In Need of a Mpls bullhead spot...Plz?

[Aquaman01]

My old Sherburne County bullhead holes are too far away for me to get to effectively - anybody got one or two to give up? I'll post my old one in trade....

Lake Orono spillway in Elk River. Cast out about 20 yards upriver of the island. They'll hit anything and form a giant cloud in the shallow oxygenated outflow from the dam.

[Fisher Dave]

Rob .. Lake Nokomis.. I think about anywhere, on ... anything. I get mine on the west shoreline. If you hit the big schools you'll have bait for a week in 10 minutes.

[Mr Special]

You should've just gave me a call bud. But Hiawatha has a ton. You remember the creek spot there right and the dock area. Plus right on the SW corner of Hwy77 & HWY62 is a little lake that has tons of them too.

Call me later

[buzbunni]

In the city, Minnehaha Creek is a good bet.

I find 'em anywhere there is some water flow with a barrier preventing upstream movement. Try some of the culverts in Hopkins or St. Louis Park.

[Aquaman01]

thanks guys! nokomis & hiawatha are right down the road. i appreciate it!

phil - my phone is still awol...i'll e-mail you my home # and you can e-mail me your cell# again

[Gopher_Guy]

Has anyone given the creek that runs through Hastings a try? I've never seen anyone fishing it before, I wonder if it has bullheads? I don't even know the name of it. It runs parrallel to hwy 42 and runs underneath hwy 61 as you pass Applebee's.

[Aquaman01]

The kids and I had a blast bullheading!!

Note - Hiawatha and Nokomis are considered 'infested waters' by the DNR and baitfish may not legally be transported from there to other bodies of water.

Infested with what? - I dunno, but we had a blast 'production fishing'! I'd bait and unhook and they'd cast and catch (and eat gummi worms - my corks are sticky now ).

TIP - After finding out that bullhead will throat a circle hook, no matter how big, I switched to a 'hair rig' like for carp, with 17lb mono, a #4 red octopus and a 1/2 crawler.

*snell on a #4 red oct (or whatever)

*tie a 4" piece of stiff, thick mono to the hook shank and slide knot down to the apex of the curve

*clip the mono's long end at an angle to form a sharp point

*spike the 1/2 crawler on the mono

*run the pointed end through the #4 red octopus' eye

*use a lighter to melt a ball on the end of the stiff mono

*mono loop should be secure and if you want to you can pinch a 'v' in it to keep it straight. When you use up a crawler (4 or 5 bullies) just snip off the ball and re-sharpen, repeat until the mono is too short.

The result, with a barbless hook, is fast, simple removal with no more gut-hooked fish.

[Fisher Dave]

contaminated? must be because of the milfoil.. thats too bad, we caught about 40 bullheads in 30 minutes out there yesterday.. I better start eating bullheads?

I have good luck with phelps floaters and a good size leech also.. the leech will work as long as it will stay on the hook.. it doesnt have to be alive. Casting and dragging like fishing for walleyes works very well... only give it a second when you get the bite. Its very rare a bullhead will take them in too deep when you detect the bite immediately.. its when you get lazy and still fish with a forked stick, or use a bait too small they will inhale it immediately.

I caught 2 bullheads at once the other day in the boat fishing walleyes on Nokomis... the 1st one grabbed the bait and it went through the gills and out the back, the 2nd bullhead grabbed the bait.. result... 2 bullheads.. thats a 1st for me with a single hook presentation(not treble or multi hook lure).

[vern]

Hiawatha & Nokomis are"infested" with milfoil. I know the law says that you can't transport baitfish from those lakes, but I don't see the problem if you are going to use that bait on the river. Both lakes are connected to the creek which flows into the river. They are all part of the same system & also "infested". Personally, I still catch a lot of creek chubs out of the creek for flathead fishing on the river. This might not be legal, but I'd like to hear a CO's opinion. - Vern

[Aquaman01]

The 'infested' borders make even less sense when you consider this - you can harvest and transport baitfish on the Minnesota river UPRIVER from the Mendota Bridge, But not DOWNRIVER from it !?!?

Dave - enjoy those 6 15/16" bullheads, man!

[Lunker]

Nokomis/Hiawatha/Minnehaha Creek are all good.

One other lake that has a lot of bullheads, and just about all of them will be legal size is taft lake(some people call it mothers) right off of 62 and cedar.