7-13-2012 Fri (7:00 PM – 12:00 AM)
Weather:
(2200) calm, rain and scattered thunderstorms, 78˚, 29.97 falling
Water:
6.52 falling, 47.8 kcfs, 82 ˚, clear
Location:
Mississippi R. Pool 8 (Dresbach)
Caught:
Bait – approx., 12 bluegills, 2 flat heads 5 & 17 lbs., channel cat 8 lbs., 3 small mouths 15, 16, 18”, 2 largemouths 16 & 17”
Partners:
myself
Comments

Last night was a flat head finding trip in an area I do not normally fish. The first order of business was catching about a dozen pan fish for bait. This part of the evening took about ten minutes. The bluegills seem to be everywhere this summer and most of them are pretty good size. The key to the bluegills is to look for rocks and wood slightly out of the main currents. Artificial baits will probably account for bigger fish
After an ample supply of bait was swimming in the live it was time to look for bass. I did very well in the brief amount of time I fished for them. Both largemouth and small mouths were caught. Both species were caught off rocks, with the smallmouths showing a preference for areas with much stronger current.
The final species of the night was flat heads. I fished a side channel with an average depth of around ten feet, with downed timber. Most spots I fished were rather difficult to fish on account of all the floating celery grass. The grass catches the line and is forced down to the sinker and the bait, and you end up getting a ball of weeds covering your bait. This situation is not good for flatheads, you see they are meat eaters and they don’t care to eat a salad before they dine on the main meal. I ended the night with two flat heads, the first one about five pounds and the second in the upper teens. I also caught a channel cat that was probably very close to ten pounds.
On a side note I get quite a few anglers inquiring about where, when and how to fish. My best advice is to get out and explore, don’t stay in one spot very long and search, search, search. I probably enjoy exploring and trying new spots more than I like to catch fish. If I am not catching fish I am moving, period. One other bit of information I can give you is take a look at my blog (fish-hunt365.blogspot.com) except for a couple months when I neglected it, I post an entry for every day I am on the water or in the field. There are now over 600 days on it, and to the best of my ability, good or bad I account for what I have caught or bagged. I myself look over the entries to see what the conditions were last year at this time and how the fish were responding.

Observations:

The river is still dropping, but the flow and water temperature are still quite high. The main channel areas are looking to be in great conditions.