more luck with the mudcats

so last weekend my friends from fargo came down to visit and while i waited for them to get to town i loaded a bucket with chubs and drove to my river spot. i only had about an hour and it wasn't fully dark yet so i did not have high hopes. literally 10 minutes into fishing i get a buzz on my clicker but miss the fish. i cast back out and within seconds another buzz. this time i got it. the fish fought really hard and it was difficult to land on the steep rocks by myself but i got him in. i set the camera on a ledge and snapped a self timer shot. after that i didn't have enough time to try for another one but after getting a nice one like this i don't mind one bit.

river kitties

so earlier in the week while fishing one of my typical catfish spots i had an interesting encounter with a large fish. i was using my usual flathead rig a 6' diawa esox edition xheavy rod abu garcia baitcast reel 80lb power pro 2 oz no-roll sinker and 10/0 circle hook, live bullhead for bait. after a few hours of waiting i get a take. the reel buzzed for about 10 second i picked up the rod and set the hook. the fish on the other end pulled back insanely hard. it took off into the faster deeper water then snapped my line. i must have had a weak spot somewhere because that stuff should not break. we only managed one catfish all night and it was caught on a panther martin #2. sort of odd but knowing flatheads typically are more predatory catfish i guess im not too suprised.

i decided i would try again last night with the same rig and also pick up some chubs to use for the other various predators that are found at this spot. this time it did not take more than an hour of waiting before i got into a flathead. i was using my medium light rod and a chub on a float. the rod is far too long for fighting in such strong fish in fast current and i ended up snapping the rod in half. luckily its under warranty and as an added bonus i still landed the fish. a decent flathead but still a baby.

as i was releasing the fish i heard the bell on my other rod start ringing. this was my larger setup. it had a wounded 8 inch creek chub on as bait so i knew it was most likely a good fish going after it. i got over to the rod as fast as possible and set the hook. this was a much better fish. even the big rod was having trouble maneuvering the fish away from any structure it could run into. i got it up close passed the rod to john and hopped onto the river bank. we had no net but it didnt matter. the fish would not have fit anyways. john guided it in towards me and i got both hands on its mouth. this was a much nicer flathead at least double the size of the last one.

after that the fishing seemed to die down alot. we had a few hits here and there and john reeled in a turtle but other than that nothing special happened. by this time it was around 2 am and we decided if we dont get any action in the next half hour to call it quits. i switched over to a lighter rod and crawler fished for a while. still not much happened so we started to pack up. at 2:28 i got a hard bite on the crawlers. the fish put up a wonderful battle. after a few minutes passed i had it in close. it was a big channel cat. my first big channel all year.

after releasing it we fished a little longer but nothing happened so around 4am we drove home and got some sleep. not a bad night of fishing and im hoping to get back out to this spot a few more times while the cats are still hungry.

urban warfare

so after catching a nice carp on spinning tackle the other day i decided its been a while since i chased them with my fly rod. ive got a spot very close to home with a very high population and a few big fish in the mix. i set out with my 7/8 wt and a box of various carp flies. the spot is a small pond at a park that has a trash filled ditch flowing into it. the ditch is carp heaven. its no more than 8 feet across at the widest and probably 5 feet deep right at the mouth and no more than 2 everywhere else. it is fairly clear water with a sandy bottom. perfect for sight casting to cruising fish. with only a tiny bit of time in the day i couldnt stay long but did manage a few carp.

root river

decided to head out to a spot on the north branch root with cyndie today. fishing was slow and for the first half of the day i could not avoid the hordes of puny smallmouth grabbing every crawler i threw in the water. there were loads of suckers around but actually getting a bite seemed impossible. i had many times when a bait was presented directly in front of the fish but it didnt take. i saw what looked to be a small stream flowing into the river and tossed a spinner towards it. almost instantly 3 large browns chased all at the same time. almost needed new shorts after that. i threw a few more casts but didnt see them again so i switched to worms. almost instantly i caught one trout after another. a few nice browns and bows came in including a beautiful 19 inch brown. unfortiunatly for the fish it was hooked in the gills and didnt make it so tomorow im grilling some trout on my smoker tomorrow.



a few hundred smallmouth later i got a different kinda bite. as i cranked the fish in a saw a smallmouth easily over 4lbs almost grab the fish off the line. i got it in and to my suprise it was a rock bass a fish id never caught in the root before. kinda neat but nothing too special.



as it got later we finally got into some suckers. cyndie caught the first one. a small golden.




next cast cyndie connected with a really nice fish. she fought it in like a champ. a personal best smallmouth for her






after bringing in a few shortheads and silvers cyndie had something better take her crawler. i saw the fish as she brought it in and instantly knew what it was. she got panicked when i yelled "HOLY $#!@ ITS A #$%^*ING GREATER!!" she dragged it up towards the sand and i got into the water and landed it. not a big one but still its a greater!


my camera crapped out on me basically ruining the photo. its at least decent but im still upset about it. from now on its useless because there is a large scratch in the lense. i purchased a new camera already so hopefully it wont be an issue again