Willowcat tips

I am looking for tips on how to fish/rig willowcats for fishing wingdams. Anyone willing to share some tips?

Cast your rig upstream of the dam and let it roll down to the dam and in front of the face. One key thing is not to let them sit to long in front of a dam as Willow cats will swim directly into the rocks. They love to hide, and in between rocks is a favorite spot.

I run a barrel sinker above a swivel with about an 18″-4′ leader and then a #2 hook. When you get a hit, let them take it a little bit as they will often bite them about half way up (even big fish). I had one bite the guts out of a cat on Sunday.

I rarely let one sit as they tend to get hung up, and at almost $1.50 each I don’t like loosing them. Most of the big fish I’ve caught on Willow Cats have come about 10-20 yards in front of the dam.

Also, be prepared to retie a lot of times when you first get started. I rarely ever use bigger than 1/2 oz and in the dead of summer usually use 1/4 oz even 1/8. You want the rig to move just a bit (the best is when it drifts when you lift it only).

I use a 3-way setup with split shot. If the split shot get hung up, they easily slip off without losing the willowcat.

Where can you buy Willow cats in the Lacrosse area ?

Tri State in LaCresent had some, but remember, you can’t bring them back across the river. The selection was OK, the owner picked out the best 3 dozen for me (mostly pretty big ones) for $15 a dozen, which is the same price as the ones in Winona.

The ones I saw there today needed some growth hormones.

That’s probably because I bought all the good ones.

I find it to be far cheaper to scoop my own willow cat. I cant bring myself to pay $15 for bait. Then I get nice big ones not these willow cats that barly fit on a hook.

Any tips on how to scoop cats?

I would first say make sure you can scoop in the state you live in. The laws on willow cats have gotten carried away. It realy is alot of trial and error with scooping. You got to do your home work and find the body of water that holds them and then make sure you can scoop there.

used to scoop alot of them in the goose island area, overhanging bank with a little current. Seem I always did good in theose types of area.

Watch yourself when it come to scoping on mississippi waters. I don’t know what Wis. rules are but in Minn. you can’t take bait fish from the river to another body of water. You also can’t remove them from the river. What ever is left at the end of the day must be dumped back in the water.