the new spot

with the weather as warm as it is i decided to look around for somewhere close to home to go fishing for the day. me and cyndie have been staying at her brothers in west st. paul lately and the mississippi river is only 5 minutes from the house. so i looked around a bit on google maps and found a few parks in the area. we decided to head over to one for a few hours before cyndie had to head out for work. i fished crawlers at first and managed a few small channel catfish. i could see some carp jumping close to shore and many of them looked big so i changed over to corn. it did not take long before i got a bite. i set the hook and my drag screamed for about 10 seconds and then *SNAP* my line busted off. next bite i had was similar but the fish didn't feel as big i got it just to where i could see it and saw that it was a smallmouth buffalo a species i've been chasing for years. sadly the quick glance at it was all that i got. the fish rolled sideways on the surface and tossed the hook. i recast and again the bite came quick. this time i managed to get a solid hookset in the fish and was able to land it. not the buffalo i was hoping for but still a good sized carp. i managed two more carp as the day went on and cyndie got skunked. we had several fish that we hooked that seemed just too big for our tackle. three more times during the day we would hook up only to watch line peel off the reel only to end abruptly when the line snapped. i was only running 8lb braid on both reels and we learned quickly that won't be enough with the size of some of the carp we hooked into. i will return next week with a heavier setup.

summer weather in march

the weather has been unseasonably warm most of the winter and this trend is still continuing. it has been in the 70s all week. with the warm weather i will be doing quite a bit of fishing.

weather forecast for the next week

on wednesday me and cyndie decided to go try one of our favorite spring spots on the mississippi river. the fishing was better than expected. the redhorse were biting like crazy! we caught dozens of them. mainly shortheads but there were a few goldens and a beefy silver thrown in the mix.

cyndie caught what was definitely the fish of the day. she got a bite that felt a little different then a redhorse. the rod was doubled over and it was obvious she had a much larger fish on. after a good fight the fish broke the surface and i was amazed at the size of the thing. on the end of her line was a gigantic walleye. i hopped down onto the rocks and netted the fish. we measured it at 27" inches long a new personal best for cyndie.

the redhorse bite continued. another group of fishermen caught a decent sized sturgeon and i got my first whitebass of '12 we fished for a few hours after dark and didn't get much. we caught a couple of sauger and i caught a decent channel cat. with the fishing as good as it was all day i am certain i will be back at this spot again very soon.

first catfish of the year

not a big one but im glad the weather is warm enough that they are biting

panther martin trophy fish of the week contest

so i have submitted a few fish to panther martin's trophy fish contest they do every week. each week one winner is awarded  the title of trophy fish of the week along with 50 dollars worth of panther martin tackle for their submissions. a few weeks back to my surprise a bowfin i submitted won the contest. my 50 dollars worth of spinners has arrived and i cant wait to get out and use them.

could i be having a better winter?

usually winter for me consists of fishing warm water discharges for carp and muskies with the occasional trout outings. i still can't wait for summer but this year winter has been going so well i haven't been feeling as down about the cold weather as i usually am. the discharge fishing this year has been very slow only producing one shad and a decent sized musky.

the trout and pike fishing on the other hand has been absolutely incredible this year. i caught multiple personal best brown trout this year

so we have had a very mild winter this year and i began noticing there seemed to still be many carp hanging around in areas they normally would not be this time of year. distracted by trout fishing i didn't take time to target them but was always tempted when i would walk up to one of the pools and see a dozen large carp cruising through. i finally couldn't take it anymore and had to get out and try for these fish. i tried crawlers first and although i had no carp take the bait i did catch a white sucker.

i continued fishing the spot over the next few days trying corn. the fish were active but barely. they would almost suck on the bait for a second then swim away. i hooked a few and had many takes but no fish landed. finally on valentines day i got my cold water carp.

last day of fishing for a few weeks

so tomorrow i am getting two inguinal hernias surgically fixed and my recovery time is 3-8 weeks. knowing id be out for a while i tried my best to have the last few days of fishing till the surgery be good trips. i kinda failed at that. most of them i got completely skunked. aside from a few small browns and sauger i didnt catch much of anything. i made it out for one last day and stuck a little closer to home. this spot is really where i should have been going in the first place.


there were shad surfacing everywhere in the thousands so i threw a bare treble hook on my fly rod and instantly had bait. i put the wounded shad on one of my lines and corn on the other. within minutes the line with the shad got a solid bite. the fish felt pretty heavy so i was expecting a catfish. to my suprise it was a very large drum.

i really wish i got better pictures. this doesn't do the fish justice.

for a while during the day i couldn't even rebait my cutbait line because i was getting too much action on the corn. i didn't really take much for pics because none of the carp were all that big but i must have easily caught 20 of the things in only a few hours of fishing.

average carp from the spot

after a while the carp slowed down so i had time to go snag another shad and bait up my second rod. i got a shad of about 5 inches chopped it in half and threw the bait into the middle of the channel. about 30 minutes later i got a bite. very strong fish so i was thinking flathead. as i got the fish closer it came launching into the air and revealed itself. a lake sturgeon and a pretty good one. i waded out to about my waist in the water and attempted to grab it by the tail to land it. ive done this before but not with one this big. the fish had other plans and shot between my legs. i managed to pull off the whole "stand on one foot rod through the legs 180 degree turn" maneuver and luckily it worked and i didnt snap my rod. my next attempt to land the fish was much more successful. 

most of the carp i caught and my sturgeon all had large lampreys clinging to them. i pulled them off and placed them in an empty container. the idea is that they might not be bad cutbait for a later trip.

micro sunfish

was targeting some minnows for the lifelist and caught this little guy.



didnt get the minnows i was after but they will always be there next time.