Anybody get any cats going this past weekend? just curious how every one has been doing now that the water has been falling. Got two flats on the minnesota saturday, the water is really falling fast out there. Good Cattin
hmmmm dont look like anyone has much to say…. I have some friends that have been cattin quite a lot… on the croix in the Taylors falls area… its been spotty there with the water dropping… will let ya know if something picks up…..
they wanted me to get out with them this week… but I can see it happening…… *sigh*….. maybe I will get out over the weekend…
Hey BigTime! What kind of structure are you fishing? The current is pretty strong still, so some of my spots are hard to hold on. I haven’t fished the flatheads yet this year, but was out scouting a little bit from the Bloomington to Chaska area. I was checking out some creek mouths & inlet areas. Should get out this weekend. How big were your fish? Thanks, Vern
Hey Vern,
Sorry for the delayed response, I just got back from Oklahoma catfishing with Gary Van Pelt on grand lake of the cherokees. When I was out last the creek mouths and inlets were starting to get pretty low. I’ve been finding my fish in snags that havelittle current moving through them. The one snag has a point up river of it that diverts the current from the wood making the current slow enough to fish. The biggest one we got was fifteen and the other was about 8, both flats. I’ll be hitting it hard this weekend and I’ll be sure to let you know what I find. Its nice to be back in the best catfishing state in the Union, Minnesota
Hey BigTime! Thanks for the info. Things are getting back to normal now. The river dropped 3-4 feet in the last week. We went out Saturday night for flatheads in the Bloomington area. No flats, but my brother caught a big channel cat that went about 12 lbs. We’ve been getting some big channels with those big live suckers. Good bonus fish! We should be out this weekend for some flatheads. Vern
Want to take my kid out cattin’. Where to go around Ford dam area? Mostly a night thing for me; after work deal. What to use? I’m used to castin’ for them green and brown fish that fight a lot better them those cats but willing to sacfrifice myself for the boy. (am I going to s–t for that!) Any advice welcomed!
Hey mnfish! I would use cutbait with a slip sinker rig for the channel cats. Nightcrawlers will give you a lot more action though, with a lot of different species. Cats, suckers, sheepshead etc. The bigger channel cats go for the cutbait. In that area, I would fish a lot of the same spots you fish for walleyes. I like fishing the up-stream side of snags, but I don’t think there’s a lot of wood down there. Look for some current breaks around the island and shoreline below the dam. Vern
you got that rite carpchaser bass are considered dinner for many cats, to bad they are not legal to use….
the only green and brown fish that fight hard are flatheads that are that color, other wise bass, walleye and all the other ROUGH fish don’t even come close to holding a candle to any cat.By the way walleye makes excelent cutbait………..just kidding
Is anyone else chuckling at the absence of “walleye defense”? I’ve never had the pleasure of cattin’ experience but if it’s anything as persistant as a big carp, I gotsta get out and do it one of these days!!!
I dunno….. when it comes to fight every fish is different… depending on the conditions…. I sure dont begrudge anyones opinion of whats good thats for sure….. you can play the what fights better game all day…… Im just thankful to have something pulling back on the other end of the rod…… maybe Ive never caught them at the right time… but the big flatheads Ive encountered fight like a swiming anchor…. they are not fast, but very powerful and they stay down and pretty much do what they want…. if your tackle is too light for them sometimes I wonder if they even know they are hooked….. channels seem to have more zip in their fight……. and carp have more zoom yet…… I also find sturgeon to be quite fast…… I enjoy pure explosions of speed and power when fighting fish…. so far salmon is the most impressive fish I have hooked….. I have a feeling they would pull most freshwater fish inside out if hooked tail to tail…….
overall walleyes are NOT known for their fighting ability….. but they sure are tasty!…..
I went salmon fishing on the Manistee River In Michigan for the fisrt time last fall.I was using the tackle I use for flatheads(9ft surf rod/40 lb fusion).The fish were only about 20lbs but were snapping the line.I only landed about half the fish I hooked.When they rip downstream there is no stopping them.IMO they are the hardest fighting freshwater fish.I came home so sre it took a week to recover.I would have to say that the carp takes second.Even just a 5lber can strip your drag off in a hurry.The thing I like about hooking a cat is hooking a cat.Its like you just set the hook in a big log.SOLID just solid.Then you get that tell tale bob…bob…bob and you know you are going to be pulling on that rod for a good while.The only chance you got is to get that head up or he is going to get the better of you.
The carp we’ve been catching in the river lately are unbelievable fighters. There’s always chaos in the boat when we hook a big one. Just trying to keep them off the anchor rope or away from the motor. I would say next to smallies, carp are probably the strongest fighters in the river. Vern
Glad you boyz love the catfish. Feel free to e-mail or visit when ya wanna talk cats.
Catchabiggun,
Robby
Since this is the weekend cattin post page thought I’d see how everyones catfishing weekend went. Any good fish go arround the area? Mavzer, we got 7 flats tonight and this morning my partner got a 46″ fish that was 45lbs. on my scale. I just got home right now, our spotlight wen’t out and finding the marker bouys on pool 3 became dificult.
i’d say pound for pound the bluegill provides the most fight, imagine if there were 10 pounders you might not be able to land one. I also think carp are top notch because of their endurance and powerful runs, but hardest fish to land I’d give to the sturgeon. They simply do what they want and you can’t bring them in if it’s a big one.
Carp and cats are spectacular fighters, but some of my most memorable battles have been with striped bass and wipers. While fishing walleye tourneys in ks, hook a darn striper on spinning gear and twice ran all my line off before snapping at the arbor……missiles with scales……had a ten lb wiper once sprain my wrist from battling that bulldog. Father in law called me sissy names, til next time out he hooked an 8 lber and recinded his comments……lol
W
I fished a multispecies tourney this weekend on the Horseshoe chain.Although not targeting cats we caught and scored three on shad raps.Other teams also were scoring cats on crankbaits.This is the first time that I have seen this work with some consistency and will have to try it on my home waters.
wipers are fun, thats for sure…. course they have saltwater fish “ties”… and for some reason… saltwater fish really kick a**…… I used to fish for whitebass in the des moines river…. and they stocked some wipers in there… it really messes up your tackle when you hook an 8-10 wiper!….. with 6 pound line you pretty much say goodbye too ALL or SOME of your line… YOUR choice….
Fishhead, i was fishing the horseshoe chain also this weekend, and like you, I also picked up Cats cranking. How did the tournament come out in the walleye bracket?
Picked up most of my cats in the river leaving Cold Spring landing. How about you?
I fished the Horseshoe tournament also. We fished cut-bait hoping to catch some bigger fish. Didn’t catch any over 3 pounds though. Cats are everywhere in those lakes. We caught them deep & shallow in the lake, from 20 foot holes to just a few feet from shore. We found a bunch of cats under trees that hung over the shoreline. Those trees held a lot of cats, but they were all about the same size. Last year I caught one on a spinnerbait in the lily pads about a foot deep! Not too many walleyes were caught in the tourny. Vern
vern
you guys really had the cats on the tourney.I wanted to fish for them but my brother( a die hard bass man)would have none of it.He always said they are disgusting.Well he was converted last weekend.He was jumping up and down in the boat and yelling “I got a big one I got a big one” then he pulls in a 2lb cat.”wow he said those things really fight”I think he wants to try for some nicer cats on the MN this summer.Maybee we will run into you down there.I’m sure I saw you guys at the Chaska landing last summer I just didn’t put it together until after the tourney.Hope to see you guys at more of those.
As far as walleyes there were a few but not many that day.The cats we got on the shad raps came from the channel just upsteam of the Cold Spring landing on a little rock bar between the no wake buoys.
Hey Fishhead! I still trying to convert my older brother who is a big Minnetonka/Waconia bass guy. I think the only thing that might do it would be a trip to the Red for those big 20+ lb channels. See ya on the river – Vern
Would you guys happen to be from the Central Mn area?
I do live in the area and was just wondering.
Dman
I am from Chaska and live a stones throw from the Mn river.I think vern said he was from Mpls.I hope he doesn’t mind me saying but he has his own TV show in the cities and a pretty cool website to boot.
vern
I think a trip to the Red would convert just about anybody.
Dman, I’m from Mpls. and spend a lot of time on the lakes & rivers around the metro area. Horseshoe Chain has been one of my favorite new road trip lakes. Thanks for the mention of my show Fishhead. Vern
http://www.innercityfishing.com
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