nice channels. I need to try and find some of those around here.

I plan on being out the next 3 nights. planning a mushroom hunt too though so it might end up just being 2 nights. I will be on the Mississippi but I might have to rethink my spots the way the river is dropping.

oh yeah. it didn’t move and immediately took a few yards of line. my issue was it was my third pole and I threw it out toward the end of the night because I had bait to use. I had just thrown that pole in my boat the day before and never changed or stripped any line from last year. the fish ran up current and through some brush which came flying out of the water from the tight line. it then turned around and I fought it all the way around the back of my boat and around to the other side. I was alone so I had to hold the rod and land the fish which caused the line to be dragged across the side of my boat. on top of that I’m pulling the thing against the current and its got its mouth wide open. so I’m just happy I managed to get it in the boat.

ha ha ok. Mississippi pool 8. live bluegill, tiny now that I think about it. I was fishing in about 5ft of water along the beginning of an island. I think there may have been a small cut next to the bank with lots of cover. not too much current since the channel cuts to the other side of the island. I caught a handful of fish over 30lbs in the same area last year. Also the fishing gods were on my side because there are many reasons I should have lost that fish. also also I’m glad you can’t see behind me because it would be a dead giveaway of my honey hole which I’ve been fishing for 3 years and have never seen a single person fishing in.

My goal this year was to catch my first 50 pounder. first fish of the year 47in x 30in and according to the chart 52lbs. I tried to weigh it but the scale wouldn’t stop moving between 49 and 52 which is weird because I thought my scale was a 50lb scale. anyway I’m going to happily put myself in the 50lb club with my new personal best.

I’ve heard of some sightings in southern WI. I’m heading out in a couple hours. I’ll report back if I find anything. I’m guessing another week or two.

nice, finally. I put in about 14 miles of hiking this weekend checking out some spots. can’t wait to pick some shrooms.

most of the water is open. you might be able to find some ice in the back channels. not sure if the floats are open yet either. week and a half ago I know some people were slaying the perch through the ice. not sure if its still froze over but its a side channel of the black river called catgut.

I was trying for flathead last night too. Caught a 10lb channel on a live bluegill. Big bluegill too, not really sure how the channel managed to fit it in his mouth. Had another gill that looked like a smaller fish was trying its hardest to fit it in its mouth.

I’ve been having trouble finding the flatheads. 2 weeks ago it was catch 2 or 3 before 9 and head home by 10. Now it’s sit out until midnight and have a couple of runs that are most likely gar and no flatheads.

1. 35 lb
2. the boy getting to see his first big cat
3. 39 lb
4. 43 lb pic1
5. 43 lb pic2
6. mean [censored] 27 pounder I caught tonight. this thing fought as much as the 43 pounder.

just some fishing I’ve caught in the past month or 2 that I’ve been meaning to post.

Nice. I plan on spending the day in the woods tomorrow. hopefully I’ll find some.

Nice fish. I guess I know they’re biting in my area now.

Those things just keep getting bigger and bigger. I just wish someone would pull up a 120lb flathead.

I’m going to try this out this year. Looking at the big fish from last year is pretty intimidating though. all in good fun I guess.

just going to take some notes here

I’ve thought about fishing the end of the west channel before but never gave it a shot. I usually target flatheads though. I do plan on trying to hit some of the rip rap this year though.

I had 2 40+ in the boat this last year. I know a guy who caught a 72 (according to the conversion chart) a couple years ago, it topped out his 50 scale. one of his buddies caught a 65 last year but I haven’t seen the pictures. this year i’m going to catch a 60+

last year I had a line out of the side of the boat. I was busy messing around with my phone when I heard the pole slide along the side of the boat. by the time I looked up it had pulled over one bench seat and the reel hooked on the next seat. good thing it caught, it was my first decent fish of the year.

Yeah anything is better than what I had. I used one of the $15 cheapos and picked up a princeton tec lower end(as in $40) one for the lady. that thing was ten times brighter than mine was. figured I couldn’t let that happen. I just wanted a bright spotlight, drives me nuts when someone has to hold the flashlight for me when I’m bringing a fish in. point the light over there, no over there, no over theeeere.

I actually just received a headlamp I ordered from gander. I got the princeton tec apex extreme. it had pretty good reviews and I had a gift card to use up. the only thing that bothers me is most places it says its 160 lumen but on the website and packaging it says 200. the spots on the box saying 200 lumen are also stickers. not sure whats up with that.

http://www.princetontec.com/index.php?q=apex-extreme

well we had some issues going on and I decided that the first year catfisher lady didn’t need a brand new custom rod nicer than anything I own. but I have this saved so when I decide that I need a custom rod I know where to look.

I already feel like I bit off more than I can chew.

I’m happy with the way my year ended. started off terrible but ended up catching more and bigger fish than I had in previous years. got to catch a big blue cat and ended up here. not so bad. hopefully winter will be over soon

for a small fee I would be happy to go to Florida and try to catch all those invasive flatheads. I don’t know why some people think they are so ugly, I think they look pretty damn cool.

Quote:

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From last night? Fox?

SWEET!

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yup. no, i’m on pool 8 of the mighty (weedy) mississippi

41 lbs. my largest flathead this year.

yeah just a little bit bigger than the largest flathead i’ve caught so i’m going to be hearing about it for a while. she did a really good job, didn’t have to help her once. just a little bit of coaching when the fish swam toward the boat and she thought she lost it.

my favorite spot is finally fishable again so hopefully i’ll get to catch a big one too

46.5 lbs for the little lady

36.5 lb

Quote:

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I’d also think of depth – I know this isn’t a typical year, but late August is usually a time to start getting the kitties down deep. I threw a line into 45′ of water last night and came up with a cat before we got another line out.

Take a good look at this map and figure out what it’s telling you:

Bathymetry Pool 10

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nice, thanks for that link. I’ve been looking for maps like that. I know where most the holes are on pool 8 but its nice to have something to look at.

barges scare the crap out of me but so do dams. I saw some people the other day pulling there kids on a tube in the middle of the main channel in heavy traffic that also included a barge. I don’t really have any spots that are too close to barge traffic.

we had one blast its horn at us to move when I was in Virginia because he felt we were to close to the channel. trying to pull in 10 poles and an anchor in a short period to avoid getting hit by a barge is no fun.