Catfish dreams

Well I finally made it out with my good buddy Pete to fish the Minnesota last Thursday.  He bought a G3 jet a few years ago and has really figured out how to catch channel and flathead catfish.  Pete has chased many big fish which still includes spending summers guiding in Alaska east of Bristol Bay.

The bite had been slower than normal with the temperature, high water, and moon phase working against us but we had it scheduled so we had to go.  We hopped around to a few places tying off to tree limbs looking for sharp breaks and hungry fish.  Flathead rods had 4"-8" bullheads hooked through the back and channel cats had deadbait.

It was slow to start as expected but it was a nice night, the grill was going and the beer was cold.

Finally we got a few bites and action was fast for about a 1/2 hour.  Now I grew up set-line fishing on the lower Wolf River.  There were many a summer morning when we would take the 76 Lund out and be pumped to have 3 10lbers on the line.  But that wasn't fighting them in the dark, with head-lamps, by brush with fish pulling drag out.

The first nice one was about 17lbs.

The second big boy was my biggest flathead ever - 41 inches and 30lbs. 

He still had lots of fight when we let him go and Pete got a little wet.

We got off the water around midnight

We made it home late but mainly because we were waiting in the McDonald's drive-thru for the shake machine to fire back up (did get 4 free meals passes, 2 of which are on a hand-written piece of cardboard).  It was a blast and something anyone who likes to fish would enjoy.  Pete's in "Cat-Leauge" and he knows the river and has a lot of guide experience - you won't be disappointed.

Hot Muskie Action

Matt and I fished the Flambeau River with Cory from Hayward Fly Fishing http://haywardflyfishingcompany.com Friday.  Cory guided me to my first Muskie on the fly - a beautiful 42 incher last November. 

Friday was overcast and mild with very little wind.  The day started out fast and would end up being fantastic.  Right away we saw 3 fish in the first hour and a half.  Two swipes but no hook-ups.  I got a few nice pike however (right on the weed edges).

Since we started with some smaller flies (smaller for Muskie but huge for smallmouth) we also got a  few nice smallies.  All the while we kept seeing Muskies and some really nice ones.

Matt finally landed his first Muskie on the fly with an EP Perch pattern.   (I have some video of him landing it that I need to work on).  He did a great job and it was a huge relief to get that first one in the boat after seeing 7 by that point.

A little later Matt had an attacking take that cut him off instantly (losing the EP Perch) - my reaction was to try and one-up my brother and I got him.  He hit on a jig fly I think which looks like an oversize Whistler.

In total we saw 10 Muskies for the day.  Landed 2 and botched the hook-sets on maybe 3 others.  I had one follow my fly all the way around the back of the drift boat and another snap at the "L" turn at the boat.  Smallmouth fishing is a blast and I do it a lot but there is nothing like Muskie fly fishing and how quickly your heart starting pumping.  This was my second trip with Cory at Hayward Fly Fishing Co and I highly recommend going with them.

Finally shark video

I finally got to finishing the shark video footage - sorry for the delay.  We had about an hour of footage and I was able to cut Jon's down to 6 mins which is longer than I would have liked but there is such quality stuff.  Any enjoy and don't tell me about spelling errors. 

I also took some good pics when we snorkled Looe Key - my camera works under water and I think they turned out pretty well.