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I read a fair amount of posts here and theres a lot of referance to fish that stay down pull boats,bust rod and reel and torture drags.I would put odds on big Channel cats.A 20 lb Channel will out pull any mid 40" flathead I

have ever caught.Although on Walleye gear your not going to stand much of a chance on a Flathead either! Also channels are much more active in winter than flats.Flats are head shakers and will pump your rod those darn channels pull like hell and never stop!Must be that darn forked tail.Good fishing guys!

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Down there it could be anything...Sturgeon, Paddlefish, Flathead, Channel, big eye, carp, etc. That's the fun part!!

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The sturgeon in my avatar pulled us around for a half hour.We had to fire up the motor to chase it around cause I was running out of line.

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2 years back I watched a guy fight something right next to the Lake City pier for about a half hour. Finally his line broke. He didn't even get a chance to see what it was. Ofcourse everyone in Lake City was watching this from the peer by the time it was all said an done. Probably a Cat or a Carp.

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Every sturgeon I have caught stayed down and didnt want to budge. I thought thats what they always do till one day while we were on the Croix. We watched a guy hook into one and as soon as he set the hook it took a run to the surface and went airborn. This fish put any smallies jumps to shame. It ended up jumping 3 times but the 1st one was awesome. After about 20 minutes he was about 300 yds down stream and I never seen if he actually landed it or not but was a site to see smile.gif. When we fish flats out of the boat I usually pre-tie a PFD to my anchor rope so we can untie and move the fish or chase it if we need to. I have never caught a channel bigger than 12 lbs but a 40 lb flat can outpower about anything out there IMO.

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Yes, those flats to are a force to reckon with.My favorite fish to pursue.We target them on the Mn River.We use pool stick rods 80 and 100lb braids and my budy still manages to snap lines on the hookset I think he needs a rod with a little cushion, course its pretty hard to control the adrenilane if there makin a fast run and your clicker is screaming.We deliberatly cast in the nastiest stuff we can find. If Gramps seen us doing that he would lower the switch.I would still do it however.It to helps to fish during the day. Thats our high percentage areas you can almost put money on that pattern. Only takes several minutes to know if anyones ready to play.

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Madcatter, I have to disagree with you that with walleye gear you dont have a chance. I have caught two flatheads with walleye gear and 6# test one was 47# the other was over 50#. Typical "no", plus alot of luck but it can be done with the right rod and a reel that has a smooth drag.

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I have snagged a couple of large Snapping turtles that there was no way I was going to turn these beasts. Only way I found out what i had hooked was when they went through some shallow water and I saw my lure ( usually a $5.00 Rap) hooked to the front of their shell.

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Your right, it can be done.Provided every thing happens just right.And I would have like to stood in your shoes, that had to be a blast. However I put more consistancy in my game by not relying on "luck".My fishing for Flats amounted to lots of these same "stories" broken line, getting spooled etc until I finaly started realizing, you the person, have to try and control the out come, not luck and not the fish.It also takes lots of work for any kind of consistancy to develop.For me anyways.

The standing world record flat was caught on a zebco thirty three, one of the lowest priced line winders out there.And it was not a planned event this guy was fishing crappies on a Kansas resevoir.Not likly to happen on a yearly bases.

I dont seem to have much in the way of luck therefore I will try and control what I can.

As far as my biggest Flat high fourty inch somthings, they all get released sometimes they get taped and pictured sometimes they dont. I dont keep journals and dont care to.Its more fun just getting out there and trying again even if you strike out and trust me it happens.Me and my fishen pal have been busting our own personal records on a yearly bases though, and it seems as the more radical our fishing approach becomes from the status quo, the better our success.Example our last day on the MN river last year had winds gusting to 60, water devils, with snow and freezing rain for good measure, my idea of a succsefull trip even though we caught only two fish a carp and my pal got his personal best sauger 4 somthing. Im not about to go any other direction without cause.Good fishen boys!

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I have a boat puller story that I have a hard time getting most people to believe. About 10 years ago my brother and I were fishing below the dam in Yankton, SD catching some average sized channels. I felt a little bump and set the hook. I told my brother that this one felt like at least a 10 pounder. It was coming up pretty easy, but still felt a little heavy. We hadn't seen the fish yet but it was close to the top when the tail came out of the water. WooHoo, my first Paddlefish. The fish dove to the bottom and started swimming towards the dam. I was using braided line so I tightened up the drag but it didn't really help. We had two small anchors down but it did end up moving us, not far, but we did get pulled. When it was all over I had a broken boat seat, a broken rod tip and a twisted up hook but I got to see and touch a fish over 5 feet long.

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I dont doubt that, we tell people that we catch 4 foot flat heads out of a river they drive over every day and dont notice.You can show em picts and they scoff like your a master photo manipulator/artist.Its amusing though when you offer to take em fishing, they then act disintrested.Scared of being proven wrong I guess.Oh well more serenity on the river for us I guess, and less pressured fish.There loss my gain!

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