WOW! And I thought my 27″x15.5″ Channel was a good start to the season! I gotta work up a bit more cash to drop on an Abu 7000 C3 before I start seriously targeting Flats this year. My 6500’s drag just isn’t what it used to be

I’ll be on Sanibel in Lee County in the next few weeks (May 28th to June 4th). I’ll be running around the docks fishing for them there, but I’ll also have my big Penn 9/0 Senator for Goliath Grouper around the causeway and big sharks off the beach! I know I’ll be moving to FL once I finish college. It’s too much fun to pass up!

I agree with BK. I’m 21 and remember my driver’s ed classes and my behind the wheel training fairly well. I also recall this was near the time of the infamous Toyota issue with stuck accelerator pedals. I actually asked this question to our permit course teacher and my behind the wheel instructor. Neither of them had been asked what to do when an accelerator gets stuck. I know from having once owned a manual transmission car and now owning an automatic, that Neutral is the safest way to go about slowing the car down. You have full power brakes, full power steering, and your electrical system is on for emergency flashers and such. The emergency brake can work if needed, but don’t turn the car off. You become helplessly stuck trying to turn and/or use the brakes with no power assist.

Charlie try looking at Fleet Farm in Hudson or other stores for the Zebco Cat Fighter rod. I have the 9ft 2 piece MH one with an Offshore Angler Sea Lion 70 size spinning reel and 65lb power pro on it. I can toss a 5oz sinker and a bullhead about 70 yards when I have enough room to get a good swing and it fits in the trunk of my car. It was a $20 rod and I love it for shore fishing. the black and yellow color scheme makes it easy to see at night too.

Boca Grand and the Sanibel/Ft Myers area is my absolute favorite part of Florida! I always enjoy seeing the dolphins off the beach when I wade fish the Sanibel shore on family vacations, but the last time I thought “oh look a dolphin! it’s so close!” it turned out it was a Bull shark about 8ft long. Oh and after going about 20yds closer to shore…turned out it followed me. I went back to the condo and rigged my shark rod and reel up. No luck all night long though lol

mplspug wrote:

I caught my first flathead on a crawler. He may have only been 1/2 a pound, but he was my first.

Hey I did too! Caught my first Sturgeon AND first Flathead on a crawler in Stillwater almost a year apart from each other. Funny part was while both firsts were less than a pound, within a week of each fish I caught my personal best of them. PB Flathead was high 40 pound range, maybe 50. PB Sturgeon was 52 inches and melted the drag on my 5500 C3 reel.

Ironically last night at an undisclosed location, within 5 minutes of setting up I had a really big Flathead crush my big Bullhead. Next I tried cut bait, then I tried crawlers, no dice. Tried another Bullhead and it got crushed too. Both fish were lost under the boat due to the hook going into the Bullhead and not tearing out of them into the Flathead’s mouths.

I noticed this on my last trip with a friend on Pool 2. We couldn’t get Flatheads to take a lively Bullhead, we couldn’t even hardly get anything on the worms. Then at another spot by an island we noticed all the river shiners being schooled up (around 11pm). We saw there were a LOT of Walleye’s and other predators smashing them on the surface in less than 5 feet of water. But they wouldn’t take a small live bait set on a weightless rig right in the foray of their feeding frenzy. So odd…I have yet to catch a catfish this season hopefully that changes with tomorrow’s trip.

Gabe Kuettner wrote:

Ok guys so I’m looking at buying a newer car I’m really thinking a geo metro would be sweet to haul my ice shack and fuel economy any advice be great looking at the 1500 to 2750 range and needs to be 25 to 40 mpg

If you’re just looking to have something to haul a portable ice shack with, then honestly a vehicle with a 4 cylinder engine and room in the back would be best. An example would be a late 1990’s Subaru Outback, maybe a Mazda Potege’ 5 hatchback, Chevy Tracker, Suzuki Sidekick and other cars along that line.
Another thing to look at…as much as I hate to say it, would be a mini van. Yep, some get MPG just on the bottom of your range, and if you remove those seats you have room for a portable ice shack, auger, buckets, etc.

But since you already state you have a truck to haul ” ‘Ol Blue” (your boat I assume?) then why not just use that for hauling the ice shack and drive a high MPG Civic when hauling isn’t needed?

Just my $0.02 since I’m also looking into something like a 4 cylinder Ranger or S10 pickup soon

FishBlood&RiverMud wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>riverbank-rat wrote:</div>
Holy cats! (literally!) I gotta show my buddy who insists a 30-40 size spinning reel on a Medium action rod with 14lb mono is all that he needs for a 50lb Flat or even larger lol.

LOL. Just let him catch a 20# stugeon. That’ll burn out his reel.

In reality, it all depends on WHERE you are fishing them. Snagless areas, you can get away with a lot. Pulling a 50# fish out of timber you had better have a very solid rod and two thumbs on your spool!

Actually, the funny part is he DID catch a 20 pound Sturgeon on that exact setup! We were fishing in mid June in Stillwater off the shore and he fought the fish for over 40 minutes (we were checking the time when he got the bite at 1:04am or something like that and landed it at around 1:50am). His drag is melted and the gear is missing 3 teeth now lol. I have an Offshore Angler Sea Lion 70 size reel with 65lb PP that he uses now.

There’s a bait store off of the intersection of 39 and 25 in Monticello that is closing and has tons of sale and special prices on stuff. They have at least one or two 20ft aisles strictly with ice fishing gear. My best bet would be there since EVERYTHING has to go by August 29th when they shut down.

Holy cats! (literally!) I gotta show my buddy who insists a 30-40 size spinning reel on a Medium action rod with 14lb mono is all that he needs for a 50lb Flat or even larger lol.

I literally just turned off the car and came in from a shore fishing trip in Stillwater. There wasn’t hardly any fish biting for some odd reason. We tried everything from crawlers to live and cut sucker to live and cut mooneye and sheepshead. Only fish was my buddies first sturgeon. It hit the rod in shallower water (took just moments to hit bottom after casting). 45″ length with a 16″ girth and a DNR tag in her to boot! He landed it on 14lb test mono and a 30 size spinning outfit too. Took him 35 minutes to land it lol.

From what I hear shad tend to stay in cover areas (weeds or deeper water) until they get to mature sizes. I know I’ve never seen pods of shad on the St.Croix with a depth finder until late summer. It wouldn’t surprise me if the same holds true for Illinois.

I am not against the Shimano reels at all, but I grew up with an Abu Garcia 6500 C3 in my hand since I was 7 or 8. I’ve had the same reels since then and none have let me down even after putting them to the abuse of taking them saltwater surf fishing multiple times. At just over $110 you can’t beat that for a low cost yet durable and reliable reel. I fill mine with 65lb Power Pro, but this year I’m giving the Cabela’s Ripcord line a try with a slightly thinner diameter than same strength PP line.

You can’t beat Berkley Flicker Shad’s or the tried and true Rapala Shad Rap in size 7 or size 9 depending on the size fish your going for. Oh and the standard 15′ diving Rapala Tail Dancer is a good choice too. Just have a pair of needle nose pliers to tune every lure when it comes out of the box.

I’m not against the higher cost Yo-Zuri baits or Sebile baits, or even the Live Target baits, but good lord some of them can get spendy, if I want to risk losing a lure costing more than $10 then it better be a Musky plug.

Yee-Haw!!! Thank you so much Steve for helping make this happen! I just got back from a week long trip to Sanibel Florida to do a week of fishing and I got to use my 2 cast nets down there. I have spent plenty of time practicing in the yard and have gotten fairly good at throwing. But my nets are 10 and 12 foot diameter nets, so I guess it’s time for net #3 in a 7 foot diameter size.

Here’s a tip, if you think the smaller mesh size legal in MN now is making the sink rate a little slow, try to find a net with weights closer together and of a little bigger size to compensate for it.

“Oh you’re just killing for one piece of him…rest in peace.” Lol! I knew she was going to say that by the time I heard it was her first time ever fishing for catfish!

But seriously way to go BK! Another first timer shown the amazing ways of our favorite fish!

+3

You can’t beat a good chunk fresh cut bait or a lively wriggling bullhead or other bait fish. Just remember that Flatheads are apex predators. Yes they eat cut bait, the two I got in a week last year were both on cut bait, but a live bullhead or any other bait fish will likely out perform the cut bait unless it’s that “magic time of year” when there is a cut bait Flathead bite bonanza. I’ll be working a lot this summer but will try to make it down to the St.Croix as much as I can during weekends and days off. Oh and always watch what’s being caught by anglers in their reports and when you’re fishing, the most common fish is likely the predominant prey for Flatheads at that time for the area. It can be sheepshead, mooneye, sunfish, redhorse, bullheads, etc.

email sent! From myself, my dad, my uncles and cousins and grandpa, and of course my MANY fishing buddies! We’re always looking for a way to catch bigger fish!

As far as clickers and baitfeeders go, I use the clicker on my Abu Garcia 6500C3 no matter if I have a circle hook or not. I usually fish where there’s rocks or where I have to leave my rod leaning against a rail of a bridge walk way or for example the Lowell Park wall against the St.Croix. I leave the clicker on and have the spool tension just tight enough to hold the bait in place when I push the spool release button. When a big catfish grabs my bait it will run the clicker a few times in the case of smaller fish, but my big 50lb Flathead grabbed the bait and took off like he had a shark chasing him! Without that bait clicker I’d never have had the opportunity to get my rod, he almost spooled me by the time I engaged the reel.

I’ll be fishing sharks off the beach of Sanibel Florida in a month, and have the Abu on my Flathead rod and a Penn 9/0 Senator for larger sharks on a boat rod. Both will have clickers ready to roll, because I tend to fall asleep on the beach after a few chilled GBP’s and the sound of the surf going all night!

I personally prefer to use Sonny’s or Secret 7. Though I tend to only use them when I fish the Crow River, for some reason it works VERY well out there compared to any other body of water I have fished. It might have something to do with the small bridge on a dirt road with very little traffic near French Lake that I usually go to. I use just enough weight to keep it down but let the weight and worm ride off the bottom a bit with the current. If the tube and hook are on the bottom I tend to get far fewer bites, but the fish are bigger in most cases with a bottom set hook. I also use ribbed worms with holes in the side, this allows the ribs to catch and hold more bait on the outside while the holes hold onto enough that the fish can find it after the rib held bait is washed off. Just my $0.02

Just my $0.02 from my “St.Croix Fishing Map” from Fleet Farm, I would give the Kinnickinnic Narrows a try. My top lures this time of year include the Musky Innovations Invader in Walleye or Reflex Blaze colors, and the ERC Hellhound glide bait in Black Sucker or Walleye colors. Looks like Walleyes are indeed good for something…bait!

1: RiverPro Jet Boat with a GPS enabled depthfinder
2: Ford Ranger 4×4 with a 5 speed (gotta tow the RiverPro!)
3: The depthfinder to have all of BK’s spots pre-loaded!!!

I personally am a Benelli guy. I grew up with a youth sized Nova 20 gauge that I handed down to my 10 year old brother when he was 8 and I got a 12 gauge Nova for my 18th birthday. I still use the 20 for grouse hunting up by Walker. My stepdad has a Nova 12 as well for Turkey and Geese because it holds 3.5″ shells. These are the most reliable pump guns I have ever used.

On the note of semi-auto. My favorite is the Montefeltro by Benelli. Its super lightweight, has a 3″ chamber, and my stepdad’s Monte’ was a gift from my grandpa in 1983 the year they were produced. He hasn’t ever torn it down to clean it, he just used a little compressed air with RemOil and sometimes will run a bore snake through the barrel. That gun has never failed him. They are pricey, but they are worth it. The Vinci and SBE series are very well built guns as well. The Inertia driven system is incredible and super reliable in the worst conditions.

Where I work we are required to wear florescent yellow safety vests with 1″ wide reflective tape. I have two and plan on wearing one if I get out with anyone on a boat this season. The rest of my “safety” equipment is:
– Blaze orange hooded sweatshirt normally used to hunt deer
– Florescent yellow cut-off shirt when its warm out
– Headlamp
– LED handheld flashlight with strobe setting
– Hi-Vis fishing line, the LED light on this helps when boats cruising close to shore need to know where your line is while you fish from the bank.

Maybe someone on here would be willing to try using a bullhorn if needed, or is that type of thing not legally allowed on a boat?

I don’t know if it is the rocks or if it is the abundance of fish in the area in general. I have tried just about every shore accessible spot from Hudson up to just north of Stillwater and only right around town there have I heard and seen so many fish. I have seen sturgeon jumping, watched a few bass bust minnows on the shoreline, obviously there is a good number of catfish in the area, at least one crappie is pulled each evening, and by the WI side rocks there is a school of little baby minnows so large that it looks like a bug hatch waiting to happen. I scooped a few with my minnow net and the larger ones appear to look like shad, I wonder if they are shad fry and if this has jump started the bite? Either way I am grounded from fishing until my car is fixed, a broken sway bar and transmission problems are making a fishing trip more of an adventure to see how far I go before a catastrophic failure happens.

Pug,

Congrats on the move! Florida is AWESOME fishing! I normally get down each year for a week during the middle of October or the first part of June for a family vacation along the Gulf coast. Our usual spot is Sanibel Island near Fort Myers. My experience with surf fishing is this. DO NOT HESITATE! lol

The worst thing you would have to worry about is if you do any night fishing and that isn’t too common unless, like me, you target sharks. (yes I admit I am that crazy) The Spanish Mackerel, Ladyfish, Snook and Jack Crevalle will keep any surf fishermen busy most days. Bright colored and shiny lures or a basic slip-sinker rig with shrimp or bait fish will work for ya. Common bait fish around there are numerous, and can be caught with cast nets from shore at early morning or late evening as the sun is on the horizon. Also, most of the fish you can legally keep are allowed as bait, though saltwater game fish may count against your daily limit. Similar to catfishing I suppose.

My recommended tackle is no lighter than a MH spinning outfit with at least 20-30lb MONO line. Braid will get torn to shreds on the sand, shells and rocks. Also clear mono is a good idea as bright colors attract Spanish Mackerel which will bite off the line quite often. Circle hooks from 1/0 and up are all I use depending on the size of fish I am after. I have plans to order some 18/0 and 20/0 circle hooks for shark fishing in the near future.

If you are after Cobia, yes a pier is a good spot to start. They are not the most commonly caught fish in that kind of spot, but there is occasional windows of time where certain locations can have a hot bite, so do some internet searching. One thing to do is check the local Craigslist posts for fishing gear. Used gear is not uncommon and usually kept in decent shape, but check it as salt and sand are a NIGHTMARE on reels, I just tore apart and rebuilt my Penn Senator 9/0 and three days with liberal fresh water rinsing had it still full of salt and sand. A Penn Senator 4/0 or 6/0 would be ideal to go after the Cobia, as would a large spinning outfit, they are powerful fish and an Abu Garcia 6500 C3 is considered tiny for the ocean.

I can try to upload some pictures of my catches off the beaches of Sanibel, but my last trip there didn’t result in many sharks, mostly Jacks, Ladyfish and Mackerel. Oh and if you get a chance, hit up local bait shops, they will give you the advice for the area and most only carry what has been proven to work very well for their immediate area. On Sanibel, my choice is Whitney’s Bait and Tackle.

Have a good time down there, maybe I will try to head down and escape the hard water this winter if I get the chance!

Thank you everyone. Especially Steve DeMars. After that night fishing with you I realized I learned a lot more than most do on a casual fishing trip. I applied what you taught me and it has all paid off. And, of course, I have my lucky Fish Naked shirt! Thank you for that day of fishing and teaching me the key things I was missing. And thanks to the rest of the IDO and St.Croix fishermen who I have spoken with online and in person. I think I’m about ready to catch another one!

Here is the best part of this guys. A few days before this I had a run on my biggest setup, using a 10/0 Team Catfish Super Circle and a 130lb Spro swivel. I used 65lb line as well and had a doubled up Palomar knot on every connection. This particular Flathead made my landed one look like a Bullhead. I had about 30 minutes or so into fighting this thing and keeping it from running under the bridge when I finally saw a tail. 10 minutes later me and everyone around me saw the biggest Flathead I have ever laid eyes on. I pulled it along to the rocks on the WI side of the Stillwater bridge and got her chin on a rock (her head was wider than the rock). Then my buddy got his video camera going and the fish decided to go once more, jumping up caused it to then bend my rod to the point my cork grip is now loose, and then I heard the line stretch before snapping like a firework. There is a state record out there guys…and I am spooling up with 80lb braid right now.

Ill make the picture bigger if I can figure it out tomorrow. I’m not used to this new layout yet…