Monday, September 14, 2009

HUGE CATFISH!!!

I had a couple hours to kill in the afternoon this monday so I headed to the Minnesota river to try to catch some walleyes. At the last minute I decided to bring my heavy gear and frozen shad just in case I wanted to try for catfish. Keep in mind that just last saturday I went fishing on the Minnesota with Lucas and my buddy Ben Newton and Ben connected with a 43" flathead. So I bought some minnows on the way, launched the boat, headed down the river and anchored up. I tried a couple different spots, either casting out a slip sinker rig or dropshot tipped with minnows but after an hour I got bored with that so I switched over to catfish. I took one of the shad, poked a few holes in it, attached it to a big circle hook, casted out, and about five minutes later I had a run on my line. I started reeling in. It was a decent fish but not huge. It turned out to be this sheepie, I didn't measure it but it must have been 24". Here it is in all it's glory...



Well, I decided to give it another try, so I put another chunk of shad on and casted out. About 5-10 minutes later I got another run. I let it have line then started reeling in. I feel the fish on and I'm thinking, "This is a pretty good fish. Must be a cat". I battled that fish for quite sometime before getting a good look at it. Sure enough, it's a huge cat! I'm by myself, and now I gotta figure out how to get this beast in on my own. I got it close to the boat, grabbed the inside of it's mouth, put the rod down and hoisted this river monster into the boat. I am awed by this catfish! I measured it at 44". I got a couple good pictures, although the tail is clipped just a bit, but not bad for being by myself. Take a look...





Sunday, September 13, 2009

ODDS AND ENDS AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER 2009

Wow have I slacked off on the blog! I'll have to make an effort to get back on track, especially since the fishing should be picking up in the fall.

I have taken some good pictures over the past month, so instead of doing a separate post for each outing I thought I would just compile them all together.

Here's my good buddy Jim from church with a big slab crappie @ 13.5" caught on Green lake in Kandiohi county...


A chunky pumpkinseed from the same lake...


Green lake bluegill...


Me and Lucas went to the Mississippi river by Dayton. We anchored and caught some fish. Here's a smallie...


And a redhorse...


Scott Cullen catches a sunny from lake Minnetonka...


Me, my family, and my brother's family did some camping on the St Croix river over the Labor day weekend and caught lots of fish.

Me and a smallie...


The release...


Lucas gets one


My brother Mitch's kid aaron is quite the fisherman. Here he is with a smallie...


And a walleye...


We were fishing for cats one night. It was slow so Aaron decided to soak a crawler. About 10 minutes later he gets this 42" sturgeon on his line. He fought it for at least 15 minutes on medium spinning gear and 8 lb. test. Good job Ryan!



Check out the expressions on Lucas and Ryan's faces!!


Smallmouth...


I caught this monster redhorse @ 26"...


Lucas holding the redhorse...


Here's another big red I caught on the river, close to the same size as the other one I caught...


I have saved the best for last! My buddy Ben Newton caught this last night on the Minnesota river. His personal best @ 43". What a beast!!!


Lot's of great fishing opportunities coming up for me including a three day outing at Lake of the Woods at the end of September with Jim Schwandt. I plan on spending less time on Minnetonka this fall fishing for walleyes and more time fishing the Minnesota river. There are also some opportunities to fish pool 4 on the Mississippi river for panfish in october. And of course, I can always hit up "hawg lake" for bass to enter into the bass derby.

I look at my blog entries and I certainly need to improve chronicling events and people involved in a more thorough manner, taking alot more pictures. Hopefully things will come together and I'll have some great entries!