Pool 8 Flathead 6/15/07

There is only one thing I can think of that is better than landing a personal best Flathead for myself, that is putting good friends on there personal best Flathead Mike C provided the boat tonight, I provided a few spots and, Naomi provided the entertainment with her personal best Flathead. This girl was a beauty at 33.5 inches long, a girth of 22 inches and weighed in at 24 pounds. There was not a mark on this fish and she was sporting nothing but healthy

The bait of choice was Bluegills in the 6-8 inch range as pictured here. With a very good gill bite going on, there were plenty of nice gills in the live well after a night of fishing that Naomi was taking home a good fish fry. For the Flatheads, gills were loaded up on a 8/0 Gomakatsu Circle hook using a 6 inch leader leading to a no roll 3oz sinker. Mike C found some channel cats taking crawlers before dark and one smaller flatty. This spot was above a wing dam that held some wood.

The second spot we hit around 10:30 was below a wing dam that has a large eddy behind it next to the bank with some good weed growth. The baits were placed just at the edge of the weeds in 5fow towards the main channel. 5 minutes after setting up we were slammed and had a good sized fish on only to come unbuttoned at the boat A fresh bait was put on and tossed into the same spot. I’m not sure the gill even settled to the bottom and it was slammed again producing Naomi’s 24lb ball of fire Shortly after Mike had a good run only to get dropped. After nothing going on for half an hour it was time to make one more move before heading home.

The third spot was between two wing dams and in deeper water. We were now placing our baits in 15fow near a lot of wood. Our gills were bouncing to no end, a sure sign there was something large around.

After 15 minutes one of the clickers started screaming. I removed the rod from the holder, let it run a short time then took the reel out of free spool. This was a big fish, as soon as the rod loaded up the butt end smack my sternum, yep it left a mark. The fish was on but by the time I handed Naomi the rod it was all over. Reminded me of the Thirty Point Buck song, and there he was……gone I’m sure I will have a bruise by noon! This took place around 1:00am. With nothing else going on and the time closing in on 2:00am the call was made to head for home. It was a blast of a night with great friends and a ton of laughter. My smile and guts should be sore for the rest of the weekend

Good luck on the water people

Bret