To catch a cat?

Any help for a non-seasoned catfisherman?

I’m usually a walleye guy, but I heard that one post a year in the cat forum is allowed…

I’d like to head out on a local lake (Wissota/Chippewa River – has flatheads and channel cats) with my kids and wife sometime and try to catch a few cats. (Hopefully, enough to keep the kids interested for a little while, anyway) I’ve caught them while fishing for walleye before, so I know some of those same tactics/baits could be used for cats.

Question – for a guy who pretty much never fishes cats but is well equipted for other fish, how do I go about actually TRYING to catch one? (That hurt a little when I typed it… )

I have baitcasters, trolling rods, musky setups, walleye gear, etc that I can certainly use. I’m not looking to go out and spend much (any) money trying to get setup. What type of rod/reel/line should I rig up? What terminal tackle should I use? I assume some sort of basic sinker / hook setup? Stink bait, crawlers, minnows, doughballs…?? Keeping it simple, baits might be limited to what Scheel’s carries – bullheads aren’t an option.

Where to start, location-wise? Go upriver into shallower, rocky sections, drop anchor, and throw the rig and wait?

Any “beginner tips” you could offer would be great.

Before I took a bunch of inexperienced people out I would try a few things first and see if you can get a bite going. I fish the lake here a lot and found my cat patterns by looking for walleyes. You really can’t fail in a lake if you find some emerging weeds near main lake structure something with some current or wave action and use a lit bobber with any kind of cat bait suspended 3-4 feet down or fishing it right on the bottom without a bobber. The fish will be in the weeds or cruising the edges at night. They will eat leeches, crawlers, almost anything here but my favorite is sonnys super sticky in blood. Many people do the same here with cut bait. I never have much luck with cutbait here but a one inch cube seems to be the ticket. I would go up in the river if you want big flathead cats or fish edges of the old river bed in the lake with live bait.

Kev, you have fulfilled your allotment of helping one wallabie guy to catch cats for this year.

You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make them drink it. You also can’t teach a fool to not be one or turn boys into men overnight.

Now, you can lead a Steve to Crown Royal, and he will drink it. Even on a Sunday.

Hey Whit, that answer your questions?

Wittsend-

Do you live near Eau Claire at all? If you do I have fished the Chippewa river a few times with good success for both channel cats, flathead, and also sturgeon.
I have used sucker minnows for both cut bait and live presentation. whole filets off of large suckers works the best for me. I would not doubt that lake wasota would be good with these tactics if it is part of the chip.

Sounds good, thanks guys!