Channel Catfish Photo Gallery

[jigginjim]

I droveup river on the minnesota, I found some holes that were 20-30ft deep. Thats been a few years back but have thought about making the ride again some time. Only then i may bring mt muskie rod with large suckers for bait.

[556LaGue]

Second time out this year and my biggest cat to date. Didn't have my tape or scale with me but, we've caught a few kitty's in our time n we figured 20-25 lbs. Landed 6 cats today and lost 4 others, 2 of which were nice fish.

Took 10 + minutes to get her in. Fresh cut bait with a ft long leader and weight to match the current.

[Rick G]

[Rick G]

[556LaGue]

Got out Saturday evening. First time fishing for cats for her and she got most of the fish. One around 6lbs and the other is 15+ easy! Rivers are high right now with strong current so you can imagine the fight it put up. Finding those deeper slacked current areas seemed to hold fish. 

[556LaGue]

Made it to the river again last night. Water level dropped a few feet but still had strong current. Slow bite, missed a few fish and landed 3 other cats. Got em on cut bait/crawlers.  The bigger one of the night, figure around 10.  

[aanderud]

Nice pics of the ladies with the cats, Rick and LaGue!  My wife won't go catfishing with me any more since we trashed a prop on the minnesota river in 2008.  Not sure if that's a bad thing or a good thing.  Since I have a 2 year old at home, it's probably a good thing for now!

[556LaGue]

Couple smaller ones from last night. Noticed a big drop in size of fish this time out. Nothing over 10 and I think a 4 incher was the smallest? Got three other about this size. Frogs were out so we used some of them. Fun either way

[esoxrocks01]

This happened a couple weekends ago.  After mastering my new Abu Garcia Revo Toro NaCl 60 reel and letting the rod sit with the bait clicker on, I could hear the drag screaming as line was being peeled, and after setting the hook hard, had a fast fighter on my hands (he zipped EVERYWHERE!).  Within 3 minutes, I had a huge channel kitty.  He was only 18 1/2 inches, but what he lacked in size, he made up for in weight.  He had to have been 6 or 7 pounds (I'm not good with fish weight).  What an awesome way to break in my reel with its first fish!

 

[556LaGue]

I feel privileged to have guided my buddy to his first 20# channel cat! Landed with a medium action rod and 10# test. Good job Heis!

[aanderud]

Wow, nice fish!  Was that on the Red or was it somewhere downstate (St Croix, Minnesota, or Missippi Rivers)?

 

[556LaGue]

I fish a lot of rivers in my area but the Red river is where most of my cat pics come from. 

[556LaGue]

On one of the hottest days I fished so far this summer, the cats decided they were gonna make us work a little to get on a good bite. Tried some different water and it payed off. A variety of cats landed yesterday and a few good fish got away. 2 over 10lbs and quite a few around that 5lb range. Frogs and fresh cutbait worked best. One of the better days we've had this year. The big boys that got away would've been the icing on the cake for this guy but can't catch em all!!

 

Edited July 12, 2015 by 556LaGue
Wrong picture

[Coldtrack]

Good weekend at Drayton.

[556LaGue]

Friday morning, bright and early. We geared up and made our way to the Red for our first trip together and first early morning cat adventure of the year. We fished a nice corner with some slacked current and a deep hole out in front of us. The fish were pretty active. I think within the first 5 minutes of being there we were getting stikes and shortly after landed our first cat of the day. Using cut sucker and the few frogs we managed to catch on shore we landed 15 cats in about 5 hrs of fishing. A lot of them being in that 3-5lb range and a good handful of decent fish. The one I'm holding is a nice 15+ and the other 2 are around 10. Fun day to say the least and can't wait to get back out there. 

[556LaGue]

We made the trip to Drayton over the weekend. Fished a few spots we picked out on the way there and ended up at our spot closer to home on Sunday morning. The storm that rolled through after midnight chased out of Drayton. Slow bite Saturday with a handful of fish caught, 2 of which were nice fish. Ended up with a lot of cats in that 5lb range and a few around 10. 18.8 and a 16.5 being the bigger fish. All fish caught on goldeyes. Met some good people and had a blast. We will be making another trip up there before freeze up with a boat. Here's a few pics

[556LaGue]

Some pics from the past week n a half. Fishing has been good. Cut sucker or goldeye has been our bait of choice. There was a few groups of us out fishing so some pics aren't very good quality as they were sent to me. Plenty of others that didn't make the cut. Here's the bigger fish

[556LaGue]

Couple more from Monday night. A 15 and a 16lber being the 2 bigger fish of the night, with a good handful of smaller fish. Bite has been slow but been seeing it pick up more with the cooler weather we've been having. Frogs being the bait of the night. Cant wait to get out there again! 

 

 

Couple more from Monday night. A 15 and a 16lber being the 2 bigger fish of the night, with a good handful of smaller fish. Bite has been slow but been seeing it pick up more with the cooler weather we've been having. Frogs being the bait of the night. Cant wait to get out there again! 

 

stay on the move as the fish are doing the same right now as we transition into cooler weather! 

Edited September 10, 2015 by 556LaGue

[aanderud]

Lots of nice fish there, 556LaGue.  We did great on Frogs at Lockport about 3 weeks back.  They don't require a whole frog, either -- we were cutting them in half, and the biggest ones we were cutting 4 pieces.  So, don't be afraid to try that and make your frog supply last twice as long.  Doubles, triples, and even QUADs (when we were able to get 4 lines in the water).  They were on fire!

 

 

Edited September 10, 2015 by aanderud

[556LaGue]

Usually do the same. I think cutting them in half or pieces helps get the scent out more. What was the biggest in the pictures? They're all very nice fish! 

[aanderud]

Our biggest was 25.5 lbs.  We got two that size.  My biggest was only 24 lbs.  The triple picture is a triple-21.  It was comical.  Around here I go all year waiting to see three fish of 20+ lbs in the boat in one night, but up there we got three on SIMULTANEOUSLY!  We also threw back double-22s.  I don't remember the lengths, we only measured a few and most of those that we did measure were the tagged ones that weren't necessarily all that large (35 inches or so).  We were there 4 days total.  We weighed over half our of 369 fish over those 4 days, and the average was just a bit over 17 lbs.  Total for the 4 days was 369 fish in about 32 hours of fishing.  Total weight estimated over 6000 lbs.  My 7 year old quit fishing every day about 3/4 of the way through due literally being exhausted from reeling in fish that weigh 1/2 as much as he does.  A trip I'll never forget.

[556LaGue]

Sounds like a channel cat fisherman's dream! Nice job!

[556LaGue]

With our ice season coming to a close last weekend we decided it's time to go try for some cats! Headed to the red river for a few hrs yesterday. Ended up with this 7lber and 2 other smaller cats. Missed more bites. Wasn't expecting it to be hot and heavy but was nice to land a couple fish! Now I can't wait for the water to warm up some more! Get out there and give it a whirl! Never know what you'll be rewarded with! Especially on the Red! 

[556LaGue]

Had to share this cat a buddy of mine got on the Red over the weekend. Bite was good! With multiple cats landed along with a couple eyes to top things off. Dandy channel cat! Have a look!

[556LaGue]

Checked out the Red last night. The bite was slow with a few smaller cats and multiple missed fish in 5 hrs of fishing. Frogs were starting to show up here and there. Those and cutbait were the baits of choice for the night. The river is very low. Water needs to warm up a bit yet. I think we'll see a big change in fish size and numbers next week w warmer temps coming and some rain in the forecast. Here's the fish of the night, have a look!