Catfish season is just around the corner. I was wondering if anyone cares to share (general location) where they have had the best luck for numbers of channel catfish in pool 4? For fear of being “disposed of” by Mavzer, i’ll be vague and say the WI backchannel. All the good catfish spots I know about, he showed me, so I can’t tell too much. Anyone else care to share???
Id say stay out of the main channel and go to warmer water areas….backwaters, feeders, coves and such. At least until main channel water stabilizes and gets to that mid 50 temp. This spring may prove to be one of those “low water years” which will make things a bit different I bet. Think channels early and flatheads starting about mid May??
Does Pool 4 have the same dead shad phenomena that occurs on the resevoirs down here in Iowa? In springtime right after ice-out, the wave action will stir up tons of winterkilled shad. The wind and waves move the dead shad into shallow wind-blown bays and the cats move in there and just binge.
I’ve heard guys claim to catch hundreds of cats in a day with action so fast you can’t even get a second pole in the water. Seems like Pepin has little enough current that something like this might happen.
I was kinda wondering the same thing…I’ve read about that pattern but havent tried it. They definitely feed on dead shad early season in the river. James and Dustin, do you guys ever run into cats when you fish the lake right after ice out?
In reply to:
Lake Rathbun has become famous for this annual catfishing bonanza, but similar fishing fiestas can occur at Big Creek Lake near Des Moines, Coralville Reservoir near Iowa City, and any other body of water with large populations of gizzard shad and channel catfish.
It doesn’t take much to kill gizzard shad. Slight changes in oxygen levels under the ice can cause massive winterkills. As water temperatures warm after ice-out, the dead shad drift into shallow bays where channel catfish go on a feeding frenzy.When conditions are right – a big shad kill, a sudden warm spell that takes the ice off the lake in a matter of days, followed by one or two days of southerly winds – anglers at Rathbun, Big Creek and similar lakes can enjoy some catfish-on-every-cast-fishing. The daily limit of channel catfish from Iowa lakes is eight, and on a good day, anglers have been known to fill that limit in 20 minutes!
Look for 1- to 5-pound channel cats in south-facing bays, in as little as 1 to 2 feet of water. Fish from a boat and cast an unweighted or split-shot-weighted wad of soured shad close to shore.
The Dam Site Bait Shop at Rathbun – (614) 724-3300 – and Polk City Bait and Tackle – (515) 984-6711 – sell jars of vile-smelling soured shad; also, anglers can collect winterkilled shad from the shoreline and thread the carcasses onto their hooks. Be sure to use disposable surgical gloves when baiting with soured shad – the gut-churning stench takes days to wear off the hands of any angler foolish enough to use it bare-handed.
Man, that last line needs to be followed with a cruel “Vincent Price” laugh. 
James,
Please delete this subject …….. 
Holst only reads the cat forum bi-weekly. Youv’e got about 1 1/2 weeks before he’ll read this!! Dustin is probably worse!!
Uh Oh….Spaghetti O’s !……………no commment Steve 
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