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winter carp at nuke power plants?

Stick500

By Stick500
in Carp-Sturgeon-Roughfish

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Stick500 Rising Star

Stick500

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has anyone ever gone after winter carp at either the Red Wing or Monticello nuclear power plants where the warm water runs into the Miss.?

I know they like to hang around the warm water during the winter, but do they bite on anything?

I'm already trying to figure out how to catch the mighty carps this winter!

thanks for any info

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Stick500 Rising Star

Stick500

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I guess my second question is would the plants even let yahoo carp anglers like myself anywhere near the warm water outlets? - from the looks of both locations it appears it would be quite difficult to get to the best spots without entering and parking on powerplant property.

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tsande00 Experienced

tsande00

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I can't speak for winter, but this summer I was kayaking from Becker to Monti when I came across a guy in a canoe tied off to the buoys by the nuclear plant (the ones right where the water exits the plant and joints the river). He had a MONSTER fish on! He had apparently cast directly into the buoyed off area. He couldn't even hardly lift the thing. He'd pull up as hard as he could and get maybe two quick cranks in. I watched him for 45 minutes (he said one day he fought one fish for 8 hours!). Eventually his reel busted and the fish got away but what a sight that was. Said he was going for "river monsters"...mentioned he has never actually landed one but has had one on his line almost everytime he goes out...Guy started using steel cable for fishing line! It was actually the second time I ran into that guy, the first being a few weeks earlier at Mississippi park as he was launching his canoe. When he told me that time he was going for "river monsters" I thought he was a fruit loop heading up stream in that little canoe. I'm still not sure how in world he would ever land a fish that size in a canoe, but what do I know. Had to have been a monster sturgeon or something to that effect...this was no 50lb catfish, I'll tell you that! I'm thinking 100's of pounds.

Anyways, the point of my long winded story is that people do fish the warm water right outside the exit at the Monti nuclear plant. Can't speak for if it is legal or if it can be done elsewhere but it is done near Monti.

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Brad B Veteran

Brad B

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I have heard that there is signs in the area that say you can't anchor within 500 feet of the discharge( don't have a boat but have been told this) if this guy was tied off to a bouy why wasn't he visited by the guards and told to leave the area and that he can't tie off or anchor there. heck years ago(20+) you could go right to the guard shack and sign in and they would let you drive down to the discharge area and fish. I caught some nice smallies down there years back.

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fishface Collaborator

fishface

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Brad B, You are correct. The guards are very nice Very armed, and very serious when the say, "It's time to leave". Tying up to the markers would be frowned on by the guards. You don't need to be right at the outlet. They catch fish all the way down by the Monti hosp., all winter long.

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TrapMan13 Collaborator

TrapMan13

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I can attest for this guy as well. We often fish the rivers around there and have snapped 100 and 150lb braid like it was 4lb test. We have fought fish down there for hours as well. And for the longest time our minds were just "boggled" with what kind of fish these could be. Then one day we FINALLY (after losing about 20+ "monster fish") we got one close enough to see. GIANT FLATHEAD. GIANT. I can't attest for how much it actually weighed but I know dam well I could have fit a full size Basketball in its mouth. HUGE. and with one more solid run it was the last we woudl ever see of that fish.

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DTro Grand Master

DTro

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grin

Do you realize how hard it is to snap 150lb braided line? Sometimes I have pulled the boat off anchor with only 65lb and with 80lb it's darn near impossible to snap.

It wouldn't surprise me if there was a couple of large rougue flatheads swimming around that warm water discharge. However, I've seen a lot of big flatheads, and even in the heaviest current the longest fight I've seen is about 10 minutes.

Now if you are fishing with Walleye gear, sure I could see an hour fight, but "snapping 100-150lb braided line"? I just have a hard time seeing that. Plus I've seen too many people call a 40lb fish a "giant" or a "monster". grin

Maybe it was the CatVaagon

Catswagen.jpg

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Dylan33 Experienced

Dylan33

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I'm with DTRO on this one. I don't buy it. Most likely you would snap your rod before you snap 150 pound test braid. After hours of fighting a tree on the bottom of a river, your eyes were playing tricks on you. You WANTED to see that HUGE Flathead so bad that your mind made it up

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OnAFly Grand Master

OnAFly

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Back on track...anyone planning on trying for carp out there this winter? Is sight fishing them possible?

If we got a nice day I would consider getting out and throwing a fly around for a while. Gives a nice change of pace from all the ice fishing.

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Dale_Gribble Apprentice

Dale_Gribble

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Could it be a snagged Paddle fish? I dont know where they live in the river or anything but they get huge and i could easily see people fighting one for a real long time since you pretty much never hook them in the mouth, and they can use that bill against you in all that current and use it to fray your braid perhaps resulting in the breakage of line. I could be way off base but i dont think its that far-fetched.

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Brad B Veteran

Brad B

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People you need to remember that the river in the monticello area is maybe 14 feet deep at the most(deeper holes here and there) but mainly it is about 3 to 6 feet deep. the montrose fisheries office did a map of the river from st cloud to I believe dayton and the deepest hole where only listed as 14 feet deep. contact their office for more info if you would like. I am not saying that it is impossible to a stray flathead in the area but according to the dnr fisheries office there are no flats above the coon rapids dam. the only way I would change my mind is if I caught on or witnessed one get caught.

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