First time on horseshoe

Next Monday we’re gonna try our hand at catching some channel cats up on horseshoe. I never have ice fished for cats and never have been on the horseshoe chain. I do a lot of river fishing for cats just never have tried it through the ice. I’ve been reading though older post on her and it looks like the ice is very inconsistent, guessing it do to current. We’ll have a four wheeler to get around on and will be fishing midday into the night. Not looking for “the honey hole” just would like an idea on depth, access points, and what areas to stay away from. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

The public location is near the “meth hole”. Hopefully it’s marked.
Watch your flasher. Most people think that cats are always on the bottom. Not so. Get your minnow (crushed and alive) to the mark 5 to 10 feet off the bottom and that crappie with whiskers will give you the best crappie fight you’ve ever had.

Watch the neck down areas. They are great for cat fishing but as you mentioned there is current out there. I always played it safe by only going to places there are fresh tracks (more then one) and when people were fishing.

Good luck!

just a heads up………the winter access area has been posted as a NO PARKING AREA!. i read some are parking on the lake and the ice sunk a bit. there are a few good areas also on cedar island…thats the lake on the other side of the road from the horseshoe access.

AND ABSOLUTELY NO WAY EVEN THINK ABOUT USING THE RIVER /SUMMER ACCESS to get to horseshoe.1 that is never safe.
generally whereever you might see some could be fishing cats, but yea the meth hole is the most popular.

as far as ice conditions, as long as you stay away from current areas, i’m hearing 10-12 inches of ice but scattered areas can have less. most of the slush is starting to freeze up solid!!!!!

BK i dont believe they mark that anymore………..politics and liability became an issue form what i hear!!!!!!!!

I hope you catch and Keep many many limits of them out of there. You can hardly keep them off your lures when open water fishing out there. I know for sure they will destroy a red crankbait and any spinnerbait. Its kind of a shame what the overpopulation of them has done to the rest of the fishery out there. It use to be a great Bass lake – But since the population of Cats has exploded the bass fishing has really fallen off. As has the walleye and panfish. Good luck out there and catch and KEEP as many as you are allowed if you like eating them.

fishthumper wrote:

I hope you catch and Keep many many limits of them out of there. You can hardly keep them off your lures when open water fishing out there. I know for sure they will destroy a red crankbait and any spinnerbait. Its kind of a shame what the overpopulation of them has done to the rest of the fishery out there. It use to be a great Bass lake – But since the population of Cats has exploded the <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>bass fishing has really fallen off. As has the walleye and panfish. Good luck out there and catch and KEEP as many as you are allowed if you like eating them.

hats why they introduced the MUSKIE to the chain!!!!!!!!!! the cats where introduced to reduce bullheads and carp………so on…..and the cycle continues!!!!

Thanks for the info everyone. I think the game plan will be to start from the SE launch on cedar and cross over the road at the winter access area with a four wheeler. It looks like this would probably the best route and will cover some fishable ground in the process. Thanks again for the replies.

Before you cross the road to horseshoe check out an area before you get to that bay that butts the road. That can be a good kitty area. It would off to your right/ north near the river

I use to open water fish the chain years ago. There were Cats at that time and you could catch about as many as you wanted. Wasn’t my cup of tea but they did provide action. You are correct, my concern in the winter would be the currant.

Good luck, stay safe, have fun.
Report back on how it went.

Had a coworker go out last weekend, drove all the way out there from the metro-turned around and went back home because the ice was sketchy-probably has gotten better-stay safe.

We ended up using the winter access and parking on horseshoe. Once on the lake we parked the truck and used a four wheeler just because we’re not familiar with the lakes. Stop at Channel Marine in Richmond and they helped us navigate the areas we wanted to fish and where to avoid, very helpful. Horseshoe had up to 18” of mixed clear/cloudy ice where we were. A part of our group did go over to Cedar for a couple hours and marked fish, just couldn’t get any through the hole. We did well for first timers on the horseshoe side. I think next time we’ll bring more bait options. Marked fish the entire time it was just difficult to get em to commit. I had no idea cats went up and down the water column that often, almost like slow moving tullibee. Hope to get up there again this winter. Cats are 10x more fun to fish for then walleye on ice and open water in my opinion.

dave-t wrote:

Cats are 10x more fun to fish for then walleye on ice and open water in my opinion.

My kinda guy!

Thanks for the report as well. Glad you had a good time!

Dave-t did the ice seem consistent on horseshoe? I am planning on heading over at some point but it’s a long drive just to go check ice.

you guys hurry up, get up here and get rid of those dang things!!!!!!

your right though they are a blast to reel up!!!!!!!

Dbright the ice was consistent where we were at. It was about 18” with bottom 12” clear and the top 6” cloudy. We only went to the areas that Channel Marine told us to go. Being that it was our first time on the water there I wasn’t willing to venture to far off corse. The few that went over to Cedar said the it was about the same thickness.

The biggest mistake people make is trying to aggressively jig them. They are super skittish and prefer a dead stick the majority of the time. Jiggle a bit to get their attention but then stop completely or you will scare them away, and when they do bite, it’s usually just a tiny tap. For this reason I like using a foam bobber, but a good spring works well too. Find the right school and you can easily get on a 20-25 fish/hr click.

Anyone been on Horseshoe/Long/Cedar Island lately? Thinking about pulling the ice castle up, it’s been a few weeks since I fished, not knowing the ice condition I would hate to pull it up with ice conditions that wouldn’t allow me to drive on…any ice update would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

bigstick56 wrote:

Anyone been on Horseshoe/Long/Cedar Island lately? Thinking about pulling the ice castle up, it’s been a few weeks since I fished, not knowing the ice condition I would hate to pull it up with ice conditions that wouldn’t allow me to drive on…any ice update would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

call channel marine, they would be the best bet for updated ice conditions. when i drove by the chain 2 weeks ago there where vehicles all over. just know where the river runs and stay clear of that.

and DO NOT USE THE RIVER ACCESS TO GET TO HORSESHOE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I’ve struggled out there trying to find cats. I know they’re everywhere and that’s why I keep going back. Last year I drilled out several basins/edges of them looking for them. Never found a school.
This year I have only gone once for the last light bite in the evening. Marked some but caught more walleyes than cats.
Anyone willing to give a spot that guarantees some success just to get my confidence up? It can be another community spot for all I care. I just want to catch more than one in a few hours.