Pre Spawn Flatheads are ON!

The reports from Pool 3& 4 of the Mississippi (from the Hastings Dam to the head of Lake Pepin) have been steadily growing as the water temperature rises into the mid 70’s which triggers the pre spawn activity that most us cat lovers wait all year for. Tonight the water was 76 and it was a awesome night to be on the river.

The week started out with fish coming in around 10 lbs. Then they just started GROWING AND TURNED ON FIRE!

Pictured here with his first double (10 and 38 lbs) is Bob Moore, owner of Moores Bait & Tackle 618 West 58th Street (Corner of Lyndale and 58th) 612-861-7412. Some may think Bob has an funny smile…he was actually gritting his teeth from the weight…..

I was lucky enough to hook up with Bob on a short notice today.

We started off fishing for a walleye or two. Bob’s personal best “was” 26 inches…he’s now upped that a couple inches with three 8 pounders!

I explained that we would be fishing a cat area that might not have any cat’s yet and if the cat’s weren’t there we might be lucky enough to hook into a walleye. When his first 28 inch fish came in…I thought his eyes were going to fall out of his head. I said “I guess the cats aren’t here yet… time to move"!

Back to catten.

We moved down river to our A spot and found IDA member Dirk already working it. So we move to spot B after asking if we could fish there. River courtesy goes a long ways!

After spending about a half hour there with only one run to show for it….off to spot C.

Our C spot for the evening was the tail out of a funnel. Lot’s of wood, deep water (15 feet) and shallow water near by.

We didn’t get all the rods set up and Bob had his first run…a swing and a miss! I could tell he wanted that fish! Just a few moments later…another run…a screamer! Bob set the hook hard and the fight was on…for about 15 seconds when the hook came out.

We barely tossed out the second two bullheads when another rod goes off…and Bob wheels in a 10 lbs flathead like a true bass fisherman. We just got the 10/0 Gamakatzu hook out when the next rod goes off! I had two diet cokes while Bob was working this boy in….38 pounds of mad flathead! Took a couple pictures and back home she went.

It was run after run for 20 minutes solid!

Bob landed a 10, 38, 22, 10 and a 33 tonight. He was getting sore!

Thanks for a great trip Bob! We’ll be doing it again!

By the way, did I mention Moores Bait and Tackle is our newest IDA sponsor?

I’m looking forward to the JollyAnn Marine Company Picnic tonight!