Cats in lakes

[HuskerBen]

I'm going to be fishing a lake with a decent population of channel cats. I've always fished rivers from the shore, and have a pretty good idea where to fish on a river. But I've never been too successful in a lake situation. This time, I'll be on a boat, but that doesn't help if you don't know where to look. Does anyone have any pointers on finding cats in lakes? Any techniques that work better in lakes than rivers?

Ben

[Mr Special]

I've only fished a few lakes for cats, but drift fishing about a foot off bottom seems to work pretty good. I would use a 3Way rig or DropShot. That's what most southern cat gusy use. Sometimes they'll even be suspend.

Good luck

[HuskerBen]

I was planning on doing a little drifting. I also got some cigar floats for this occasion. I'll let you know what happens.

Ben

[so haaad]

You fishing the Horseshoe Chain? Try shallow, in bays, or current breaks with cut bait. Lindy rigs on the bottom work well. Actually at times they will hit just about anything, including cranks, jigs, whatever.

[BlackwaterStout]

Coves Coves Coves...........

Not sure what your Minnnisota lakes are like but our Reserviors here in WV have numerous coves from all of the feader creeks and streams that enter the lake. Those coves are prime locations for catching catfish. Especially Flatheads if you have them. They enter the shallow water coves at night to feed on baitfish.

[Carp-fisher]

I used to fish lake cats all the time down in Iowa. The key for me was fishing wood structure. If you can find downed trees near deeper water (8' or so), you should be able to catch small to medium size channel cats all day. Just pitch some bait in there and hold on. Another thing about lake channel cats: I always had better action using as little weight as possible. My favorite presentation was a small piece of chicken liver unweighted.

[catman71]

If you are out on the chain, you can't beat the lilly pad edges or any brush or downed trees in the water, i use a slip bobber about 3-5 feet deep and fish very close to the structure. Frogs work well, crawlers, minnows, Berkley cat bait works well for me.

You might want to bring a cold beer this weekend.

[mplspug]

Quote:

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You might want to bring a cold beer this weekend.

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A cold beer? That's just wrong. Bring a case!

[HuskerBen]

Yeah, a case would be more appropriate. There's nothing more worthless than one beer.

I'm not fishing the horseshoe chain, although I've been looking into it. My buddy and I were out for about five hours, and caught nothing but northerns. Don't get me wrong, that's great, but I think I'm the only guy in the state who would rather catch a channel cat than a northern.

Ben

[Crawlerman]

Nah. Northerns are a lot of fun to catch but are dump to eat (I hate those stupid Y bones).

Nothing beats catfish. Not even walleye, and yes I said it. Get some 1-3lb channels on a stringer and its worth the extra effort of skinning them. I won't eat anything out of the mississippi though. Lake cats can be tough, but can be found after dark when a lot of the other species get less active.

You have to fight bullheads, of course to get at them- but I've caught a few off of Tanners in Oakdale. I quit going there because the grumpy residents of the trailer park kept calling the cops to kick us off the acess

[HuskerBen]

I'm glad someone agrees with me on the whole catfish vs. walleye thing. Maybe it's just because I grew up in a catfish state, but to me, walleye doesn't hold a candle to catfish on the table.

Tanners, huh? I checked it out on the DNR HSOforum, but haven't had time to try it out yet. Has anyone fished Bennet in St. Paul? I've heard there are some good kitties in there, but that claim came from a bass guy, so I don't know...

Ben

[Crawlerman]

Supposedly Silver lake (North St Paul, just north of Tanners) has them too. And their acess is open till 11pm. But the lake gets so weedy that more often then not its simply impossible to get a bait down into them. Tanners is usually pretty weed-free year long due to its depth and bottom composition (mostly gravel)

[so haaad]

Bennett is more of a pond than anything else and gets pretty weedy in the summer, just like Silver. There's a fishing pier on the southwest side. There are definitely fish in Bennett. Cats, bass, pannies, carp, bullies, etc. But you might be better off finding a more productive spot.