September Cattin’

I have a brother-in-law coming for a visit about Sept. 20. I know he would like to tangle with a cat or two, either channels or flats.

I catch a lot of cats “by accident” fishing live bait in the summers on the wingdams. In fact a buddy and I got a mix of about 12 cats last evening deadstickin’ with leeches for ‘eyes…lot of fun on lighter tackle. I have not caught many cats in the fall though. So my question is whether there is a chance to catch cats consistently around the time of the first frost? If so, what type of structure/areas would I look for?

Pete,

Few times are as good as that time for cats. They tie on the feed bag preparing for the cold of winter. They will go after just about any presention and tend to be easier to find during the day this time of year. Fish deep water during the day and shallow water close to deep water during the evening and night times. Submerged wood for flatheads. Make sure you have heavy gear as you could loose the fish of a lifetime. Channels, I would try sandy points near the main channel. They are very aggressive this time of year.

I agree w/wk the end of Sept. can be awesome…I’m still fishing summer type areas like wk said. Unless it has been unbelieveably cold then they night be heading to wintering areas…but I haven’t had that happen yet. In fact be prepared for a big Walleye or two…I caught my biggest ‘eye, 30″ in the middle of Sept. at night on a 7″ bullhead.

Jason.

i think i spend more time on the water than on land from April thru August….. but when Sept comes, its hard to let those crazy geese go unshot. I occasionally fish for channels on the WI river during Sept, but its hard to cast a rod from my feild blind…lol This year i am gonna get my arse in gear and fish more into fall inbetween goose hunting……….or at least try.

Thanks guys. I was wondering if I tried to target them at that time whether I had a chance. Sounds like I do!

One last question. Would you expect the channel cats to be in the same areas then as I am finding them now? I’d like to do some more searching and find a few more spots now if that is the case.

yeah. I would steer clear of flathead water as they tend to eat channels who stray into their dark alleys.

My best time by far is from about September 20 to October 20th. I fish wing dams, anchoring on top and fishing the deep holes/ledges. The bite in the evening is incredible but lasts only a short time (so you can be off the water by 9:30 if you want). They all seem to bite at once. I have an article on my website here about my fall pattern. I’ve caught channels in the same spots on bluegills (14lbs is the best so far), but only rarely.

Fall rules! I can’t wait!

The bite I’m referring to usually kicks into high gear as the water drops below 65 and lasts until it’s around 45, but I’ve caught them in the same locations in August. Definitely look for deep water in September, though. If the cats aren’t in the depths themselves, they’ll be in structure nearby. I pretty much give up on the tributaries and shallower backwaters about this time and focus on the main channel and deep holes in the backwater sloughs.

Happy Hunting,

Matt

Whisker – hey man, I have to start somehwere

Flathead – Good info in that article. I know the stretch of river I will be fishing well and already have 4 places I know I should try.

Thanks for the info guys. Hopefully around Oct. 1st I can post a note about our success…or maybe the lack of it.