Was it slow last night?

[Dennis Steele]

Well... was it?

When you have had a slow night, sometimes it feels good to hear when everyone else had a slow night too.

We only had 3 "runs" and didn't boat a single fish. I'm not going to say "monkey" but we did get the skunk!

The river temps had dropped 6 degrees since the cold front came through the other day. There was also very little activity on the surface, the bats were few and far between and flying low. In addition it was a full moon even though you couldn't see it.

All those signs to me, mean its going to be a slow night.

Anyone else expereince the same?

[Dirk W]

Nope. We had a great night. 5 fish over 60 lbs and one over 70. The best night we ever had. They were jumping in the boat!!!!

[hanson]

Big sigh of relief!!

dtro & I didn't get the skunk but it was very slow. Darren got 2 small flats around 10lbs and we might have only had 2 other runs, and they weren't really good ones at that.

It sure was a big change from yesterday night when all you had to do was have a bait in the water to get a run. I figured that hitting the same spot in back to back nights like you mentioned Dennis was a part of the problem. Oh well... I probably won't be back out on that stretch of the Minnesota in a boat for awhile now.

Water was rising pretty good too. It had come up 3-4 inches between when we launched about 7:30 or so and when we got back to the landing at 1:30am. Started to notice a small amount of debris (sticks & small branches) floating downriver as well and one MASSIVE log right in front of the landing. Thank the lord I was running the spotlight and spotted that log. It would have been very tough to spot as it would have been in the fog layer right on top of the river.

[DTro]

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Nope. We had a great night. 5 fish over 60 lbs and one over 70. The best night we ever had. They were jumping in the boat!!!!

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Dirk.....are you serious?

If so can we see some pics

[Dirk W]

There was no Devil symbol so I did the best I could...just giving Dennis some grief.

"Ditto" describes our night...two smaller fish and a run or two.

[katchaser]

Dennis

I think I can make you feel better.

I have fished 8 nights in the last 3 weeks and have not had a single flathead run.

[Random guy]

Friday night was nuthin fished from 4-11pm and not one tap or tug, the most action was a bat flying into the line.

Last night I fished from four until midnight and picked up two flatheads; one about three pounds and another about 4-5 lbs. MONSTERS! Tucked under a tree up super shallow and caught on the smallest bullies in the bucket. I had to drop the bait on their heads to get a bite. Pretty slow.

[Mrkeb]

Slow here too. one clicker run, one tapper. one fish. small guy at what i would liberally guess to be 3 lbs?? you arent alone out there.

[Mr Special]

It night started out great. 8:45pm it took a whole 5min to get my 1st run and it was a screamer. Turn off clicker, engage reel, followed the rod tip down and Whack. It felt pretty nice for the 1sec I had it on. Thought I broke off but somehow just didn't get a good hook in it.

Then about 10:30 got another run, but not as good. Got a good hookset, and landed it #4. 12:30am got another good run but never got a chance to even set the hook. Waited about 15min to see if it would come back but nothing. Finally check the bait and got robbed.

3 runs, one small flatty = beats sitting at home.

Good luck

[DARK30]

Nope...not slow at all. Couldn't keep the little rascals off my line. Smallies, walleyes, channels, crappies, sunnies, sheeps...all on a shad rap fishing in my waders...... Now back to more serious things!

[I Da Man]

We had a decent night...a 40, 33, and a few under 12... But we generally fish closer to the dam than you Dennis.

Getting ready for Sunday Night Flathead Warfair!

[Caesarfishinguytoo]

Well, I am not sure if this is slow or not but me and my brother decided to give this flathead fishing a try after reading many of the successes you have all had.

We had a total of 5 runs and were able to land 3 fish. I caught the first that went about 5lbs to 7lbs. He then was able to land the next one that originally we thought was about 10lbs, but after reviewing some more pictures here we might have been a little conservative and that one might of been closer to 15 lbs. I caught the 3rd and last of the night, once again we were guessing 15 lbs, but we now believe that one could of been closer to 20lbs. These are some fun fish to catch and we had a blast in the rain and cold.

We are hooked and can't wait until our next outing.

All three fished were released to be caught again and hopefully grow into one of those 40 to 50 lbs range that are being caught.

We had been didling around with the idea for the last 2-3 years but never took it seriously enough, but yesterday everything fell into place.

We took a shot on a small pond that I thought might hold some 5 to 7 inch bullies and it did, caught 10 of those and hit the river. 8:30pm we had our first run and first fish. Although a small one - we are hooked and are already planning our next excursion.

Cya,

Geo

[Dennis Steele]

I Da Man, You just don't count.

Ceasar,

Was that you at the launch when we went by?

[Guest]

It was bad yesterday and worse today.. I had a heck of a time catching bullheads yesterday let alone anything that could eat one!

We had 1 sneaker this evening that grabbed the bait and ran under the boat.. I was frustrated by 10:30 and only 2 bullies left in the bucket.. voted to come home, eat food, and watch a little tv instead on the couch!

I hate full moons.. I caught more bass today than bullheads.. there is just something wrong with that!

[I Da Man]

This was the first full moon that I can remember that I've had any number of fish to the boat. Seven total...no biggies, 17# was the largest.

My guest, Kevin connected most everytime but his friend Shauna missed over her fair share of runs.

We actually had three fish in the boat prior to sun down...goofy weather...surface temp at 68 degrees!

[nitefisher]

i talked to a few people and there not doing well know were not even on the boats. theres fish here and there ,i think they all dug a hole and crawled in. this weather is playing a big role. i chose the same option you did the couch and tv yesterday they were'nt even biteing on the small rivers like the chippewa.

[Kurt Paulsen]

Matt Johnson took me out to lake tetonka in the morning... fished 4 hours, caught 1 crappie. I went out flatty fishing in the evening. Fished 4 hours, nothing. I would call that a slow day.

[Caesarfishinguytoo]

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Ceasar,

Was that you at the launch when we went by?

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That was not us!! We found a place to fish from shore that we thought might hold some fish! We had tried last year around the boat launch in the Chaska area with no success, but we never really pursued them that hard or correctly, but thanks to all the tips and information on the site, we went after them the right way on Sat/Sun and had what we thought was great success! If that was a slow night, we can't wait for a better night!!

cya,

Geo

[mplspug]

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We actually had three fish in the boat prior to sun down...goofy weather...surface temp at 68 degrees!

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I wish when I checked the forecast I was going to see a 95 degree high this week. The only good thing about the water cooling is that it has to go back up. It's not as fast as I would like, but it should be enough to make them more active. The flathead fishing was pretty hot there at the end of May, when the water temp raised rapidly. I might have to hit it Wednesday, if I get my dump done.

I was thinking about going out last night, but had no confidence with the cooling water and the full moon.

[rushing]

Last night was pretty slow for me considering I was at work. Slow or not I am hitting the river tonight!

[mplspug]

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Last night was pretty slow for me considering I was at work.

Slow or not I am hitting the river tonight!

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I wish I could do that. I have a project that needs to be done. So if I go out for flatheads and come up empty, I feel guilty that I didn't work on the project!

[I Da Man]

I took a catfishing newbi out yesterday...man..if he would have hooked into all his whiffs!

Most fish were we were fishing came before sundown.

This was a new area (for me) with a pile of rocks, good currant near by...deep and shallow water. I'm sure there's big fish there...

...'course in all fairness...we were yapping too much...sometimes it's nice to just talk with a friend having fishing as a secondary assignment...Kinda reminds me of a quote from a famous cat guy...Otis Toad Steele...

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Catching is so over rated.

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Enjoy the time on the water guys! With good friends..."size does not matter!"

Hanson? Can you post that pic here???

[hanson]

Brian-

Can you send the picture again. I checked it out last night and now I can't access it anymore. My phone doesn't have picture viewing capability but I can retrieve it from Cingular's HSOforum. Now its not there anymore.

[mplspug]

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I took a catfishing newbi out yesterday...man..if he would have hooked into all his whiffs!

Most fish were we were fishing came before sundown.

This was a new area (for me) with a pile of rocks, good currant near by...deep and shallow water. I'm sure there's big fish there...

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I suspected a day bite (well maybe not mid day) would be on with that big old moon now. Thanks for the info on the structure/pattern. For those of us who have limited time to spend chasing these fish, it sure helps with location selection. Especially when we do it from shore and moving around is not exactly an option, as much as it is a chore.

[Dennis Steele]

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.man..if he would have hooked into all his whiffs!

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Must have been trash fish like walleye! You did take us to a walleye spot after all.

We did have a good time on the river. And your right, fishing should always be secondary to time well spent with friends.