1st timer

I’ve never used this forum before and can’t waite to talk to someone that can help me hook my 5yr old up with a nice flathead. It seems he watched a show on cat fishing and now is literally hooked. According to some of the other postings, bullheads are a good bait. What is to big a bait, and could you use a small channel cat if we hook into one. Any and all iformation is welcome as I have little experience fishing for cats. Pool 8 is where we will be.

Bullheads 7 inches and under are legal in MN. 5-7 inches are great from my experience. If your from WI bluegills are good. Chubs and suckers are good also. The key is lively bait. Look in past FTR posts for a wealth of info on bait, gear, etc. Were are you from??

Fishing pool 8 off of the La Crosse area. Thanks for the information. Would you say that any live bait that is much larger than 6-7 inches would be to large?

I don;t think you can use baite over a foot …. I don;t think them big cats care too much.,,, they will still pound it

Gabriel,

I have been hooked for 3 years on this. I fish pool 9 which is very similar to the LaCrosse area. The good fish are hard to get during the day. The first thing I would suggest is going to Cabelas or some similar place. They have some nice cat poles for 35 bucks. They work great. I put out as many poles as I can for the people in the boat. Spend a bit on a bait caster with a bait clicker. I recommend the ABU Garcia 6500 series. Get some big circle hooks and some 2 oz bank sinkers. I usually run a 3 way swivel. 24 to 30 inch leader with a 12 inch dropper for the sinker. Bluegills are the best bait by far in my experience. Not too small or they die. I use just about hand sized ones. I won’t even go out unless I have at least 10. Find a deep hole at least 25 to 30 feet deep and fish the closest weed edge to that hole in about 5-7 feet of water. Once you know what to look for big catfish are all around you. They come out of the deep and cruise the weed edge. park the boat right on the weed edge and fish outward. I get most of my bites between 9 and midnight. Nothing and I mean nothing gets your adrenaline pumping than hearing that bait clicker go off and not stop. They will grab your bait and head for deep water. The circle hooks are good because you don’t have to set the hook. Only reel. this is important when they are running away from you. Good luck sometimes you get no bites others you get bites every 10 minutes. Oh yeah… tie a pretty good rope to that 5 year old. I have had fish that would have yanked a small child from the boat without breaking a sweat.

where you putting in at? i fish pool 8 2.if your near the dam try the next channel over from the main river theres lots of snag piles down threw there but as of lately i’ve
been down around goose island.

I will usually put in at either Goose Island or Green Island. I have been trying some places in between the two off of Running slough and out towards to main channel. I tries a wing dam acrosse from where the Root river comes in last weekend with very little luck. I am still pretty new at this sport and haven’t quite figured out where to go yet. Any suggestions would be much appreciated as my son is still looking for me to hook him up with his first mud cat.

just find some snag piles try up through muskrat lake goose
island is kinda new 2 me but i,ve gotten some 5-6 pounders.
one of them i got just down from campground on the left by
a down tree or 2.but i’ll have 2 say the fish have been few and far between 4 the amount of late nights i’ve been putting in.sounds like them guy’s up in pool 3 and 4 have all the luck.ha ha