Catching Catfish through Ice!

[Born to FishnHunt]

While ice fishing I see many catfish going through on a camera. I've tried everything lure I own and can't get them to bite! I've tried minnows, waxi's, liver, stinkbait, and nothing works. Anyone have any ideas on how to catch them??

[M.T. Bucket]

They just might not be very active in the cold Minnesota waters. I say this because back in Illinois they were not that hard to catch through the ice on waxworms.

[only-eyes]

Where are you fishing? the cats around here(richmond chain) are usually pretty aggresive feeders. They realy go at certain times through out the winter, but you can always pick up a few at any outing. I guess when they are on i like to use a cutbait/bobber suspended, and then a small forage minnow all the way up to a 3/8 buckshot to jig. when they are slow i usually run a smaller waxie or fathead combo aon the bobber and then a waxie/marmooska or fatboy to jig with. your obviously targeting the right areas if your seeing fish. hope this helps.

[Ed Carlson]

Cats do not feed that often in cold water. Try cut minnows on a plain jig or on a rocker style jig. Cut or smash the second half of the minnow so you get a lot of fresh scent in the water. Chumming some smashed minnows can help too.

Jig fairly agresively tell they notice the offering, then slow or stop the motion. Watch their mood on the flasher close. They may eyeball it for a long time before they hit. If they are fired up and ready to feed they may hit as hard as a walleye.

I have sat and watched a pod of channel cats 12' thick and 30 yards long for days and not one would feed. Then I moved to the perimiter of the group and looked for strays, the strays apear to be the feeders. When they are in the pod they tend not to feed, they are in a holding pattern. When they stray off this is a good sign they are hungry and looking for food.

Fresh cut minnows or shiners tend to be the best under the ice...for me anyway.

[Pete Riola]

This video may help.http://iceleaders.com/videoII.html. Cats bite during winter but typically the bites are light. Many times on The Shoe we hook them in the whisker using Angel Eyes and fathead heads.

[rod bender]

Picked up a 27" channel cat last night. Had an 8" hole and his spikes were 8.5" across. Kind of tricky getting him through the hole. Caught on a forage minnow and 3lb test in 42' of water 8'off the bottom. The fish calculator on the internet said he would have went 9.51 pounds. Took a picture and slid her back down to fight another day.

[hanson]

Born to FishnHunt-

I ran up to the Horeshoe Chain on Sunday and hooked up with Corey Bechtold to fish for some cats. We set up over a hole in 20-24' of water and I nailed 3 nice crappies on an 1/8oz Go-Devil & minnow head combo. Not quite what I was looking for but a nice surprise. I kept having fish come onto the flasher screen, sometimes 4 to 6 at a time and hover around my spoon. They would sit there forever and nothing. I eventually switched to something more subtle- hook, sinker, and small piece of cut sucker- and ended up catching 5 cats that way. All the cats were 3-5 pounds. They were VERY, VERY, VERY light biters. They only took the cutbait on a deadstick rod and the only indication of a bite was a 1/4" downward movement in the rod tip when they took the bait.