FYI carp are illegal to use as bait in MN. If you are going to use them anyways please only take small ones and let those trophies go, just a thought.

let’s try this

Hey bowfinhunter! It’s been a while. Got any good fishing stories lately? Me and my bro have been fishing the Miss. above coon rapids dam. caught the first carp of the year (biggest only about 6 lbs.) and some midget channel cats. Nothing big to report so far but we haven’t been to the flathead hole yet.

By the way, does anyone know why my pic isn’t showing? Or how I can get it to work???

wow way to go!

nice to see a NBA fan here besides me. Are the Cohos an expansion team?

wow, nice going.

Try those side channels off the main river, anywhere that has deep water, cover and some slow current. The cats are out there, if you get in a good spot like I described, you’ll get action on cut bait or minnows. Also try early morning before sunrise. This is the most overlooked time to catch cats, they seem to be more active at this time than any other time, even after dark. Good luck, you’ll find some cats sooner than you think, think positive man!

Hey, I don’t know where you got those facts River Eyes, but they are a few years out-dated. The current wr for flathead is 123 pounds (from Kansas), and I believe the blue cat record fell last year (116 maybe?). But… there are stories from the civil war times that told of 200 pound blue cats, and a report of a 350 pounder. Who knows what the biggest one ever was. The common carp record is always changing, I think it’s 85 or 86 now. Once again there’s a story of a giant, one was caught by Great Lakes commercial fishermen many years ago that supposedly weighed 125 lbs.

As for sturgeon, there’s a lot of debate, there is a picture in a freshwater fishing book at Gander Mt. that shows a 30 foot white weighing over a ton. It is truly massive. I’m not sure what the biggest ever caught is, but I know 1,000 pound fish were common a hundred years ago. The lake sturgeon record was 350 lbs. but for some reason it got disqualified. There’s no doubt that there are 200 pounders in the St. Croix and Rainy Rivers, maybe the Miss. too.(Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong on any of this by the way).

If you look back through the history of MN fishing records you will find many records were disqualified, even the largemouth bass (used to be over 14 pounds I think). I don’t know why they were thrown out. Yeah, those alligator gar are something, I’d like to fish for them some day.

Giani, I’m ashamed I forgot about listing carp as a strong fighter. Those things got speed and huge endurance, I don’t know how they compare to salmon but they’re up there. By the way, they are edible even though I don’t like to discuss it. Go to any Metro area dam sometime and you’ll see many buckets full of carp.. tried them once smoked and fried and they aren’t bad. It’s all in the prep. Cats are better though. I like catching anything big and fiesty.

Hey River Eyes, I just read your last reply, it’s cool that you have fished for all species, unlike 99% of the walleye snobs. I misjudged you, based on your first posts. I just wanted to respond to your comment about the king of the food chain, I think flatheads definitely are the top, they have the biggest mouths and the biggest capacity (look at their huge guts). They can eat 1/3 their own weight, I don’t know any other fish that can do that. Take a fairly common 30 pound flat snd do the math.

Sheepshead are under appreciated, they eat zebra mussels and actually make the water cleaner. Put up a heck of a fight too.

“Ive never had a paper bag break my line…. but big walleyes have on a number of occasions…. perhaps youve not caught any of the larger river specimens?”

that must have been some walleye, were you using sewing thread? How do you know it was a walleye? And yes I have caught “big” walleyes, I caught an 8 pounder a few years back. It fought like a paper bag, I just pulled it up to the boat and it came in without a fight. Kind of anti-climactic don’t you think? Not only that but the thing tasted like sh*t.

My friend has caught walleyes while catfishing on the bottom w/crawlers, funny on both occasions we didn’t get a single cat. One day last year little walleyes were biting so fast they became a nuisance (when aren’t they though). I’m not saying walleyes are always easy, but that has been my experience.

Flatheads are the second biggest fish in the northern states and you don’t have to worry about whether they’re in season. They fight harder pound for pound than any fish except maybe sturgeon, they may not be as difficult to catch as some species but that isn’t a bad thing!

Anyways, whatever floats your boat. I just don’t see why someone would brag about walleyes in the cat forum, you don’t see any of us bragging about cats in the walleye forum…

Haha that’s the funniest thing I’ve read here. Walleyes over flatheads? Are you kidding me? Walleyes fight like a paper bag. By the way hi bowfinhunter, haven’t seen you in a while.

Nice fish. I imagine catching a big flathead while walleye fishing would make your pursuit of walleye seem kind of pointless.

sounds like a good spot. Try fishing near the brush in the day and away from it at dark like Dirk said. Try fishing in deep water or in the current and move around if you don’t get bites.

This new law is a wonderful victory for all who cherish basic American freedoms. I was so excited when I first heard the news, it’s hard to believe so many oppose it. Hopefully this is the first of many steps in diminishing the all-powerful DNR’s long tradition of abuse of power and mis-management of the state’s fisheries. People shouldn’t have to worry about getting stopped by the big bad ranger and having their property inspected when they go fishing, it’s outrageous. How many times have you been checked and asked about what you caught, etc. and felt like saying “none of your damn business.” All law-abiding sportsmen should be entited to peace and privacy. Law breakers will always be out there, regardless of the strictness of the laws. And the serious offenders will still be pursued, nothing is going to change that. It’s time to wake up.

those are some interesting explanations. I don’t think it was metal junk in the river, for one thing this place is a couple of miles from the nearest road. I never knew a knot could cut the line, that’s a good theory but I haven’t ever had this problem outside of that one spot. I will have to pay closer attention to my line and knots though. It could have been a gar, that was my first thought actually, I have seen some large gar in this spot during the day. An underwater camera will reveal all. The thing that is baffling is that this has happened in the same exact spot last year as well.

Well I’m just going off my experience when I say hook size isn’t important. Honestly I have had better luck with smaller hooks than large ones, yet I’ve been told the bigger the hook the better. ??? I caught my 40″ recently with a hook that most flathead fishermen would probably laugh at. I use bullheads too and they have worked fine for the most part with a hook through the tail setup. By the way last year my brother caught a 6 pound channel in Vermillion Slough on a bully so it does happen once in a while.

Hey. From my last cat trip I learned several valuable things. For hooks, “size matters not” as long as it’s fairly strong and sharp. Of course it has to be big enough to dig in a little. We used long rod holders sticking straight up and the fish would actually hook themselves (with bail closed) when they swam away with the bait. If you have a good rod holder, try that because the rod will act like a catapult. If you are trying to set the hook yourself, then I don’t know, maybe give the fish an extra few seconds before setting. Hope that helps.

We had trouble with beavers on our last outing. At night they kept slapping their tails on the water surface to signal danger in the area (and is that ever annoying). Do you think fish pick up on that and go somewhere else or stop feeding? I think it might affect fish activity because while the beaver was around we only got one fish in several hours. Once things got quiet we started getting more bites.

From my small amount of experience I would say side channels off the main river are excellent places for big flatheads. of course on the main river there will be some cats below dams and other structures but I think your best chances are finding a place where the fish are concentrated. In the summer, backwaters can get too stagnant so I think the majority of cats stay where there is:
-sufficient cover
-current
-deep water
-lots of baitfish
-little noise and other unnatural disturbances, let’s face it, why would a big fish stay out in the main river where there are speed boats, barges, and yachts going over you every minute when it can be somewhere with similar conditions and nobody bothering it?

Just a fun topic. Obviously nobody knows the answer, but what do you think? I think they are about equal but the Miss has a lot more water.

Yeah, he does. He uses the name catdadmn but hasn’t posted in a long time. He is one of the most knowledgable cat guys around, he has given me some really good advice for catching big flatheads..

I would like to see that. There are some monster fish out there. By the way, I’ve had smoked carp which isn’t bad at all.

How about that contest they had? Two 54s tied for first. One guy was attacked by a beaver and got his arm chewed up. Pretty wild. I think I prefer fishing.

Wow, a 21? That is a good sign. I was at the St. Croix on Sunday, didn’t catch anything. If you are going out this early, I would say finding a spot where the fish are active is the challenge. I was catching carp in a local creek a month ago, but I haven’t caught a cat yet.

how much did it weigh? and thanks for the tip h2o, I will have to check that area out, especially if you can catch those larger fish with some consistency. I am a big fan of big fish. Keep postin’ the pix everyone, inspiring to see those trophies. I went to the upper St. Croix today and didn’t get a single bite, then it started storming. Early season can be cruel.

Nice fish. I wouldn’t mind catching one that big (all of mine have been under 3 pounds). Sheepshead get up to 50 pounds and possibly larger, the Mn record is 35. They put up a huge fight too, they have been known to pull boats around.

A fish is a fish and I see little difference between a sheep (aka freshwater drum) and the all- mighty walleye everyone worships. They feed on the same things and bite the same lures, both have eyes, fins, scales, mouths, tails, etc. only sheeps tug a little harder when hooked. Some people say cats are ugly too but I don’t mind, I just like big fish, whatever species it is. I will admit though when I am fishing for cats or sturgeon it can be annoying when there are lots of small sheep that keep biting. By the way, anyone want to give up info on a spot to catch big sheep, buffalo or anything else you consider undesireable? I will be more than happy to catch some big sheepshead if nobody else wants em’

I would like to join, but pool 4 is over an hour drive from where I live and I don’t think I would be able to make it to all the meetings. Personally I don’t like the idea of having to go to a specific place for a 2 day event. Plus I don’t even know where that resort is. Sorry.

The same thing happened last year with the catfish get-together. Everyone was interested in it but when it came time nobody went. I think maybe people feel that they need to be a catfish pro to join a league or else they can’t commit time and money to it, I know as far as myself I wouldn’t be able to compete with the big dogs, I just don’t have the experience. I still think my original idea would be fun, and that is to keep a friendly contest going w/ the people at this board. All through the summer each person keeps track of their top 3 biggest fish (pounds or inches) for channel and flat, and then at the end you add them together for a total, we could also keep track of the biggest overall fish. This contest would require no entry fee or set meetings although anyone who wants to get something organized could still do that. All the stats could be kept track of on this board. The advantage with this is everyone can fish where they want, and when they want (and yet we would still have a leaderboard and an eventual FTR catfish champion). Well that’s my 2 cents.

If anyone knows a place where there is a decent possibility of catching a buffalo I would really like to know (you can send me a private). I have been trying to catch one but they are scarce and fairly elusive in the places I fish.

If you could rig up some sort of way to keep the fish in water while taking it to be weighed- even a small plastic swimming pool, or a tarp wrapped around the fish full of water, it would be worth trying rather than letting the fish die. Another advantage of keeping a fish wet is it won’t lose as much weight as it would out of water.

I feel the same way for trophy carp (any under-appreciated fish actually). People don’t realize that if you eliminate big fish year after year it will affect the amount of big fish, yet they expect to keep catching big fish (whether it’s cats, walleye, or pike), well it doesn’t work that way. I am against people keeping flatheads for trophies or to show friends, that’s what cameras are for. Is it that hard to bring a little camera with you in case you catch a big fish? I always bring a camera and a scale whenever I go out, you never know what will happen.