bait

[nitrotmaxx]

what your favorite bait for fishing cats?

[hanson]

Sorry nitro for probably being one of the most inexperienced catters but there are a number of trends I've noticed.

Channels like cut bait as well as others. Crawlers are good early, cut mooneye/goldeye during the summer as well as other cutbaits, and frogs closer to fall. I do know for a fact that channels love cut golden shiner in the winter.

I have no clue about flatties. When I finally get to try my hand, it looks like LIVELY creek chubs and bullheads might be the ticket.

Would the general concensus be cut vs. live for channels & flats??

[Fisher Dave]

SUNFISH ..

Put it on the hook alive for the flatties..

Cut it in a few pieces for the channels...

oops.. thats a different state.

hanson has the basics, let the fish tell you what they want in the end. There should be about 50 threads that are pretty recent, and have tons of great information on bait choices... there are lots of bait possibilities.

[Wiskers]

Flatties I use live suckers, big ones.. or Bullheads.

Channels I use cut suckers, goldeye, wiskerbits,or frogs.

Happy fishing......

[TylerFlom]

where do you guys get the bullheads?

[poutpro]

Do bullheads when they are that little have their stingers yet? It seems like it would be hard to get them hooked or get them out of a bait bucked without getting pricked.

[Gopher_Guy]

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Do bullheads when they are that little have their stingers yet? It seems like it would be hard to get them hooked or get them out of a bait bucked without getting pricked.

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Wear some neoprene gloves.

[poutpro]

A bullhead can sting your through a leather shoe (I know it has happened to me), so I think that they would have no problem going through a neoprene glove.

[Gopher_Guy]

Then just be careful? I've caught lots of bullies mainly when I was a kid and never got stung.

[TylerFlom]

like i said earlier, where do you guys go to get em? Sorry if im being to blunt, but i assume bullhead spots aren't as treasured as catfish or walleye spots Then agian, i dont fish flatheads, so im not sure

[korn_fish]

Quote:

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like i said earlier, where do you guys go to get em? Sorry if im being to blunt, but i assume bullhead spots aren't as treasured as catfish or walleye spots

Then agian, i dont fish flatheads, so im not sure

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A good bullhead spot to a flathead fisherman is like a wild Morel mushroom patch or a ginseng patch.

There are a couple of the small ponds around the metro that have them. The fishing peirs on como gave a few up to me last year. But sporadic at best. A good spot will give you a nights worth of bait in 5 minutes.....those are the spots that I need to keep secret. Who would ever think that they would hear someone being concerned about a bullie population getting over fished

What I look for is creeks that come out of any lake that might have a dam to regulate the water flow. If the water is flowing out, and there are eddies created just downstream, there just might be a bunch of bullies right there. Heck, there could even be suckers or chubs there too!!!!

If you go to the DNR site, you can look at lakes with high numbers of bullie trappings around your area and start there. Finding and Catching ones own bait is sometimes more fun than catfishing.

[hanson]

I'll give out my bullhead spot.

Maple Lake in NW Minnesota. On the east side of the lake, there is a ditch that empties into the lake near the public access. Fish right there and you'll catch Bullheads ALL DAY LONG. Most are perfect for bait with a few larger ones thrown in.

I don't think anyone in the area will kill you for overfishing the bullheads up there.

[BigSkyCatMan]

Cut Red-Horse Sucker for big Channel Cats! Goldeye and White Sucker are also very good options.

[TylerFlom]

i know what my size range is for bullie's, but whats large and whats flathead size?

[poutpro]

How big can bullheads be if you are going to use them for bait in MN?

[Gopher_Guy]

7 inches or less according to the regs. THere is hope that sometime that will be changed.

[riverrat56]

7 inches, to answer another question, i fish my bullheads in lake hanska and the creeks that come out of it, another spot that can be good is the Sawmill on Jefferson lake. Fish them on a bobber and piece of crawler near the bottom or or a split shot rig, there simple to catch.

I've been stung by them before, ya it stings a bit, but its not unbearable and there is plenty of ways to handle them with out getting stung. Just by picking one up you wont automatically get stung, the way to avoid it is to grab them behind the stingers and behind the dorsal fin/stinger, dont try to fold the fins down, keep them upright and then press up behind them. You will rarley get stung doing it this way, and this is comming from a practiced bullhead fishermen.

When there in a bait bucket they can be a bit tricky, use a bait net.

RR56

[poutpro]

Is it legal to get them with a sein net? How do you hook them?

[TylerFlom]

Are those areas you guys mentioned packed with em? I'd like to try them on some ultralight tackle, but not sure if its worth my time to go to the lakes.

[river rat316]

St Francis river in the middle of summer will give up a ton of bullies in about 2 minutes!

[riverrat56]

I hook them right infront of the tail.

TylerFlom-Yes lake hanska is packed with bullheads, you could probally step on them in you wanted to. But i don't think its worth a drive to fish them, im sure you can get them closer to home.

[TylerFlom]

lol forgot to ask, where is Hanska?

[riverrat56]

Hanska is in southern Mn, south of mankato, Nearest town to it is well Hanska, other than that its about 20 miles from New ulm or 15 from sleepy eye.

[Duece X]

My favorite bait used to be chicken liver. Now I use live frogs for those monster cats.

[ikeslayer]

RULES!!!!!Just wondering what the rules are on catching fish i heard seven inches but is that only for bulheads or is that for all fish with a limit??? just wondering

ike