Night fishing.....been a few years need refreshing

[laguna]

Are the big cats moving up river? I was thinking of pulling an all nighter this Sat. just under the falls/dam area..A few miles down the MN river is also a smaller river flowing into the Mn..

Will the big cats stay near the falls during the night say 11pm thru 6am? or will they venture up feeder streams?

Im new to the forum, heres a little story of why I like Flathead fishing..

I've been away from cattin for 4 years and just getting back into it.

1996 i caught my first flat ever and it was a 47lber

I was living in the twin cities at the time..I went to a bait store near ford parkway dam (minnihaha area). and headed to a park on the MN river about a mile up from the Mississippi..Tossed in my bait about 3 large nightcrawlers packed on a hook (I was a land captain back then ) as soon as I set my rod down to get my sitting area organized my rod when smashed down in the water. I jumped and grab my rod, yanked up and was like holly cow what did i catch. Then the praying started please dont break, did I tie my knot right, did I retie my hook because of nicks in the line, everything that could go wrong went flashing in my mind. 20 minutes later I got the Flathead to the bank. I was with my dog who barked like crazy at this monster flat.I jumped into the water/ mud to grab this Flat from breakin free. With mud and water to my knees I had the Flat secure...The problem I faced was who was going to believe me. Just me and my dog...

I tied the Flat with the 20ft dog leash attach to a log..about 3 ft of water. I flew home (50th france area) found my roomate and said you will not believe what I caught.He jumped up and came along. I stopped and bought a camera and went back to the spot..I told my roomate to just pull on the red dog leash as the Flat was settled to the bottom. He pulled the leash and almost in slow motion the Flat came to the surface and his look was priceless...we took pictures, weighed it with a scale and measured the length..44 1/2"...the scale was an old spring scale and it was hard to get an exact weight didnt want to hurt the fish...The bait store had a picture of me in it and it was in the local fishing newspaper the was sent to all the bait stores..it said something like a new olympic event catfish curling with my picture and me holding the fish... that summer was the 96 olympics in atlanta...

Thats how I was hooked...I fish the next 8 years off and on for flats, caught two more in the forties never broke the 50 mark. But like all Flathead guys had a monster that broke away and will never know how much it weighed, stills bothers me to this day....was it 55 or 60 or even a state record who knows.

I turned in my land captain title for a 16 1/2 ft lunker

25hp.....

laguna..

[still floats guy]

Great story. Welcome to FM. Good luck on the overnight.

[tweedlap]

I would fish your old hot spots.

I look forward to more great stories and some pictures.

tweed