Getting ready for weekend. Anyone else.

[Shack]

I little good weather, a little rock and roll and a beer or two. AHHHh spring! Getting boat all ready for Sat.. Come he11 or high water, I am going. I all ready have baby sitter and wife is kinda ok with it. Ah well, the batteries are charing, the maint is done. All I need is for weekend to come. I do not care if we catch a fish or not, I just want to go. I think we are going to motor up Minnesota a bit fomr Mississippi and try back water's if any are left.

Going to try live bull heads and jig's. Going to graph untill we find them. Any feel shallow is the way to go. I figure with the warth change, they might be shallow. Well i think also it all depend's on the sun shine on Sat.. I am bringing rain gear just in case. Well will post more later.

Keep fish'in

SHACKBASH

[DTro]

shack, when I first saw your post in the main forum with your before and after pics, I thought to myself......"that's a cat boat"

Guess I was right

Whatever you do, get out of the current. Find an eddy, current seam, warmer water, if I was you I'd be set up in a creek mouth

Good Luck, I'm headed up to the Rainy to try to beat my 61" from last year.

[Shack]

I have had many of cat trips in this boat. Nothing like sitting back on a summer night and hearing rod take drag or bell go off. I have spent whole night in that boat many of time. The only other place I take it is Mille Laces. I like pool 2 because my brother in-law has caught 20's and 30's from shore by swing bridge. On Sat. the first stop is at Elk River dam from shore. We will get our fill of bull heads in about 20 minutes (never fished with bull heads before) and head'in down to St. Paul. I am kinda hopeing for low pressure change. I would like sunny and high, but seems like cats bite better after a week of warm weather and a sudden hit of low pressure. I am not Dave Dahl or nothing, but it looks like storms and about 70 deg.. I am pumped. Are you head'in to Rainy River this weekend? If you are hope you get a bigger cat. You have peaked my intrest in going up there for cat's, if I am right about Rainy River.

[Flaco651]

Dtro is talikng about Lake Sturgeon. There is an event called the "Sturgeon Excursion" going on this weekend on the Rainy. Wish I could make it up there for that one. I'm sure I will be out chasing Channels around the cities for a lil' while though...

[Shack]

Well, took boat out for test run. Ran her wide open for about 15-20 minutes on Little Elk up in Zimmerman. I heard it was going to be 80 some deg.'s this weekend. Any one else hear this? How are river’s for debris? I think we might be going to Cedar Ave area on Minnesota River. How is this area? I had a friend say we were nut's for thinking of launching at Lillydale ramp. Well we are going any way's. Bringing cat polls and walleye rigged poll's. Will bring white bass rigged poll's as well. Will post more in future.

[bgreen82]

Quote:

---

I heard it was going to be 80 some deg.'s this weekend. Any one else hear this?

---

weather channel desktop says 73 and 69 for sat. and sun. respectively with 50% chance of rain on sat. and 30% on sun.

[hanson]

Quote:

---

How are river’s for debris? I think we might be going to Cedar Ave area on Minnesota River. How is this area?

---

Ummm... rivers are slowly dropping so debris shouldn't be that bad. When we were out last weekend, there was very little debris. A few small twigs, branches, chunks of bark, etc but no real big floaters. Obviously you should always pay attention but it wasn't that bad.

[Shack]

Hanson,

Thanks! That is what I thought, because you guys never mentioned any thing about debris. I think we are going to launch at Lillydale and head up Miss. to Minn. (take a left).

We will head up Minn. River until we get in back water areas. We are going to hit water around noon and fish into the evening. Hoping for 80 deg... I heard on 1500 this morning that is a possibility. Sounds like it is going to be nice until just after dark, with possibilities of rain in early a.m... Tied my first Uni to Uni last night with my new pp line! It was never a fan of the "splice", But when tied correctly it seems strong as no knot at all. I followed directions off of pp line web site. Also I like how it sits in spool. You can not even see it. I used gloves when tying knot, this is a good idea because pp line cuts like a knife on flesh. All polls are rigged and going to do some maintenance on S.U.V. to night. Really pumped to get down there this weekend! Thanks for the info.

SHACKBASH

[DTro]

Good Luck this weekend.

Another knot to try is the albright. I find it pretty easy and works well with different diameters.

Albright Knot

[Shack]

Well, went out tonight and caught my bait for Saturday! Got 14 in about 45 minutes. Here's the batch. They are around 2"-5".

We will be armed with all types of bait. We will see what they are biting on and further that. Originally, we were not going to get out until around noon. Things changed for the better to night and we will be down their around 9-10:00 am.. Going to give it all we got and hopefully put me on the map for the "King of Cat's 2007". Well if you are going fishing this week, good luck. Will report after we get back, hopefully with pic's.

SHACKBASH

[Shack]

Well! We went. We got around 10 fish. Most were sheep head. I did get into a cat or two. I got a very nice "CHANNEL". As I was trying to weight it, it fell of scale and went into water. I was able to measure it, I do not know if this is legal for “King of Cats 2007”. Here goes the pic’s!

Her is the smallest!

Here is a 10 plus pounder carp!

Life on the S.S. Shackbash!!!!!

[ec30_06]

Nice "blue" cat.

[Shack]

I do not think the last pic went threw. I will repost "Life on the S.S. Shackbash.

[DTro]

Nice channel cat Shack.

There are no "blue" cats in the Minnesota or the Mississippi in our area. There may be a few, but very very rare. There are lot of claims, but nothing confirmed.

A blue cat will have a straight anal fin with certain number of rays (25-30 or something like that). A channel will have a rounded anal fin (like your picture) with less rays (less than 25 I think).

No matter, still a nice fish.

[Shack]

That is what I figured. This cat was bluer than all get out. The photo does not do it justice. But I never had caught a blue before, only flats and channels. So it is a channel. Their was confusion with in our boat when I caught it, about what it was. I figure the bright color of "blue/purple" might be a spawning tactic for channels. Sorry I could not weight it, but I did not really care. This trip was first of many for cats. Already started planning another trip for next weekend. Will let you know if that occurs. Good luck!

SHACKBASH

[hanson]

Thats a channel cat.

There is about a .0001% chance that you will catch a blue cat in Minnesota. There is probably a better chance of the Muskie record falling this year than someone catching a blue cat.

As you noted, channels will get a blue/purple hue to them at times. Some of our channels are even a perfect light gray color and that could cause confusion.

Looks like you guys had a great time!

[Deitz Dittrich]

Hanson- not to take over this topic.. but I dont think the chances of the muskie record falling are that far off... I actually think there is a pretty decent chance.. there were some monsters that came pretty close last year....

I will agree that the chance of a blue in MN is slim.

[Lowblazah]

Quote:

---

Well, went out tonight and caught my bait for Saturday! Got 14 in about 45 minutes. Here's the batch. They are around 2"-5".

---

Shackbash,

How are you catching those little guys? worm, bobber and tiny hook? Where do you find them at that size? shore or boat?

[Shack]

I had luck at local dam in Elk River. I just thought of a place were I used to avoid because of bull heads. It took only about 3 crawlers to catch them all. Just threaded worms on hook (I mean threaded, passed hook threw about 4-5 times) and casted out were current and calm met. I used a one once slip sinker. It is amazing how small of a bull head will bite. Good luck!