Whats The Deal Man!?

Allright, since Middle May, i have been out every single weekend (Friday and Saturday nights mainly) fishing for cats. There probably have only been 3 night where i havent gone. Well i got 3 nice fish to show, but i havent caught ONE fish in over a month!!! Neither has my bud Tim. Both of us have had just a slower than slow year!! We try new spots, different bait, go allnight till mornin…. whatever it takes, but nuthin to show.

Am i the only one?? I know you boys are gettin some, but its is slower than normal for you too?

I am jsut tryin to figure out whats the deal!?

MudCatKid, maybe you should try fishing during the day and see the light….he..he….. . I have observed lately a bunch of boats fishing for cats in a tournament last weekend on pool 8 with some success. One boat was using little panfish(check regs) for bait and fishing behind wingdams and having good luck.Others were using chicken livers,cut bait in deeper holes.One boat at the landing had some channel cats using stink bait and tubes working slackwater.I guess it depends what cats your going after? Good Luck. HYBES

I was out last night and cought one nice flathead and lost one that was even better (got him pretty close)… steve (vick) also cought one nice flathead (between naps) and missed more than I can count … lots of runs without success..

We were using bluegills live and cut in two…

The [censored] up thing I have seen the last couple of days is there have been some nice catches (big cats) up by the dam that have come into everts resort….most have been the victim of the meat hogs An eater size flathead is under 16 pds in my opinion. what makes it worse, the same guys had a huge flathead in the bottom of thier boat for an hour in the middle of the day then take it back to the landing to “show off” and eventually decide they are going to release it….. the fish took about 20 years to grow and took him less about an hour to kill!!! I hope (think) you guys read this board!!! I can’t say anything to you at the resort because steve is a friend of mine and that would be bad for his business.. but get a clue It is one thing to chop a great big flathead and eat it… It is another to bring one in and let it die for the sake of your ego….and on top of it to come from out of state to do it!!!! NOT SMART

Wisconsin residents need a Wisconsin fishing license and Minnesota residents need a Minnesota license to fish in these boundary waters…Regulations on these waters may differ between states. “You must obey the
regulations of the state in which you are fishing.”

Don’t know where you’re using bluegills for bait but I’d be careful not to be on the Minnesota side of the boundary when using gills for bait! I am aware that wisconsin allows the use of gamefish for bait as long as they are included in your bag limit and meet size requirements but they are definetly not to be used for bait in MN.

hey Mavzer… I feel for ya… I have seen many people kill fish during photo shoot… CPR is all well and good.. but give the fish a chance to live!!…. Ive seen big musky left belly up floating in the lake after being “released”…. heck if you kill em you just as well eat them…. what a waste!… its bad enough to kill them and eat them… but far, far worse to just kill them and waste them… as far as I know THAT is against the law…. I think its referred to as wanton waste….. and you can be written up for it by a warden…. if your going to take pix of the fish… handle them right, be quick and get them back into the water… at this time of year particularly they are stressed enough just being pulled out of the water after a hard fight… these are NOT snakeheads we are talking about here….. these fish need to be in the water to have a chance to live….. well… I could go on and on…. but I understand how upset you must be Mavz…. maybe you could give them some tips on fish handling and the art of being quick about photos….. or perhaps Steve did….. no matter what… people have to learn somehow.. all too often its the hard way……

Is it possible these guys just didn’t know what they are doing? I know that with smaller cats (eater size), it’s darned near impossible to kill them, which can be a problem sometimes when you get to the fillet board. Maybe they thought big cats were as hearty as the smaller ones.

Either way, I don’t see why it would have been a bad thing to say something. So long as you’re polite, they might have been glad for the heads up. If they made it clear that they knew it was not going to make it, then that’s another story.

I feel your pain Mav! these are the same guys that brought in a half dozen big flats the day prior for pics and show and tell then hunted around the camp to find someone to take them off their hands!

That’s not being sportsmen, that’s killing without purpose! I agree that politeness should be executed but something should be said.

They have been slamming crank baits in the backwaters!

Hey MudCatKid- I’ve had a much slower year than usual on the Croix. I’ve had better success this year in the backwaters. Blame it on the water level, but I’ll take’em where I find’em. I also put them back in great shape. If you hit the Croix there’s plenty of backwaters and snags to be had. Cut sucker has been their flavor-fave, and smaller portions (less than 2 inch long) have been key. Using that wafer thin mint approach.

Was it cat league this weekend???

The only reason i ask is because i catch… oh….. maybe one fish every month…. and its usaully not on cat league nights!!! So my numbers are gonna be really really really realy low!!!!

I am about to give up and get ready for duck season! This year has been by far my WORST summer in my entire life!!!

I hate to bitch and complain, but i seriously cant remeber when i have ever done this horse s*** ever!!! One more month and its time to chase ducks & geese, i might have to change gears.

Like i said b4.. sorry for all this compaining, but i have been doing so terrible it makes me laugh at myself!!!

Try those side channels off the main river, anywhere that has deep water, cover and some slow current. The cats are out there, if you get in a good spot like I described, you’ll get action on cut bait or minnows. Also try early morning before sunrise. This is the most overlooked time to catch cats, they seem to be more active at this time than any other time, even after dark. Good luck, you’ll find some cats sooner than you think, think positive man!

THanks Carp CHaser… but i think i am jsut Jinxed! lol