Catfish through the ice

[Chopper77]

I'm sure its been covered before but what type of structure do you look for to find cats in winter in lakes?

[Notcho]

Deep holes, and off sharp banks. Sometimes just like going after crappies... suspended.

[fishuhalik]

i look for deep holes with methane gas bubbling up. horseshoe is the only lake i've tried for channels. i don't see any reason to try anywhere else

[DangrsDaveO]

I was ice fishing on a small lake close to home. I was targeting walleye. I was in 28 1/2 feet of water. I was getting quite a few perch 5-8 inches in size. Then they stopped biting. So then I dropped the camera down the hole. To my amazement I saw 2 huge channel cats and the perch were sticking to the bottom. I had blood red hook with fathead about 12-16inches off the bottom. I could not get them to bite.

So my question is what type of bait and tackle should a guy be using to get these cats through the ice?

Thanks for advice in advance

[Gordie]

You are close with fatheads for bait.

Chicken liver will work also and pcs of fathead minnows channels can be as finiky biters as crappies so go light and try spring bobbers are the lightest bobber set up you can come up with.

Stucture is deep holes in the lake they tend to scholl up in these holes.

Good Luck

[Rick G]

Sharp breaks that drop into a soft or mud bottom are good places to start. Like Gordie said they are finiky biters most of the time so a good quality spring would work, or a float trimed so it just slightly floats would also do. For bait I find the Lindy Frostees or the Rattlin Flyers work about as good as it gets and as for color you cant go wrong with the glow green or red imo.

[DangrsDaveO]

Do catfish get sluggish during winter or will they put up a good fight? Most of my rods are setup with 6lb Flourocarbon. Is that strong enough? I did talk to one guy and he said that during the summer on this lake that 9-10lbs are common. He knows that bigger ones have been caught.

Should the bait be closer to the bottom or suspended?

Thanks

[Powerstroke]

I recently caught a 21.5" channel cat through the ice and this one hit on a little ice bug with euros for bait. I was fishing pannies and that thing hit like a ton of bricks and fought like a raped ape. Most fun ever.

Once they are hooked, they fight pretty well. Anything you would use for larger pannies or light walleye tackle will be fine. My rig was a Jason Mitchell Meatstick with 3lb braid.

[Brad B]

Do catfish get sluggish during winter or will they put up a good fight? Most of my rods are setup with 6lb Flourocarbon. Is that strong enough? I did talk to one guy and he said that during the summer on this lake that 9-10lbs are common. He knows that bigger ones have been caught.

Should the bait be closer to the bottom or suspended?

Thanks

Channel cats are active year round. it is the flatheads that will just lay on the bottom and sleep away the winter. your 6Lb line will be fine. I run 4Lbs on my channel cat/walleye rod and the fish in the pic was caught on that line and rod.

here is a pic of the channel cat I caught. it was 24 inches and 4 to 5 lbs(didn't weight this one but have caught 24" fish in the summer and they are close to 5Lbs). the line was fine just need to make sure you have your drag set right and let them run if they want to.

this is a pic of the rod I caught it on. I built this rod my self it is 26 inches long and is a medium light action. it has proven it self to be a nice cat/walleye rod.

[TheJigMaster]

Ran into these bad boys while Walleye fishing in a secrect location. Fun time to bring through the ice.

[Rick G]

WOW, I am green with envy . That must have been the fight of a lifetime on ice gear.

[Scott K]

I cant imagine those sleeping fish put up much of a battle?

[bobbymalone]

Whaddya catch 'em on?

*rolls eyes*

blacked out faces?

*rolls eyes again*

sometimes it's best to just let sleeping dogs cats lie.

[DTro]

why black out the face and background here but not on the other site?

If 30 were caught like was said elsewhere, it would be snagging not catching.

[TruthWalleyes]

Snagging ...not cool

[bobbymalone]

why black out the face and background here but not on the other site?

He read the last three posts there...

[TheJigMaster]

What other site??....and how do you figure these were snagged? Like I said Walleye fishing. The face is blacked out do to a request from my friend. Both of these were caught right on the side of the mouth. I know its a lot of fish for you guys to swallow......

[Scott K]

Wow, you must be a pro fisherman or something. Either that or you just have no respect for a hibernating fish. It takes a lot of talent to rip hibernating fish out of the water by snagging them

[SteveD]

Just one more example of why we need a closed season for flatheads. We all know how they winter and how susceptible they are to winter fishing. They stack up like cordwood in their wintering hole, sitting one on top of the other in an almost vegetative state. A "Sportsman" comes along and snags them one after the other. You won't get me to congratulate you on your catch - it is actually pretty disgusting.

[DTro]

Well, believe what you want. There is only one reason for 30 flatheads to be caught in a day during the winter. That is because they are stacked in a pile and you happened to stumble upon them and drill a hole right above them. Drop a camera down and take a look.

I sure don’t expect everyday ice fisherman to know the seasonal habits of Catfish. I’m just informing you that these fish were most likely snagged, and just because the hook is in the side of the mouth doesn’t mean much. The big lips on a flathead is the first place a treble from a walleye spoon is going to grab.

And yes, an unedited picture is on another site along with a report from Lake Pepin

[mrklean]

And yes, an unedited picture is on another site along with a report from Lake Pepin

Shhh Darren that's the big secret spot no one is suppose to know about

[DTro]

To be fair, I personally could really care less that anyone is hooking a flathead through the ice, it’s going to happen, not much anyone can do about that. We have a closed Sturgeon season too, but that doesn’t stop people.

What really bothers me is that there are meat hunters out there that will find a place like this and take total advantage of the situation and kill a 1000 years of fish in a couple of days.

[Rick G]

All I can say is snaging is not too cool . I don't go to that "other" site so I had no idea of how many they got. Just too much good info here for me to stray elsewhere

[bobbymalone]

You think those fish would fit up a 10 inch hole?

of course not, but i routinely fish out of a 24 inch hole, just in case i hook a walleye with a foot wide grin.

[brian6715]

I wonder how messed up those fish are even if you released them. I can't imagine it is great for their health to be snagged while hibernating and then dragged up onto the ice.

Sometimes I am sad to associate myself as a "sportsman" when there are these type of actions going on. To this HSOforum, thanks for everything... and please, leave this topic open so it can be used to educate others on what is ethical and what isn't.

Might as well go bear hunting in Ely in February if this is how you act...