You gotta love the hot, hazy, lazy dayz of summer! Got out and did a little cat fishing with my uncle Phil and his gal Linda on Friday evening. Checking the radar before leaving the house, it appeared that most of the rain was to the north of us, and I thought there would not be a problem! Yeah, right! I forgot we live in Minnesota, and if you don’t like the weather, just wait 20 minutes, and it will change! As we were launching the boat at Prarie Island, we noticed how dark it was to the north and east. I flipped on the VHF to hear of storm warnings for Pierce and St. Croix counties! We could throw a rock and hit Pierce county! So we sat on the back edge of the storm, and watched some amazing cloud to cloud lightning.
While sitting there in the lightning with 5 rods pointed skyward, grounded into the water….(Do not try this at home! It is very dangerous! I really had them pointed to the water line!) Linda answered the call of one of my ultra-lights rigged with a circle hook and some cut sucker. She was a little timid at the prospect of handling it…So I did the honors for the pictures. This other picture looked kind of goofy, it was right before I jumped into the water to manhandle the wily channel at the end of her line! After seeing it was a kitten, I opted to use the net.
We soaked a bunch of suckers and bullheads in spot #1, and had a couple of pick-ups and runs, but only the little channel to show for our efforts. After the rain quit, we headed down to a spot I lost a nice fish a few nights earlier. We lost a few fish there as well, nothing big, but it kept things interesting. The fish are on the spawn right now, and the fishing is unpredictable. One night you can plow them in some spots, and the next night get blanked. I will be trying a few of my spots around Hastings here shortly.
We ended the night in our third spot with a small flat that took a bullhead. We had a few runs here, and actually pulled in a bullhead after a bite that had a donut ring around it, just below the hook. Darn! I don’t normally get bully’s back after a bite and a miss!
Anyway, it was fun to get out with Phil and Linda who have never been out this late in the evening/AM chasing kitties. We will do this again!
Tuck
great story we went after flats sat night on the racoon river here in nw ia.we had lots of runs but no hooked fish.
Good post, Tuck. I have been trying to get a feel for the St Croix bite or rather the lack of a bite. Since 28 June I have been out 6 times and been skunked 4 of them and between the other two times I only have 3 channels to show for the effort. Water temp right now is in the low 80’s. A few other guys I know have had similar luck. I am hearing of a fish here and a fish there but the bite is really down. I think the spawn is in full swing,if I am right it has been going since the last week in June. We should start to see fishing pick up any time now. I am going to try to get out tonight and maybe this weekend. I’ve got to start finding some fish in preparation for the GTG Cat Tourney. I plan on fishing the St Croix unless this slow bite continues. I may have to move to Pool 3 and join the posse at the Cottonwood Tree.
The cottonwood is passe
Off to hopefully bigger and better grounds in Pool 3.
See Y’all down there somewhere!
Tuck