small river catfishin’

hey all,

i’ve been wanting to get out and try a little catfishing for a while now. my original plan was to head down to the mississippi and try my luck down there. the only problem is that i don’t have the right type of equipment and i don’t feel like spending all my graduation money on new rods and reels that can handle a 40# flat head.

i still want to try catfishing though. the only place i’ve ever caught catfish (other than the miss.) is lake zumbro. it’s always been on accident fishing for crappies in the spring. i was thinking of actually going out and fishing for them some time but i have no clue how i’d go about it, other than flipping a small crappie jig at brush piles.

this is where i need some help.
what should i use? worms, minnows, cut bait, stinky store bought bait?
how should i use it? just let it sit there?
what should i look for to fish by? deep? shallow? muddy? rocky? downed trees?
what time of day? morning? evening? late night? does it matter?
anything else?

any help on this subject would be much apprciated. bill, didn’t you say something about fishing lake zumbro for cats before? and i thought i remember someone saying they’ve caught them in the river part, too. i don’t remember who it was though. anybody now of any other rivers that i could try for cats in SE MN?

Thanks guys

Jake I am no expert in this department, but I have had some good luck on cats around 7 to 12 pounds in the cannon river in and around Faribault. I used old dead shiner minnows (this is hard to admit to)I hooked them deep through the head and then stomped on them until they popped(true story)The Catfish realy went for them.
John

When Nate was alot younger we use to go down to Lake Zumbro and the places where we found them, usually by accident at first, along the shoreline where you could find a little hole, we would cast a slip bobber, splitshot and hook with and worm on it and they would take it. Was alot of fun catching them even though they weren’t big as we caught them on panfish rods [nice fight and bend in the rod that way]. Nate has caught some nice big ones below the dam at Red Wing while fishing for walleyes. Thanks, Bill

I’ve never fished Lake Zumbro, but I hear it has a good population of cats. Try fishing those brush piles & downed trees with a piece of cut bait on a 1/0 or 2/0 hook. You can still fish it on the bottom with a slip-sinker or fish it under a slip-bobber. Does the river run through the lake? If so, try fishing structure near the channel where there’s some current flow. Maybe some of the holes or nearby wood. Also, any good walleye structure will probably hold cats too. Remember, cut-bait will usually get the bigger cats, while dip-baits & crawlers get the smaller fish. Vern

thanks guys, i’ll go out and try it and let you know how i do.