Hitting the water tonight..

[Patriotsfan]

A buddy and I are gonna launch at shakopee tongiht and go for the big guys. Later tongiht we got low pressure coming thru which may help! If anyone is out ill be in a small 14ft red lowe with a lil yami on the back. gimme a call if ure out otherwise ill post up the report tonight! Wil be the first time on the river in a boat and first time using bullies for bait. Lets see if all i have learned will pay off!!

[Juan Arellano]

be careful there is a storm coming tonight.

[Patriotsfan]

So we r about 2 miles downriver from the shakipee ramp near a huge snag which I'm sure many of you r familiar with looks like old barge tie up. So it's about 20 feet deep under snag and I'm anchoring about 40 yards up river and casting back right in front of snag. Is this what I should be doing? We got one 8 lb channel on cutbait but not a single hit on my Bullie in 2 hours...?

[alagnak]

Fishing (especially for big cats) isn't automatic. So you've been out 2 hours and caught a channel at 8 lbs I'd say its a good start. It's not even dark yet. Sometimes there are dozens of hours with just a few bites and just a couple fish before you have a power hour (unless you are VERY lucky). Yes, that would be considered luck.

[Patriotsfan]

Ok I was just makin sure that my technique as far as how I'm approaching the snags is correct and I'm not totally ruining my chances by doing this wrong.

[Lance Bainville]

I would say thats a good start. I hope you get to hook into a big one tonight!

[Patriotsfan]

Yeah me too! We moved to a diff location with a river inlet. Just had a decent hit but I figure 8 to 12 will be best time. I'll be keepin it posted!

[Patriotsfan]

Well so far we have tried 3 spots and I'm 0/0 on the bullies but my friend is 3/3 on 5 to 8lb channels. Trying one more deep spot and large snag then callin her a night!

[A.Mechelke]

hook a big one!!

[Lance Bainville]

Try casting one up shallow near the bank.

[alagnak]

Try casting one up shallow near the bank.

Yeah you don't want to be on real deep water once it gets dark. Upriver transitions at the top of holes, shallow water rocky areas, seams, inlets.

What were the channels caught on cut bait?

[Patriotsfan]

Well here are the results.... Got on the water at 5pm moseyed down a couple miles to a spot im sure youre all aware of I was using bullies since I had the braided line and heavy rod setup my buddy used a regular med action with 17 lb test so I set him up on cut suckers and he got a nice one at the first spot and I was fishing from right above the snag throwing into the deep hole in front of it with a bullie and i tried teh rattling crappie bobber trick ive heard so much about. No hits there for me BUT I know it was early.

Moved back upstream 14 mile or so tp moving water inlet and I cast up near the water flowing in at about 5 ft of water as the sun was setting and my buddy threw his out in the middle deeper part and 15 min later BAM another dec size one.

Made it back 3/4 way to the landing on the backside of a 35 ft deep hole i anchored in 4 ft of water and threw right up to a snag with a bullie again.. rod jerked one time pretty hard but no run. spent 30 min there with no hits BUT once again my buddy pulled in another dec size cat from the middle in about 5 ft of water.

I figured the money spot would be on the upriver side of the steep drop off to the hole right upriver from a huge pile of logs and tipped trees.... this is where it gets wierd... So I cast out towards the snag and my bud throws his up closer to shore near the snag. After about 15 min with no hits i tell him to reel in cause im gonna go back to the front of the hole knowing the cats will be coming up to the shallow to feed. As hes reeling his in he realizes that the his whole setup is tangled under logs UPSTREAM OF US and on the opposite side of the boat!! hes like WTFFFF. I said I bet a kitty cat sucked your bait up and swam upstream and we didnt even know it!!

SO I decided to forget the bullies about 11:15 and go to cut bait to try and land something. I get one quick run but by the time I grabbed the rod he let go.

Conclusion to this longgg report.. 1. I learned that I NEED a big spotlight cause a large MAG light aint worth a crap. 2. I learned bug spray would be PRICELESS at sundown as I had on shorts and tshirt. 3. I learned that there seems to be deep holes upwards of 35 ft deep on sharp turns in the river. 4. Find inflowing streams and current! 5. rivers are never 100% safe BUT if you end to stay towards the middle of the river most obstacles are out of reach.

My definition of a successful night.. Altho I did not catch a single fish its fun to be on the water BUT the best part was watching my buddy who is finally at the age of 31 flying under my wing and learning how to fish and being able to watch HIM catch the 3 largest fish hes ever caught in one night was the best part.

Till next time!!

[Patriotsfan]

oh and if these are not channel cats lemme know in case im a RITARD (the hangover)