Channel Catfish Photo Gallery

[aanderud]

Nice hog! When I saw that fish i thought you might have gotten it off the red last week!

Nice one!

[DTro]

It's a new year, so let's get this party started!

[aanderud]

Didn't realize how cruddy the camera phone is...should have used a real camera.

[Gordie]

you guys better watch out that boy is a fishing machine...

great pics guys

[harvey lee]

WE caught a few also last night also but no pics. From crappie to walleye to rock bass to channels.

Brian, from what I heard, you had the hot hand or maybe your son did.

[Borch]

Brian,

Sounds like we need to have you nephew along more often. That's two great outings for him out on the chain.

Good Luck Charm?

[Scott K]

I only got to hook into one smaller one last night, and no pictures.

[Gordie]

rumor has it Dtro iced a cat with a green and yellow rattle bobber

[Papa Grump]

Nice fishing with you Gordie. Still sneezing away today when I cleaned up the cats.

[Gordie]

yep Brain that was alot of fun hope that your not allergic to fish that would suc big time and I started snezzing on the way home but only one volly now I'm better well not snezzing now

[Roman_K]

Gordie is right, that kid is a fishing machine! I wouldnt have felt so sore about it if he didnt out fish me by some 20+ fish ! Seriously though, ill be taking my pointers from him... Does he have his own guiding service yet or what?

[roughfish29]

we should bump this one up.

anyone having any luck lately?

i'm probably going to hit a few spots tomorrow

[Alagnak]

[roughfish29]

very nice

i got skunked

[Shack]

I now officially believe the reports that the channels are going strong right now up on the Mississippi North.

My brother in-law & I were able to sneak away from the wife and kids this evening to test one of the narrowed down of three potential spots for the spring time get together (Get The LED Out) on the 24th. Click Here for more details!

We fished from shore from 8:00pm till 10:00p.m. using 5/0 Gama Octi circles, about 14" of snell, & about 3oz's of weight. We were fishing a current break (bout 10' deep) that washed around into an eddy on the down stream side. Right away the littler ones started hitting (under 10 minutes):

Right after sunset we started to get some bigger ones with small ones mixed in:

We ended up with a little over 10, with about 27"x17" being the biggest. We literally had to leave because we ran out of med. suckers (a bait store dozen). I would have rather seen one or two big ones, but sure felt good hall-in a cat for the first time this year. Will be back out scouting the other two possible location the week.

[Gordie]

looks like fun shack and those are some fine looking kittys

[nsnutter]

Went out last night, river is still pretty high ... but managed to pull in a decent 29x16 channel on the Minnesota.

[Gordie]

thats a nice way to start the year nsnutter

[nsnutter]

Why thank you sir! I was just glad to get out and enjoy the beautiful weather ... this girl was just icing on the cake!

[MinnesnowtaWild]

I need to ditch the circle hooks...I am not comfortable with those. Thanks John for the Kahle hooks...I'm going to give them a shot and see if I like them.

Pretty soon though I'll pull out the 10/0 octopus hooks.

Nice fish though Nick, now that I think about it we should have just hung the fish grips on the scale and subtracted the weight of the grips (which is probably nothing).

[Shack]

I am having great success with Gama Octi circles for channels right now. It almost seems that you can not do No Wrong! Just hold your rod instead of using a Y-stick or rod holder. With the CFM's up all my fish this year have been setting them selves. No gut hook'ers either. Do not have my pics up yet but we had a pretty active night last night. Some bigger ones were caught but not by me. This week though.

[nsnutter]

Well I have been giving my T.C. Circles (8/0) a shot early this year, and it's pretty hit-or-miss if I have a hookup. Landed one so far out of I believe three or four good strikes. I need to learn how to use these circles a little more consistently, but the only way to do so is trial-and-error. I used Gamakatsu Octopus-Circles almost exclusively last year, but I know that circles are a charm for a corner of the mouth hookup, and I'd love to get better with them. So I totally hear you Jeff! Maybe I'll give Kahle's a shot too.

Edit: Oh, and Jeff that would have been a good idea at the time ... I don't like the idea of having to weigh those channels under the gills ... not necessarily worth it. Next time though, those fish grips might be the ticket! I'm assuming they're feather-weight ... what with being able to float and all ...

[MinnesnowtaWild]

Anyone use octopus hooks for Channel Cats? It couldn't be any less effective for me than circle hooks.

[pikestabber]

I use regular octopus hooks almost exclusively for channels in sizes from 1/0 to 4/0--I never got the knack for circles and missed far more fish than I landed--rather, I couldn't "de-program" and not set the hook. Setting the hook is half the fun! I have no complaints about my hookup ratio with regular octopus hooks, and I have yet to gut hook a catfish.

[MinnesnowtaWild]

Well...got one on a circle hook tonight.