Mississippi River Catfish and More!

The big fish of the night. Weighing in at 45 pounds and 53 inches, this Lake Sturgeon gave Tony Capecchi a run for his money!

Tony’s new to fishing friend Steve Dick of Woodbury, MN just landed his channel cat when we all heard the splash of a big fish jumping and falling back into the water in the darkness. That’s when Tony noticed the back St Croix rod bouncing around. He didn’t waste anytime grabbing the rod out of the Folbe holder and it was FISH ON!

My first thought was to release the channel cat and get the back anchor out of the water…she sounded like a good one! With Steve’s help, we cleared the boat of the back anchor and extra lines “just in case”. Turns out this girl was a bulldog and led Tony around the back end of the boat for his sturgeon dance. Certainly would have been wrapped up in the back anchor had it been left in the water.

I asked Tony a couple of times when the 80 pound test Masterbraid was peeling off the reel, “who’s in control Tony?” He said “I am!” Sure didn’t look like it to me!!

With a little team work she did end up in the net and then into the boat. She was a nice looking lamprey scare free healthy fish. We weighed her in the net, taped her and popped a few memory photos before placing her back into the net until she was ready to leave on her own.

Steve just took up fishing and I’m thinking he’s going to remember that fish for a while even though he didn’t land it himself. I’ve always said, it’s just as much fun to watch someone else land a big fish as it is to catch one yourself!

Our trip started out on a beautiful fall evening around 6 pm from Everts Fishing Resort. The moon was high and lit up our fishing area postcard perfectly. Hardly any wind. Just one of those nights that a person never wants to have end.

The targeted fish of the night was shovelnose sturgeon, but before we left the dock I told the crew that the channels were pretty much on fire. They didn’t disappoint us.

The best producing areas were the current seams where fast water slides along side of slower water. Because of the area we anchored in, we had sandy bottom on one side of the boat and deeper harder bottom on the other side. Most fish came out of the shallower, less than 20 feet of water.

Tackle is the old standard 4/0 circle hook, 12 inch leader, swivel and 4 ounce no-roll sinker. I’ve been crimping down the barb for easier hook release. Works great for me!

Don’t feel comfortable on the water at night?

There’s pleanty of channels being caught through out the day. As a wise old fart says…”Must be present to win!”

Thinking about putting the boat and rods away?

Some people including me think this is the best time of the year to be out on the water! I wouldn’t wait too long though. As soon as the scaly fish guys figure out the snauger bite is picking up, we won’t have the river to ourselves any longer!