St Croix Channel Cats turned on!!

As a recent graduate of the BrianK Catfish Seminar “Advanced Walleye Cut Bait Techniques” I thought I would take my expensive training and put it to use on the St Croix on this beautiful spring evening.

What a beautiful night – warm temps, light winds, and the Twins all over the Rangers. The water temp was 61 degrees and the river looks like it will crest at about 682′, if we don’t get any more rain. She is high, all the islands are flooded and there is some debris floating – sticks, weeds, and some logs. I managed to hit one log in the dark but didn’t do any damage.

As usual, BrianK’s amazing training put me on fish immediately. I was running and gunning, no more than 30 minutes on a spot if there was no bite. First spot – a patented BrianK large sucker fillet boated a small 12″ walleye. Back she goes. Gunned through a couple of dead holes and then bingo – another walleye – 19″. I dug out the camera to take a photo but then the other rod doubles over and I’m on a beautiful 28″ channel cat (8# 10oz). I threw the funny looking walleye thing over the side and photoed the beautiful catfish.

I got one more channel out of another spot – a smaller 24″ fish. I had several nice runs but couldn’t connect. The 60 degree water seems to have finally turned them on. There is a nice current flow in the backwaters and the fish seem to be spread out looking for food. Find the bait and you will probably find the cats.

I got off the water early because of some nasty looking thunderstorms to the north that kicked up the wind and had some lightning going. This is the first night I’ve seen aggressive channels – I think catfishing time is on.

For more information on the BrianK training seminars – see his website. You will come away astounded at all the useless information he can fling at you for a few bucks. Don’t miss his new seminar – “How to remove a 5/0 circle hook from your nose when fishing alone in the dark”.

No fish were hurt in the making of this infomercial.

Now isn’t that the way it goes?! Dang bottom feeding walleyes!

I was out on the Croix for the first time tonight for a hour with the favorite neighbor. We picked up a few silver/striped bass but weren’t pestered with walleyes.

Nice report Steve! Next time I have this feeling it’s going to be a flat in your hands!

PS…your zippers down…

Great report and pic
Sounds like you had a fun outing

Just wondering Steve…we hooked our biggest channels in deep (30+ feet) of water…but the action…up to six pounds was in the current seams of 6 to 8 feet…

Similar on the Croix?

PS Walleyes where coming from 4 to 7 feet.

I was just hopping logjams along the backwaters hunting for active fish. These fish were in 8′ to 9′ of water close to the shore in front of logjams. Mild current flow – I was only using a 1 ounce No-Roll to hold the bait. The walleyes I’ve caught have been in the logjams, they tap – tap -tap like a sheepshead and then just pick up the bait slowly. I’m fishing 5/0 circle hooks so I’ve missed quite a few of these bites because it is hard to set the hook.

I’ve been haveing the same action as Steve, basically fishing the same ways logjams in backwaters. 8-9ft.
I had lots of bites on cut bait. No walleys though.

Nice fish, Steve. My head is missing (no comments, please ), but here’s a chunky pool 1 channel kitty from tonight.

RW..

looks like we are going to have to work on Mr Moore’s photography skills.

Nice fish tho! I witnessed it!

Perdy one RW…I think Mr. Moore has EXCELENT photograpy skills….

I just added a report thread on a post on the St Croix forum. I was out from 6:15 to 10:30 tonight and picked up 2 small northerns and 2 nice fat 24″ channel cats on cut sucker. The channels just hammered the cut bait – I had a tough time getting the rod out of the rod holder they hit so hard. They really fought hard – not like that lethargic cold water tussle. I think they are finally on a good pre-spawn bite on the St Croix. Water was a cool 52 degrees – if we can get some warmer water, back up into the 60’s, we could have some great channel fishing.

Yes, his camera skills might need some work. Maybe there’s a better shot on his camera
We had a mix of bites last night. Some nibblers, some that just hammered it. Action was slow, we got a few fish, it didn’t rain, and it wasn’t too cold.
Thanks, Dave!

Nice fish Mate!
Was that the only one of the night for you guys?
thanks
Larry

We picked up 6 or 7 of them.

I think we caught 7. Mr Moore lost at least that many. It was a slow night, but slow is better than nothing!

Yeah, he did lose/miss a lot. I know I had two.

Gotta give him a little time I guess. I know you guys will definatly shorten his learning curve.
thanks
Larry

Ryan,
Ya should’ve let him use the ThunderCat. That’s almost a sure hookup.

LOL, Phil. I didn’t have it with, even. I fished with my Quantum Big Cat just because I wanted to catch a fish on it. It performed very well

I think most of Bob’s problems stemmed from his rod. He was using a stiff musky rod with Power Pro and a circle hook. I don’t think the rod had a slow enough action to allow the circle hook to do it’s thing. He probably would have connected more with a more optimal set-up, but it’s all about learning!

OIC,
Yeh muskie rod, PP, and Circle hooks just don’t really match up well.

I’ve got a few musky rod types and I can’t hook anything if I use circle hooks unless the fish is SUPER aggressive. I love the rods but it just don’t work.