Coldwater Cats

[DARK30]

I've been hearing about a few Cats being caught in our frigid waters....Just wondering if anyone is targeting cats right now and if your finding any.

I think a person is more likely to catch Channels in colder water. Flatheads can be had if you can find their wintering holes and then get them to bite.

I guess I can face the fact that I got a few months to go now before I hear the clicker again!

WET NETS!

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cast,cast,cast,cast......

[catfish1]

Dark30 I know how you feel about not hearing that clicker for a while. But I'm having some fun with the eyes and northerns and a few crappies. At the head waters of the DesMoines River about 500 feet down from the dam. They are not cats but its fishing.

catfish1

[DARK30]

Hey Catfish1, E-mail me will ya? You can click on "DARK30" on top of the Catfish page.

Thanks!

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cast,cast,cast,cast......

[vern]

I think I'm done fishing cats for now, but I'll be out on the ice soon. I've been ice fishing channel cats for a few years & it's a blast! They'll really put a bend in a small ice rod & strip a lot of drag. I fish with jigs & cut-bait over some of the deep wintering holes. Surprisingly, some cats will suspend 10-15 feet off the bottom so a flasher is important. I like to attract them with some aggressive jigging until I see them on my vex. Then I'll hold it still or with a slight quiver to get them to bite. I can't wait. Vern

[Guest]

Ya we do not want to give up yet, even if it is work to get them to bite.

Try a jig (ball type or Rocker) and a pinched off minnow, ball of worms, or small hunk of cut bait. They are in the holes near flowing water but off the flow.

You may need to sit on them a while to get a tickle, seldom a thud in cold water. They do like glow jigs more then anything is what I have found. Dusk is often the best time or just after.

Nothing too fast and furious for action, it can be done, even after the ice hits.

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Backwater Eddy..><sUMo>

Backwater Guiding
"Ed on the RED"
(701)-281-2300
[email protected]

http://ed-carlson.fishingbuddy.com

[catfish1]

Backwater; That sounds good. Will give it a try and of cource I always try for a catfish. and maybe I'm not trying long and hard enough. But when I see someone getting eyes and northerns. I just have to try and get something.lol I have some sucker fillets in the freezer and plan on trying for some channels throw the ice. and actualy try and get them to bit and not just snag them. Good luck fishing

Catfish1

[catfish1]

Will that did it good. I have just got all excided about going cating through the ice. All the years I've been catfish I've never got a cat to bit though the ice and with all the info I have been getting I think this is the year it will happen. and lake shetek does have some channels in it.

[Guest]

Hey vern
I would like to hook up with you if you go ice cattin this winter.I think you mentioned the lake that you have fished for them and have been thinking of trying it myself but it would be fun to fish together anyway.

[vern]

Hey Fishhead, let's do that. I'll send you an e:mail when we get some ice and can get out there. A couple of years ago we took the boat up in December & had to break through some thin ice to get to our spot. We vertical jigged cut-bait in about 30'. It was super cold, but it was pretty cool catching cats in December surrounded by ice chunks. We were inspired by an In-Fisherman article where they did that. Very fun. Vern

[Guest]

Tulabie (sp?) and Cisco are good cut baits under the ice guys, especially on lake and reservoir systems.

------------------
Backwater Eddy..><sUMo>

Backwater Guiding
"Ed on the RED"
(701)-281-2300
[email protected]
http://ed-carlson.fishingbuddy.com

[Ozzy169]

Someone call the cops, River Rod's out of the clink and the first thing he wants to do is go cattin!! Does he not know that it's killin time, not cattin time.

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Get 'er done

[TG]

I bin told about a 20# cat below the Ford dam on the Mississippi, was caught last week
on a jig and a minnow!

[erikwells]

Fished before work this a.m. Threw out a lindy with a fattie. I went to pick it up and there was some weight there so I set the hook. It didn't move. After a minute or two I caught a 26 inch channel cat. Boy did he pull. What a great fish. How much do you figure he weighed?

[Crawlerman]

Yeah.. someone mentioned on the Carp fourm that cats bite under the ice. I did not know that. I thought they hibernated.. I would be curious on how one would go about catching them.. what baits to use; where to look, etc. There are several lakes I know that are stocked with channel cats in this area that I caught a few out of this summer. Also; do tip-ups work? And does anyone know the answer to my other question while were at it: do carp bite through the ice?

[erikwells]

I have caught catfish, bullheads, and dogfish through the ice. I can't say I have ever caught or seen a carp caught through the ice. This is probably due to where carp go after the water temps drop. They tend to move to shallow (5 feet or so) areas that are muddy and once held lots of weeds. This is what I have learned talking with the folks that actually due carp harvests in the winter time pulling nets under the ice.

[Crawlerman]

Ah.. so I suppose they would be too spooked in that shallow water to be caught? Its an idea though... Maybe they'd be catchable with tip-ups in the shallow water..