State Record Shovelnose Released!

I have a good feeling about tonight, I told Karl Hokanson of Coon Rapids and his coworker/fishing buddy, Jason Papenfuss of Minneapolis. See those shad jumping over there? That’s the sign we are looking for.

After 4 hours on the water at my secret spot, all we had to show was a little incidental Lake Sturgeon. We moved from producing spot to producing spot…and not a bite.

Then came 10:30 pm. Someone turn the switch on while I was scratching my head trying to figure out my next move.

One of the first few fish the guys caught was this guy, an unofficial new MN state record Shovelnose!

Karl, the lucky angler and SPORTSMAN, that landed the 5 pound,12 oz Shovelnose Sturgeon that beat the old record by 3 oz on an unofficial scale. Both Jason and myself asked Karl if he was going to take in into Red Wing to have it officially weighed. There was a five second delay and back into the water she went. Many people wouldn’t have done this and a pat on the back was in order for the sportsman that said as he was releasing this possible state record…"she’s going back so someone else can have the fun landing her".

Mean while, Jason was starting to think the night might not be a wash. The St Croix Triumph rod behind me had the tell tail jiggle of a sturgeon bite!

I would have bet all of 50 cents this flathead was a sturgeon judging by the light bite. She pulled the scale to 30 pounds! She bite on a sliver of cut sucker and a Team Catfish 3/0 Double Action hook!

Congrates on your new personal best Jason!

It wasn’t long and Jason had another species to add to his list for the night. This chunky 4.5 pound channel cat gave him a tussle too. Jason quickly called this channel the "Pirate Cat" as it was missing an eye on one side and a whisker on the other.

We were fishing with fillets of sucker, what most people would call slivers of sucker, hooked on 3/0 Team Catfish Double Action hooks on my old stand by…80 pound PowerPro. Each rod was set up with a 2 oz bell style sinker attached to the PowerPro with a Team CatFish sneakATTACK sinker slide to make any sinker into a slip sinker.

We were anchored in 25 to 30 feet of water, depending on where the back end of the boat was swinging. Most of the fish came from 50 to 60 feet of water…except the flathead that came in from the shallow side of the boat, about 15 to 20 feet.

The bite isn’t only at night. I’ve been out a couple times over this last week looking for some fishing in the daylight. It’s getting darn cold once the lights go out.

Here’s my friend John with a daytime shovel. The shovels seem to be either on fire or turned off, there isn’t an in between.

Last night the fog came in so thick that we would still be out there had it not been for the GPS. Absolutely the thickest fog I’ve ever been in.

Good Luck out there and again, KUDO’s to Karl Hokanson for his Catch, Photo and Release of what could have been the new MN State Record Shovelnose Sturgeon!

It’s the state record in your mind that counts!