Beginner's Luck?? Catfishunter lands a nice one!

[hanson]

I can't believe that I was out flathead fishing last night?

This trip, in my mind, was dead before it started but I wanted to give my buddy a course in Flathead 101.

Joel, who goes by Catfishunter on the forums, is a friend of mine from my hometown. He currently lives in Duluth and has really gotten into fishing trout & salmon in the many streams around the Duluth area & north shore. But he's a cat guy at heart fishing the Red Lake River in Crookston, MN for channel cats while growing up. Having never seen, fished, or landed a flathead catfish, he wanted to give it a shot this summer. After seeing my report about the 48 pounder, that was all he could handle and told me he was coming down this weekend.

Joel called right before he left Duluth and I told him it was raining cats & dogs in the cities. He said I don't care, we'll fish under a bridge if we have too. Alright I thought! I also told him the next day the Minnesota was up nearly 3' in the area we would be fishing and he said lets go anyway!

As I was heading out late yesterday afternoon to meet Joel in Shakopee, it started to pour rain again. And did it rain. We met up and decided, what the heck, lets do it. We continued to drive through the rain and I had my fingers crossed that it would let up. Worst case scenario I thought, is we'll spend time in our trucks and wait for the rain to pass, then go fishing. Like a miracle, the rain quit and the sun came out the minute we reached our fishing spot. It was amazing and we never saw a drop of rain the rest of the night.

Knowing that we'd been blessed by the weather, I was hoping there was a little more luck left and we'd get a fish.

So now it was time to have Joel take a lesson from Hanson's Flathead 101. Flathead 101 you ask? Whats that?

Chapter 1 in Hanson's Flathead 101 course is familiarizing yourself with the gear, and getting over the shock of how big the rods, sinkers, hooks, and bait are! Yes, we're using those bullheads for bait and the fish will eat them! Its safe to say Joel was not used to using gear that big & heavy.

Chapter 2 in my course is learning the proper way to kick back in a lawn chair on the river bank, and wait. This part of the course is most difficult to master if you have always been an active fisherman. It was only 8pm and I said we've got 6 more hours of this to go. He was looking a little antsy and was already jumping at every twitch of the rod tip.

There really are no more chapters to the course after the first few since I really haven't mastered the art of catching these critters yet. I can show you how to fish for them, and I can show you how to relax while doing it, and then all heck breaks loose after that!

Joel's rod got thumped good with a 3 second or so clicker run.

"What do I do," he asks?

"I don't know," I told him. "I'm still trying to figure that part out!"

Then the fish started to swim off pretty good and I told him to give it a firm hookset when he was ready. Fish on! This is about the time he starts laughing and grimacing at the same time because this fish was pulling pretty good. He fought him up to shore while getting tangled a couple times around my line and I scooped him up in the Frabill.

Can you say excited! I don't think I've ever seen anyone so excited to catch a fish in my life! The culmination of a spur of the moment road trip from Duluth with little to no chance of fishing without rain results in this 21 lb Flathead Catfish.

Congrats Joel! Glad I could be there for it. Big risks equal big rewards, eh?

[mplspug]

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"I don't know," I told him. "I'm still trying to figure that part out!"

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That's a classic line!

Nice fish!

[DTro]

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Can you say excited! I don't think I've ever seen anyone so excited to catch a fish in my life!

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I betchya I have

BTW, did you stick around "this area" and fish?

[rushing]

Sounds like a good fishing spot Hanson! I wish I was able to fish a spot like that last night!

I got to try out my new rod and camera on this BEAST of a flathead last night. This fish just SLAMMED my bullhead and took out like 2in on a blistering run, wasnt sure if I was gonna be able to stop him. I was lucky I had a couple of friends there to help me land him!!!

[DTro]

Rushing......dandy there, but I think I might have you beat though. I really have no idea how I boated this one alone....it was all a blur

[rushing]

Its funny, they might be small but they already have the attitude and appetite of a 50lber!

[Random guy]

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Its funny, they might be small but they already have the attitude and appetite of a 50lber!

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I think those Flatties are hatched with a five gallon bucket for a mouth.

[Wiskers]

Sweet fish Joel... I knew you would get one soon.. I am only sad I was not there to share the moment. I have not see Joel for a while now.. since he left for Duluth he is a stranger..

congrats Catfishhunter

[Dennis Steele]

I think that Hanson's catfishing 101 has the two most important chapters to catfishing!

The rest really doesn't matter that much.

Good to see you got a fish Joel.

[Catfishunter]

thanks agian for taking me out hanson. i am now adicted and have to get one more this year and i don't care how many hours i have to sit on the bank to get it. see you soon

[PierBridge]

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i am now adicted and have to get one more this year and

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Welcome to the fraternity...

[hanson]

Gary-

I think Joel is already in the fraternity. He pretty much introduced me to catfishing up north on the Red Lake River. This guy absolutely loves, and lives to fish. Guess it was time to pay a favor back to him.