Roughfisher

Hey guys, thought this might cure your winter blues. Original guitar by Hogsucker. Hogsucker wrote and played the awesome guitar riff - he's my brother, and check out his fishing guitar music. This video also includes exclusive photos of his all-tackle world record fish, the only all-tackle world record ever caught in the state of Minnesota, for which Hogsucker is now enshrined in the Freshwater fishing hall of Fame, for catching the largest fish of a species in the history of the world. If you want to view it, go to YouTube: If you've never seen a world-record record fish in your life, be sure to visit the sports show this year! Hogsucker had his record redhorse mounted and will be showing it off at the 2008 sportsman show. Since this is the only standing all-tackle world record fish from Minnesota, it should bring a crowd. For the full roundup report, go to: roundup 2007 For Hogsucker's blog entry for the record catch, go to: Andy's Record Fish For his taxidermy record, go to: Taxiderming a Record

The first fish is a Silver Redhorse, Moxostoma anisurum. A nice one, too, one of the best-eating and hard fighting of the truly American fishes, they taste like sunfish. The silver has much larger scales than a white sucker, and a larger head. The fan-shaped gray dorsal fin is the ID character to look for, but after you've handled them long enough, you can tell them easily while they are still in the water. The great silver can only live in decently clean water. Congrats on an awesome catch.

That's a male white sucker in spawning coloration.

I'm thinking of making the trek down to Clear Lake to catch Yellow Bass when they start running good - have any of you guys ever fished the yellow-bellies in Clear lake? When and where?

Nice boat Johnny! You'll love it. You getting any shortheads yet on the St. Louis?

I've been kayaking for three weeks. Just wear your PFD and don't take any chances.

I guided an Englishman for carp on the Mississippi - he used boilies, we used corn. Corn outfished boilies 2 to 1 on carp, but his high-protein and blood-based boilies killed the channel cats. The boilie that worked best was made out of corn. He brought about twenty pounds of boilies in dozens of flavors. In my humble opinion, the only real reason to use boilies in Minnesota is if you are in an area with a lot of small carp and want to catch only the big ones. To do this, make up some corn boilies almost the size of a golf ball. You basically make it by mixing eggs, base mix, and flavor into a stiff dough. You then roll up the dough into boilie balls and boil them for 1-3 minutes (the longer you boil them, the harder they get). It's easiest to do this by putting them in a sieve and plunking the sieve full of boilies into a boiling pot of water. When they're done, dry them on paper towels. Freeze them in a ziplock bag. For base mix, most people use flour. Soy flour is supposed to be good, you can use corn flour, wheat gluten, etc. I use plain whole-wheat flour. You can incorporate other things, like dog/cat food, fish meal, instant mashed potatos, baby cereal, graham cracker crumbs, blood meal, spirulina powder, whatever you think the carp in your area would like. Most people add a good amount of sugar to the base mix to sweeten it. Some swear by molasses. Flavorings to consider are vanilla, anise oil, creamed corn, salad dressing, boullion cubes, pea soup, blood, ground liver, spinach, refried beans, almond extract, etc. I stay away from meat and fish-based flavors because they attract lots of small channel cats. You can give them color with food coloring if you want. I've heard that microwaving them can make them float just off the bottom, which helps in deep mud to make your bait easier to find. You attach them with a baiting needle and a standard boilie rig, which is tied with a bait loop and stopper. Push the baiting needle through the boilie, snag the bait loop on your hook through the hook on the baiting needle, then pull it back through and cinch it up on the stopper.

FYI, you can make a great cork-turning lathe from the motors they sell at Axe-man. Just bolt it to a 2 by 6 and rig up casters to hold the blank. I don't think you are going to save any money building rods, unless your rods would cost $400 or more factory-built, or unless you are going to build a lot of them. Between the cork (I can't stand foam grips) (.60 cents per cork ring, so maybe $12-$18 for cork), the guides (a good set of guides will cost you $12-$30), the reel seat ($10 for a cheapo), the thread (two colors, $6), and the rod finish ($10), epoxy for the grip ($3), it ends up costing around a hundred bucks a rod, using a cheap but quality $30 blank. You can use a cardboard box and a book for thread tension, and can build a drying motor for under $10 if you're handy. You can maybe rig up a lathe with an electric drill you have laying around. But you're going to spend a hundred bucks, and end up with a custom-built rod you can be proud of. You could get a decent rod for a lot less than that, pre-built.

Well, I learned a little more today - I put in on Rice Creek just above the Ammunition plant on Cty road I and kayaked upstream about half a mile. It was beautiful. I'd go again tomorrow if there wasn't going to be a storm.

Should've mentioned it was the wide part of Rice Creek where it flows into George Watch Lake - so no current. I won't take it out in current unless it either warms up or I get pretty comfortable with my new boat. Kayak performed very well. Can't wait to fish out of it! I think I'm going to need an anchoring system. Very stable, goes pretty fast for a widebody boat, turns very quick and tracks straight if I paddle it right. I chased a flock of coots around, spooked some trumpeter swans, snuck up on a muskrat, and also saw buffleheads, bluebills, and ringneck ducks. I LOVE the seat on the Manta Ray, it's very comfortable and adjustable. Stays dry in the cockpit, except an inch of water that occasionally appears in the forward end of the footwell scuppers, then drains out immediately. Pretty darn happy with the kayak.

When fishing good steelhead water (which means water where 28 inchers are commonly caught) you want to fish from the second fishing becomes legal until the sun comes over the pines. You'll catch more fish if you are the first guy to harrass them, and if you're late, somebody else will be on top of them. Evening can be decent, too, but nothing compares to the crack of dawn. Get on the river before legal fishing. While it is still pitch dark, build a small fire and drink some coffee, sight your fish, and keep looking at your watch. When the time is almost right, shore up your fire, step in the river and prepare yourself for the upcoming battle. Catch your fish, or break them all off, then wait for the sun on the pines. When the first guy comes walking up the bank to ask how the fishing is, be sure to lie like a B/\STARD. This is the way of the steelhead.

Dude, I've bought 3 canoes in my life so far, for $150, $300, and $0. All are very servicable and great boats. There are TONS of used canoes out there. Look around. Classified ads, hsolist, THIS SITE, and bait shops.

Well, thanks guys for the advice, I finally settled on a 12-foot Liquid Logic Manta Ray Kayak. I'm going to launch it on Rice Creek tomorrow. I'll post a pic of the thing when I get a chance. From now on - I'M A KAYAKER!

I've got a giant gizzard shad left over from last year in my freezer. Every time I open up the freezer to get a pack of venison steaks, that dang shad is staring at me. It seems like he's saying "Go Catfishing!!!". And I got half a mooneye in there, too. OK, now I know I've got fishing fever ... my cut bait is starting to talk to me ....

Shallow, muddy flats with emergent vegetation attract pre-spawn carp. Some guys are already catchign big carp on flyrods by sight-casting to them in clear water lake margins. Lakes and marshes are the ticket, the river carp are on the move and looking for a place to spawn.

Learn to appreciate new species! I always hear the technical advice and chuckle - guys will burn up hundreds of gallons of gas chasing all over the lake looking for walleyes, when they could've had a BLAST catching 50 inch longnose gar, or mooneyes, or tackle-busting bowfin that make walleyes look like the sissy-fish they are. You could be battling giant carp, casting tiny flies at 90-pound bigmouth buffalo, night-fishing for six-foot eels on wet land, chucking crawlers at 15-pound Greater Redhorse, or hunting record-breaking Warmouths in the backwaters. You could be the first person to ever figure out what Quillbacks will bite on reliably. Or you can kick back and meat-fish for white suckers and drum, and just enjoy nature, delicious fish, and battling so many fish your arms get sore. Try sturgeon fishing. Try night-fishing for big cats. Don't get stuck in a rut.

In some lakes in southern Minnesota, which are very stained, you'll find walleyes sometimes in two feet of water - during the day!

Both are correct. The Littoral Zone is technically the area where plant life can survive in a lake - which is how deep light penetrates. But the way the DNR ESTIMATES the littoral area of a lake is by calculating the surface area of the lake that is 15 feet deep or less. This is a rough estimate, to be sure, but it's better than nothing. You can't base it on transparency because that can vary from day to day; some lakes have a transparency of 20 feet in June and 6 inches in August. They need to have an idea of what the littoral area is because that's what determines how many fish the lake can support. All fish stocking is done on the basis of littoral acres, for example they'll stock 6.5 pounds of fry per littoral acre. Lakes that drop straight down from the shore into 100 feet of water can't support as many fish as a gently-sloping lake of equal size because there isn't enough aquatic vegetation to grow insects and crustaceans.

Carp have whiskers (barbels) by their mouth, suckers don't. There are 16 different kinds of native suckers in Minnesota, they all look different.

The American Carp society has loads of catch-and-release tournaments and leagues, some contests pay $250,000 to the top carp fisher.

There's a carp contest held at the Coon Rapids Dam every year. BIG PRIZES, trucks and boats and stuff. Call 763-757-4700 for info.

Thanks Fishbreath, that helped a lot.

Good point, make sure you know the difference between whitefish and tullibee before you try pan-frying them! Lake Whitefish can be fried, broiled, or bakes - fillet just like a walleye. They are absolutely delicious. Tullibees must be smoked - they're great that way. Here's a DNR link that shows you the difference: http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/areas/fisheries/baudette/whitefish.html

Thanks for your help and advice, guys. I still don't know what kind of kayak to get - I'm now looking at the Hobie Revolution, but I'm worried about ripping the fins off it on a rock in shallow waters. They are pricey, too. Not sure if I should start out with a small, traditional kayak and see how it goes or if I should try to buy one that will do everything I want it to do right off the bat. Thanks again for your sage advice.

Quote: I couldn't have asked for any more than that. Thanks much for the info!!! Sounds alot like trout fishing, just much more fun and better looking fish . Thanks again for the info...... What he didn't tell you is that he uses a 4-weight for carp. Bring plenty of backing ...