Cats through the Ice!

A few friends and I decided to try our hand at something we’ve never done before – targeting Channel Catfish through the ice. This definitely proved to be a bit of a challenge and took me out of my comfort zone. After getting a few bites and fish up the hole we started to figure out a method that worked for us. I don’t feel like it’s the most productive way to catch these fish but it worked out for us that day. At the end of the day everyone in our group caught quite a few fish, had their rods doubled over and left with smiles on our faces. These fish put up a heck of a fight on Walleye gear! I will definitely try to get back up there this season.

They sure are a blast when their on the bite. Speaking of “on the bite. you should hit the St.Croix, its getting close to that time of year for the channels to put the feed bag on. Chances are good at 5 pounds or better.

Did not watch the full video but watched all of the intro, some of the middle and end. Somewhere in the parts that I missed did you tell us something useful about how to catch catfish threw the ice? Like: how did you pick that body of water, where did you set up on the structure(point, middle of a hole, top of a break, bottom of a break) weather? time of day? bait? Can google to find people reeling in 100lb marlin if I want to see people reeling in fish.

1hl&sinker wrote:

They sure are a blast when their on the bite. Speaking of “on the bite. you should hit the St.Croix, its getting close to that time of year for the channels to put the feed bag on. Chances are good at 5 pounds or better.

The morning definitely started slow for us, the snow started falling and the fish started biting. I was wanting to hit the Croix before the month ended and try to chase after my first Sturgeon. I understand that C&R Season ends this month. In your experience do the Cats in the Croix stack up like they do on the Chain?

The morning definitely started slow for us, the snow started falling and the fish started biting. I was wanting to hit the Croix before the month ended and try to chase after my first Sturgeon. I understand that C&R Season ends this month. In your experience do the Cats in the Croix stack up like they do on the Chain?
[/quote]

They usually don’t in the Croix, but I’ve definitely heard of it happening… not near Bayport thoug.

Hey Mitch, where in Central Minnesota were you doing this? I agree with Charlie that bite on the Croix is awesome. Coming up pretty quick here.

tim hurley wrote:

Did not watch the full video but watched all of the intro, some of the middle and end. Somewhere in the parts that I missed did you tell us something useful about how to catch <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>catfish threw the ice? Like: how did you pick that body of water, where did you set up on the structure(point, middle of a hole, top of a break, bottom of a break) weather? time of day? bait? Can google to find people reeling in 100lb marlin if I want to see people reeling in fish.

Body of Water was picked due to high population numbers of Cats through MNDNR LakeFinder. We kept punching holes and didn’t set up until we marked a lot of fish. We found the fish suspended over a deep hole which happened to be surrounded by much shallower water. The bite was slow for us in the morning but as the snow started to fall around 10am the bite picked up. If you find the right fish it can be an all day bite though. Common bait is minnow head on a spoon. I was told to bring chicken liver for those finicky days and I’m glad I did. Almost all of our fish in the video were caught on a 6mm Kenders tungsten jig with chicken liver.

wintering cats

Randy Wieland wrote:

wintering cats

Sweet video!!! That’s the infamous “Cat Tornado”

Thanks for the info Mitch

Mitch the channels do roam in big schools around this time in winter with their feed bag on even in Bayport. I ve caught them in the middle of the basin in 35 ft of water in the Bayport area and Ive caught them at the bottom off of ledges in 28ft of water to 35ft. For bait all we used was an orange jig and fat head sometimes a jigging rap while dead stinking the fat head.You sure new when you get a 5 pounder after it slams the jigging rap. We would get some awesome fish fry’s. For a big fish fry its hard to beat zateran’s breaded catfish.

So why do you not show some of the prep stuff when you make your video? Looks like you drilled 4 holes in a random lake and started ripping out cats. Get that you can’t show everything-could show the bait-or talk some about how you found the lake.

Northern Lights Outdoors wrote:

Hey Mitch, where in Central Minnesota were you doing this? I agree with Charlie that bite on the Croix is awesome. Coming up pretty quick here.

PM Sent

1hl&sinker wrote:

Mitch the channels do roam in big schools around this time in winter with their feed bag on even in Bayport. I ve caught them in the middle of the basin in 35 ft of water in the Bayport area and Ive caught them at the bottom off of ledges in 28ft of water to 35ft. For bait all we used was an orange jig and fat head sometimes a jigging rap while dead stinking the fat head.You sure new when you get a 5 pounder after it slams the jigging rap. We would get some awesome fish fry’s. For a big fish fry its hard to beat zateran’s breaded catfish.

Sounds like a riot! Thanks for the info man!

tim hurley wrote:

So why do you not show some of the prep stuff when you make your video? Looks like you drilled 4 holes in a random lake and started ripping out cats. Get that you can’t show everything-could show the bait-or talk some about how you found the lake.

Tim – I’ll keep that in mind for future videos! I don’t consider myself good in front of the camera nor do I have a background in videography. I film most of my fishing adventures with the focus being on the fishing and catches, often times I forget the camera’s are rolling. I understand where you’re coming from that including more information and detail would likely increase the experience for the viewer.

These posts show me you are a smart fisherman-give yourself more credit! Your audience at least here at IDO loves details. The Ido show has even included more info on tactics and how spots are picked. These changes to the show happened because of lots of feedback from people on this site. Keep the vids coming don’t worry about boring us if you are reeling in fish people will listen.

Love the video!