Coralville Ice Out Channel Cat

[JIvers]

I hiked out above the 965 bridge on the Coralville flood plain this morning. Things looked good: the water levels are low and steady, we've had several days of sunny weather, and the ice is completely out. That usually means a good channel cat bite this time of year. Usually.

I did not get a hit this morning on sour shad guts or raw shrimp. I also counted a grand total of three boats on the floodplain, and maybe three other people on shore. I did not talk to anyone out there, but the other people on shore and the boats all moved fairly regularly. I did not see anything caught.

Given that this was a weekend morning with decent weather, I am guessing the ice out channel cat bite is off this year. If people were catching lots of fish over the last week or two I would expect to have seen fifteen boats and thirty people on shore this morning.

I won't be out above the 965 bridge again this spring; the walleye should be biting on the Iowa River, and the white bass will be showing up soon. The ice looked to be completely out on Lake Macbride this morning, so another week or two and the bite there should be picking up.

[JIvers]

Ice season is done, so time to think about open water channel cat on the Coralville flood plain above the 965 and I-80 bridges.

Water levels are low on the res., and in my experience that makes it easier to find the catfish after ice-out.

I have not heard anything at all about the bite yet, but if the weather permits I will get some shad guts and raw shrimp and find out this weekend.