I have always had really good luck catching flats at Harriet Island surprisingly. It seems like every time I used to go there I would catch a flat. Not to mention my girlfriend caught a 32″ toothy bait stealing critters they call walleye off of an 8” bully. Raspberry Island isn’t bad either and seems to be more structure but always had better luck at Harriet somehow.
The flats are definitely hitting right now. The water is around 54-57 degrees from what I have been seeing (may 13-17th). My first cat of the year was a 40×24 flat on the Minnesota and had plenty of runs. Surprisingly the only runs we were getting were out of snags, didn’t think they would be sitting in the snags this early in the year. Took a couple friends out fishing that are newer into catfishing and brought a 35” flat in the boat out of Hastings along with plenty of healthy channels. Can’t wait to get back out there. With this high 70-80 degree days coming up hopefully the water warms up a bit to turn the feeding frenzy on.
Penn 320GT2’s, i plan on buying a few Squall’s also. I have beat them up pretty bad and they are still holding up just fine. They have always performed well for me I guess. I was thinking about the Abu 7000’s but im not sure I want to spend that much money. To each their own i guess.
Just curious what dont you like about them so I can look for something that I might not like that I havent noticed?
I use Penn reels on all my cat setups but i have never used the delmar before. Penns are very durable and are made to withstand the harsh elements such as saltwater so for freshwater i think they are perfect. Im sure it will be fine but from what i have read that reel is pretty old.
Whats the gear ratio and what not on it? Im guessing pretty low. Im guessing your going to be using for one of your flathead set ups?
Technically border waters are from railroad line to railriad line.
Hey thanks Steve i appreciate it. I talked to one of the DNR guy’s last night and he told me the same thing. It just seemed really weird to me that you can go 20 feet and use 3 lines and better catfish candy.
I just moved around the area of Hampton so I need to get out on the Mississippi and do some cattin, the Minnesota was my honey hole a little far now.
So steve, your telling me that being a MN resident W/ a MN license and W/O a WI license i can fish 3 lines on the border waters? Lets make it easy and say ??? in front of Everts?
From what i was told by a MN DNR officer is that even if you are a Minnesota resident with a out of state wisconsin fishing license you still need to follow MN rules on the border waters. No i dont understand it but i am a big catfisher myself and was wondering if that was a way to get passed the 2 line limit to get to 3 lines (buying a wisconsin license and minnesota).
I highly doubt that if you are a wisconsin resident with a wisconsin license and caught a record fish beating MN you can claim it in MN (on MN WI border waters). You would need a MN fishing license while following MN laws.
Why do people care if paint is rubbed off on a lower unit?
Because your boat needs to be really expensive, shiny, and look really good to catch fish 
. Of course the lower unit has to be perfect, fish wont bite unless they see a lot of $ signs and a perfect paint job on the boat. I mean come on spending 100K on a fishing boat will make you a better fisherman, then make you really angry when you cant catch a darn thing but the guy in a 1984 lund drifting by is pounding them 
. LOVE IT!
4 seasons is 7am sadly.
I had no problem what so ever yesterday, I could have had my limit in about an hour. I didn’t keep any yesterday because the majority of the nice fish were females full of eggs and I won’t be that guy.
What makes me laugh is most of the people down there are doing the same thing as everyone else and not catching much. They sit there with their spot lock on in their fancy new try hard boats and think they are king S*i& but can’t catch a fish. Yet here I am in my old Lund drifting down the river past the try hards smashing walleyes and watching them go from talking smack to their buddies to wow how did he do that. I was drifting past one boat yesterday who were staring and laughing, the funny thing is I a caught a 19″ walter right in front of them then threw it back because it was full of eggs. I wish I had a picture of their faces when i threw it back. Here’s the thing because you spend 12K on electronics and 2K on a trolling motor doesn’t make you a good fisherman. Just like it was said before try different tactics, in this case I didn’t have a trolling motor that would hold strong in the current and that worked to my advantage just some good ol drifting.
Sorry for the rant once May rolls around i consider walleye bait thieves anyways. I’m going to go out on a limb right now but have any of you noticed the jump in eagles and predatory birds? I was with my GF fishing and we were amazed at how any eagles we saw and the amount of fish they would snag up in the lock. Like i said im going out on a limb, just a thought.
We caught 30-40 fish today but nothing over 15 inches sadly. Didnt see anyone else even boat a fish (minnow whatever you want to say). Live bait is where it’s at.
I’m quitting fishing and protesting at the scour hole, with a sign that says “Leave the Vabies alone”
Shouldn’t the sign say Vabies lives matter? Don’t forget to block off boat traffic and sit in the scour hole and fish. Isn’t that how protests are done now a days?
I went out Sunday near the dam and the sonar was showing 34-35 degrees. Fishing was slow, you can get them all day in the deep hole as usual but really dont want to put the kill on those little guys so left a little earlier than expected.
The reactor is currently on the rise to full power. It is now generating more heat and warmer water should be starting to flow through. Anywhere from the 20th-25th it will be at full power…well hopefully.
