Ice Cats

[fishinJohn]

I have a lake nearby where I have only caught channel cats and nothing else. I want to bring some up through the ice for the first time and wonder what would work well in winter. I would guess doughball type stinkbait or minnows near bottom would be good to try. Any experiences?

[Kyle Sandberg]

I don't know much about cats through the ice but here is a video dtro made last winter. Shure fun to watch.

dtro cats through the ice

[Ralph Wiggum]

My best luck has been with half of a fathead on a smaller jigging spoon like a Go-Devil.

A flasher is essential because the bite is unbelievably light and the cats will often suspend.

Good luck, catch one and you'll be hooked.

[Dan DAN the fisherman]

Try jigging a spoon with a small sucker head or shad head/tail on one rod and dead stick a whole dead sucker or shad with the guts hanging on another. Works wonders at Glendo (in Wyoming).

[zamboni]

I had a crappie minnow on a Swedish Pimple last year fishing about a foot or so from the bottom and caught a nice catfish- was a blast through the ice

[Matt Johnson]

Catfish are very much a meat-eater, so live minnows and maggots also work well through the ice. I prefer a small jigging spoon tipped with the head or mid-section of a minnow. I'll also work a deadstick rig with cutbait, usually shiner minnow. Larger panfish jigs packed with maggots can work too, but the jigging spoon approach usually does the trick. And don't be afraid to pack on several pieces of minnow, and more entrails the better