any reports from franklin to appleton

any reports on how the fishing has been from franklin to appleton area? im sure the water is real low, mostly looking for cattin news.

Hey Nightfisher,
Welcome to the IDA MN river forum.

You are right about the water levels being really low. I know that a number of guys are having a difficult time getting around to their usual spots by boat. I recently had a tough round up between shakopee and Jordan.

Reports have been mixed on the cats. Some guys have been having to work really hard to find fish with the lower water levels. I’ve been doing pretty good lately in the section between Jordan and the MIss confluence.

The usual baits, Bullies, suckers, chubs. Just tried some shad recently and was getting a lot of bumps.
If your hunting for cats. Don’t be afraid to go shallow after dark. Otherwise typical structure, Holes with snags. If you can find a flow into the river they can be good spots.

I hope we get some good rain here. Looks like you might be seeing rain in your neck of the woods as I type, That should perk things up a bit.
Good luck,

Keep us posted on how you do if you are able to get out.

thanks larry, my river here were i live was 10 feet deep, it is down to a trickle, so i hope this rain does some good. i haven’t been down to the minnesota since derby days in franklin. here is a recipe for getting them channels none stop it least were i fish on the minnesota, my biggest on this is 20 1/2 pound channel. take one box of strawberry jello add just enough water to desolve contents about (3/4 cup). i use smelt but im sure that any bait would work, pour contents over bait let set for a day in the fridge. now your ready for some channels. thanks for the welcome and hope to see you on the water one day.

Quote:

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my biggest on this is 20 1/2 pound channel.

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Hey Nightfisher,
Thanks for sharing.
20.5 lb. CHANNEL!!!!! What a HOG!!

Don’t be bashful to show a pic of that one if you were able to capture one at the time. (I love pics and vid. as you find out if you havent already)

well here it is .

NIce fish nightfisher!

Two words: Mon ster.

when i caught the fish we threw everything we had at it,cut sucker,live chubs,dead chubs,plain smelt,worms,but they took the strawberry smelt as quick as it hit the water.

Sweet Pic/fish Mate!!!!!
As they say Pics speak louder than any fishermans words. Not that I did’nt believe you before. I can say I’ve never seen any channel that big in the MN………… till now.
Bet that was a battle.
thanks for sharing.

That is one heck of a fish

i think that is why you don’t hear much about the franklin area. i have caught others that size, and a few bigger when i lived down that way, it’s a place that people like to keep quit about. there are some real nice flatheads around there to. i beleive that at the derby 1st place was 51lbs i know it was 50 something.

I just looked up Franklyn on Google maps and you don’t have to worry about me invading those waters! Bit too much of a road trip for me!

MPLSPUG did you type in the right spelling, franklin, mn.it’s not to far from new ulm mn.

Don’t listen to what Pug says, he can’t even read.

WOW nice fish It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a channel that big. I got one that was 19lbs in the Carver area about 5 years ago. I would love to post a pic of it, but it’s on 35mm film and I don’t have a scanner.

What a pig Congrats
Any idea how long it was?

the length i did not get i didn’t have my tape with.

Nice FISH nightfisher! I may have missed it in an earlier post…was that caught this year?

yes sir i beleive fathers day weekend, or the weekend after. on strawberry smelt.

Sending the FW out for jello now…I hav the smelt…but I’m thinking Moores shad might work too.

I had the opportunity to try Nitefishers Recipe friday night.
Rasperry with cut sucker. I pulled in a 31 inch channel that wieghed 11.13lbs.
As I reeled in to check bait. This hog was sucking the jello.
I know I sent you PM thanking you for the tip.
But Thanks again Mate. That was the big one for the weekend.

I can’t keep up with all this bait for cats!

First cut fatheads in the spring, cut sucker, bullheads, shad, and now I have to go to Moore’s Bait and pick a good flavor of jello?

Here is my plan…Fish shaped jello with a shad in the middle, put it in the fridge overnight. (Remember to wake up before the kids get to the fridge).

No weight, just a couple of swivels. “The weight of the jello and swivels puts your bait right in the strike zone.”

Jello of choice will be green (looks like a bass).

See you out there.

all you need is enough water to disolve the jello, about a 1/2 cup and then pour over the bait, i use smelt im sure other bait would work, and marinate over nite.

I’ve heard of using jello as part of a carp bait with cornmeal and flour, but not for stank bait.

In fact on TPT 17 in the Twin Cities this weekend, the Inner City Fishing show showed how to make it!

i missed that show, but have used that to catch carp also but caught more cats than carp, so i tried it on my cat bait (smelt) and my size of cats increased also. we still catch some smaller ones, but caught more bigger than smaller.

I can just see Bill Cosby promoting this stuff!!!

Maybe he could do a cross promotion with Kodak?