Jump to content
  • GUESTS

    If You  want access  to member only forums on FM, You will need to Sign-in or  Sign-Up now .

    This box will disappear once you are signed in as a member.

Extreme Flathead Action!


Recommended Posts

What a weekend of extreme flathead fishing!

Why Extreme? 'Cause I spent a couple nights in the boat with Rob (rushing) fishing flatheads on the Minnesota River. Rob knows extreme! smile.gif

I was not really sure what kind of a bite we were going to have, if we were going to have a bite. This is the earliest in the year I have started fishing flatheads but spring came early, water temps were way up, and the river levels are looking good so it was worth a shot.

We motored upstream checking out likely spots. A couple things we paid attention too while snooping around was the current and water depth. There is a lot of shoreline wood in the water right now but most of this wood is getting blasted by strong current. We were looking for likely areas out of the current with adjacent deep water.

The first spot we settled on Friday night was golden. At 9:28pm, I thought I noticed a thump on my rod and the tip started to pulse up and down. Hmmmm... somethings fooling around with my bullhead I thought. I picked up my rod and tried to feel for the fish but it didn't feel right, this sneaky devil was swimming upstream on me. I reeled up until I could feel weight and drove the hook home. Game on! Good fish! Didn't really think it was a big one until it surfaced out from the boat, kicked his tail, and pulled out 10 yards of line. LOL! I love this stuff. smile.gif

1st Flathead Outing of the year + 1st "Run" of the year = 1st Flathead of the year.

27lbs and change none-the-less. smile.gif

050507hanson27lbflatheaoz0.jpg

That fish right there made my night. It didn't matter if I caught another fish all night but that wouldn't be the end of the action. We located the boat closer into shore in shallower water and had action almost immediately.

The next fish is not much to brag about but proves the 1st wasn't a fluke. smile.gif

050507hanson10lbflatheacc0.jpg

I had 2 more "runs" on Friday night. Missed on one of them and hooked up with another good fish that came unbuttoned halfway back to the boat. Dang! Could have been a real good night if I kept that one on.

Anyway... Saturday found me sleeping in until 1pm at which time Rob and I headed out to catch more bullheads. We were windmilling the bullies in left and right when Rob had to go and catch an "eater" sized walleye. Was this a sign of things to come? Maybe... smile.gif

Back on the river, it was scouting time again. We could have fished the same spot back to back nights but we wanted to do some more exploring. What we were looking for was more of the same, slack water areas with deep water nearby.

We did find some of these spots but I also found something I wasn't looking for... a trophy marbleye. smile.gif

This is the 3rd trophy walleye I've caught with catfish techniques- 8' Berkley Reflex rod, Garcia 7000C3 reel, 80lb PowerPro line, 10/0 Gamakatsu Octopus hook, and a lively little bullhead. smile.gif My bait was sitting in about 2' of water 3' away from the shoreline when I had a zinging little clicker run. We took a quick pic of a great incidental catch and let her go! Big smiles for me. smile.gif

Incidental 27" Walleye on a lively Bullhead

050607hanson27inchwalleer3.jpg

This spot we were fishing was not choice #1 for the night so we made a quick move to our "choice" spot, anchored up right against the shoreline, and I pulled this small flat out within 5 minutes of anchoring. Love it when that happens! Must have been my lucky new life jacket. smile.gif

050607hanson5lbflatheadtp1.jpg

We sat for awhile getting pounded by wind and waves. I need to mention that I hate wind! Part of the reason we tied right to shore was to keep the boat stationary, and therefore keep our baits stationary. Close to shore was probably good as this spot was a steep cutbank and I was still registering 8'-9' of depth 2' away from the bank.

About the time the grill and brats came out, Rob decided to take things to the extreme and get a flathead in the boat. Atta boy!

Rushing w/ an Extreme Action 24lb Flathead grin.gif

050507rob24lbflatheadsk0.jpg

What a great way to start out the summer! This trip was either beginner's luck or a sign of things to come, lets hope its the latter.

Thanks for hopping in the boat Rob! Was an awesome 2 nights of fishing!

NOTE: Exact Fishing Locations not disclosed to protect the innocent. smile.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great to see ya had a good time this weekend Hanson... I have tuesday and Wendnesday off. Hopefully I'll have something to post.

Eric

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looks like its time to go find some bait then! grin.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

nice fish and sounds like a blast now I just have to finish rebuilding my carbs on my merc and will be headin down that way soon I can only pray for a night like that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'll be out there.....

Anyone else getting out tonight or this weekend??

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'll be out Friday and Saturday for sure. Got my bullies already

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Maybe see ya out there.

I haven't found anyone to fish with yet for the weekend. All my buddies seem to want to go fishing on the lakes for garbage fish.....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.


  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • leech~~
      Nope not me.  May want to go nextdoor and ask around?  
    • smurfy
      Looks to me like Leech brought his chair home!!😅😆
    • Brianf.
      I'm not there, so I can't tell exactly what's going on but it looks like a large area of open water developed in the last day with all of the heavy snow on the east side of wake em up Narrows. These two photos are from my Ring Camera facing north towards Niles Point.  You can see what happened with all of snow that fell in the last three days, though the open water could have been wind driven. Hard to say. .  
    • SkunkedAgain
      Black Bay had great ice before but a few spots near rockpiles where there were spots of open water. It looks like the weight of the snow has created a little lake in the middle of the bay.  
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the south end...   Thanks to some cold spring weather, ice fishing continues strong for those still ice fishing.  The bite remains very good.  Most resorts have pulled their fish houses off for the year, however, some still have fish houses out and others are allowing ATV and side by sides.  Check social media or call ahead to your favorite resort for specifics. Reports this week for walleyes and saugers remain excellent.   A nice mix of jumbo perch, pike, eelpout, and an occasional crappie, tullibee or sturgeon being reported by anglers. Jigging one line and using a live minnow on the second line is the way to go.  Green, glow red, pink and gold were good colors this week.     Monster pike are on a tear!  Good number of pike, some reaching over 45 inches long, being caught using tip ups with live suckers or dead bait such as smelt and herring in 8 - 14' of water.   As always, work through a resort or outfitter for ice road conditions.  Safety first always. Fish houses are allowed on the ice through March 31st, the walleye / sauger season goes through April 14th and the pike season never ends. On the Rainy River...  The river is opened up along the Nelson Park boat ramp in Birchdale, the Frontier boat ramp and Vidas boat ramp.  This past week, much of the open water skimmed over with the single digit overnight temps.   Areas of the river have popped open again and with temps getting warmer, things are shaping up for the last stretch through the rest of the spring season, which continues through April 14th.   Very good numbers of walleyes are in the river.  Reports this week, even with fewer anglers, have been good.  When temps warm up and the sun shines, things will fire up again.   Jigs with brightly colored plastics or jigs with a frozen emerald shiner have been the desired bait on the river.  Don't overlook slow trolling crankbaits upstream as well.   Good reports of sturgeon being caught on the river as well.  Sturgeon put the feed bag on in the spring.  The bite has been very good.  Most are using a sturgeon rig with a circle hook loaded with crawlers or crawlers / frozen emerald shiners. Up at the NW Angle...  Ice fishing is winding down up at the Angle.  Walleyes, saugers, and a number of various species in the mix again this week.  The bite is still very good with good numbers of fish.  The one two punch of jigging one line and deadsticking the second line is working well.   Check with Angle resorts on transport options from Young's Bay.  Call ahead for ice road guidelines.  
    • CigarGuy
      With the drifting, kind of hard to tell for sure, but I'm guessing about a foot and still lightly snowing. Cook end!
    • PSU
      How much snow did you get on Vermilion? 
    • Mike89
      lake here refroze too...  started opening again yesterday with the wet snow and wind...  very little ice left today...
    • Hookmaster
      A friend who has a cabin between Alex and Fergus said the lake he's on refroze. He texted me a pic from March 12th when it was open and one from 23rd when it wasn't. 🤯
    • SkunkedAgain
      I don't think that there has been any ice melt in the past few weeks on Vermilion. Things looked like a record and then Mother Nature swept in again.   I'll give my revised guess of April 21st
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.