going to spend the money and see if I can find that old newspaper story. thanks for the reply

Bait needs to get closer to that train bridge. Most that debris on the surface doesn’t go down thru for cover. There are snags at the bottom which they hide in.

Depending on current levels the inside or outside is good of the abutment. They hang on the channel edge right there.

There are flatheads there. I’d catch a sheepie and throw that out there.

Smoker, so it was just the head mount? how did it look? that fish and the story just stays in my head. thanks

Mr.beads great info, this is great to talk to people that know the river, love this stuff. so your talking closer to the bridge and more in the heavy current?

Yep, head mount that looked like a very inexperienced 18 yr old kid did it. Big and ugly!

Paul wrote:

Mr.beads great info, this is great to talk to people that know the river, love this stuff. so your talking closer to the bridge and more in the heavy current?

Yes and yes. Right where the current break is which is typically somewhere on that structure.

That’s true of other areas in that stretch as well.

Smoker, wow I wonder if its still around, yeah one of the guys I was talking to last week at the river said his brother knew fussy. Mr bead, yes there is a lot of good looking spots on that stretch of river, one of my favorites is that big snag just north of lowry bridge on the west side. any of you guys notice that weird spot next to the north Island next to NSP, its in the middle of the main river channel, I spent a good hour floating over that thing this last summer, years before I thought it was a discharge pipe from NSP because my depth finder (flasher then) would break up, now with this depth finder I see it gets deep in front and to the east and shallow to the south and west, there’s a spot that my depth finder says it like 2ft but when I try to touch bottom with a ore it’s deep? I now think its big boulders or a sunken Island or something natural, really gets boiling, hard to stay on it, it will push you around very strange place, kind of spooky. but if it is that shallow someones going to lose a lower unit, people fly across it wide open all the time

I never thought this would happen. https://www.in-fisherman.com/editorial/south-dakotas-staterecord-channel-catfish-reconsidered/368689

Paul wrote:

, its in the middle of the main river channel,

Yup that spot still makes me chuckle everytime I pass it. Very odd it stays there.

It’s the channel abruptly getting shallower and that force of water moving up gives the surface that appearance, and why one can almost sit there boat right in the middle there indefinitely. Have scanned it thoroughly, haven’t seen a pipe. That would certainly make sense tho and that was a thought of mine until I got DI and SI. Haven’t scanned it for years tho.

Biggest channel cat I’ve seen come out that stretch was on the east side of coon rapids dam. Family and me were coming back from a walk there and during the day this guy had a sumo cat on above the fenced area. He clearly didn’t know what to do, and no way he was hauling it up vertically against the cement pad if I’m around. Hopped the fence and made my way down to get his catch. Beast, was easily over anything I’ve ever caught in that section. He did want to let it go do back down i went to release er. Fun to see

Very cool, when I was a kid with my dad down at blow-horn I seen a guy snag the biggest channel I ever seen had to be 25 plus, big female in the spring I’m guessing, he pulls up, grabs a big rod and treble hook and starts ripping the bottom, its all sand there, he pulls this big channel up and throws it in his trunk and takes off, I think he had did this before, of course I wanted to do the same and my Dad said ” Don’t even think about it, that’s Illegal” so I never did.

Iowa josh, Yeah I seen that someplace, that anal fin does look like a blue but same old argument “blues that far north?” but hybrid channel-blue catfish maybe? Damn big fish anyway

I would really love to see MN add Channel Catfish to the Catch and Release records. The reason it hasn’t been broke is because a MN 30lb channel cat is a needle in a haystack. It shows up every now and then, but SUPER rare. A 35lb channel cat is a powerball number, and a 40lb is a rainbow unicorn. Never say never, but that 38lb record might hold forever.

Thousands of big channel cats have been documented through this contest in the past 15 years and 40×23 (est 28lbs) has been the biggest MN channel cat ever entered.

Records

I don’t feel so bad about a 38″ being my longest. But i agree, we’ll likely never break the record. Not from the Mississippi for sure, the Red, it is Unicorn unlikely but I want to have hope.

Great information, never give up!
is that girth x girth x length / 800 ?

I’ve caught quite a few Channel Cats ice fishing the St. Croix at Bayport that were between 32-34 inches in length. I also by chance caught a huge one that from the Peltier Dam runoff one late July on a 1 oz Cast Champ spoon while messing around for Pikes and Dogfish. That momma actually made the flathead that I’ve caught in 38″ length from the St. Croix at Taylors Falls seemed skinny for comparison. I had never caught a catfish from the Peliter Dam ever before. I did not have a tape measurer on me at that time.

Bob, you talking Peltier Dam off 35? Ive been there long ago, too bad you don’t have a pic, yeah channel’s will hit a lure, Ive caught a few in fast water on a mepps spinner

Paul wrote:

Bob, you talking Peltier Dam off 35? Ive been there long ago, too bad you don’t have a pic, yeah channel’s will hit a lure, Ive caught a few in fast water on a mepps spinner

Yeap at Centerville. Thought I snagged a sunken log at first and then it started to swim against current.