May kitties

[fishgetter]

Ok guys I have fished cats up here in Minn. a few years with some luck. I am from Petersburg Va. I was wondering what is your bait of choice for this time of year. I see alot of you use shad. Where can I purchase them. I am heading over to Alma Sat. And was hoping to hit some. We go every year at this time but we don't do very well till around July. Any advice would help. You guys fish them way differant than we do. We use limb lines and jugs. Or just Chicken liver. We also fish them to eat them not big ones but the 2-3 pounders. I have hit a few monsters up here but they just don't grow up here like down there. Any help with the bait? Thanks

[sparcebag]

Have you tried sucker minnows? Alma Wisc.? by winona? Fish the slow back water close to the main river.Right on tule edges.

[fishgetter]

Sparcebag I will be fishing Alma Wis. on the float. I have tried sucker minnows but with little luck. I have tried chicken liver and heart. I thought maybe because the water is still alittle cool. I really don't know. I have tried the moving water the slower and the other side bone still. So u think I should stick with the cut up sucker or just cut the gut open? I have tried it all.

[Shack]

I would give bull heads a try!

[fishgetter]

Shackbash where can I get some bullheads and how big should they be?

[Mike Steckelberg]

most people just catch their own bullies as for size someone with more experience with them should answer that..i grew up in iowa and always used chicken livers, crawlers, and cut bait..and thats what i seem to have the best luck with up here also...this is my second year going after the big ones but same as you i used to just catch the smaller ones for eating, but now i am having way to much fun going after biguns, but i will also keep a few smaller for the table still, can't beat the taste of fresh catfish

[Ralph Wiggum]

5-7 inch bullheads are good. Catch them, buy them, whatever. Moore's Bait in Minneapolis usually has them. I think I heard that Evert's down by Red Wing has/will have them, too.

[hanson]

You said you're looking for some small cats for the table, might as well skip the bullheads then.

There is a lot of good information out there, there can also be a lot of bad information, as well as mixed up information. Trying to sort it all out can cause you to go insane.

Basically... we obviously have 2 types of catfish in Minnesota. Flathead Cats & Channel Cats. Their habits, locations, fishing techniques, and bait preferences vary wildly between the species. They are different! You need to know what species you wish to catch to target them effectively.

My assumption is you are looking for small Channel Cats for the table.

Channels can bite any time of day and night, so go fishing for them when you can.

For the most part, but not always, Channel Cats are scavengers. They definitely prefer cutbait in my experience. Sucker, Creek Chub, Shad, Mooneye, Goldeye all make really good cutbaits for channel cats. A chunk of cutbait about the size of a golfball is perfect size in my opinion. They don't necessarily want to eat an entire fish, but rather just a snack.

The reason I say information gets mixed up is bullheads really do NOT make good bait for channel cats. Will a channel eat a bullhead? You bet it will but there are much better baits to use, like those I mentioned above.

The game changes when it comes to Flathead Catfish. Flathead cats are night predators so you'll rarely catch a flathead in the day unless you've perfected the very specialized technique of fishing them in the day. Some guys have tremendous success doing this. Flatheads also prefer live bait, and thats where big live suckers, creek chubs, and bullheads come into play.