CATFISH???

I’m looking for a place in-between western WI and SW Minnesota to fish for catfish. I live in EC, so the closer the better; however, I have friends in MN which would give me lodging options. Choices I have thought of so far are Wissota/Chippewa river, Mississippi, Minnesota river…

I have a friend who got it in his head that he wants to catch some cats, and for some reason I happen to be the guy who needs to set it up.

I fish a fair amount for other fish, but have near zero knowledge about cats.

Sooooo….. Where to start?
1. Where to go? I know Wissota has a lot of cats, and some monster flatheads… I think it has good numbers of channels, plus lots of sturgeon. But I wouldn’t really know where to start fishing for them – I’d take a guess on the river, but maybe there are other options in the lake?

2. When to go? Best time of year? I assume dog days of summer, low water level periods, maybe at night – but again, I could be wrong.

3. Tactics… I’m sure baits and tackle and the like I can figure out, but I’m always open to suggestions.

Any help is appreciated, especially on places to go fish… (Not looking for anything too specific, but a point in the right direction would help me greatly)

Thanks in advance,

Whittsend

No reason to look any further than the backyard gem, Lake Wissota.

Now is actually a great time to target pre-spawn channels. We get them well into the teens every year on light tackle. We generally fish them in the river above the lake during the early part of the summer.

By mid-summer, there is excellent action for channels and flats in the main lake. There’s a good daytime bite and opportunities after dark as well.

I rarely target cats specifically, but catch plenty of them on standard walleye tackle…pulling cranks mostly, but also pitching or dragging jigs and bait.

You’ll start seeing 2009 Wissota cat pics soon!

Thanks Jason – I’ll have to keep up the research about river / resovoir cat location and give a few different presentations a shot this summer. I have seen some monster cats (30# +) come out of there while guys are trolling for ‘eyes… Looks like a lot of fun

P.S. – Just finished the 997 rigging early this am… All set to hit the water! Can’t wait to get it dialed in and get some screen shots/video with the side imaging. Especially with all the cribs/structure on Wissota.

Mike

I would have to agree with Jason in that you can have fairly decent luck right on Wissota. I have seen a number of people out targeting catfish and many doing well at times. I have caught many up on the chip river portion north of the main lake, on some of the main lake structure and in the yellow river section. These I have always caught targeting ‘eyes. PM if you want and I can try and give you more specifics on what has seen tactics have more accidental cats in the boat for me.

I would agree with the others that Wissota and the river north are full of catfish. I started fishing Wissota quite a bit last year and caught some monsters while pulling crankbaits.

I did go out once and fish catfish on purpose and we caught our limit in a couple hours. The big ones got smoked and the smaller ones ended up on the grill. All were very tasty.

Good Luck finding some cats,

Dave

I don’t fish cats so if I am giving away too many spots sorry…The outlet dam has a shelf that is good,the yellow river near the K bridge and near Oneil creek.Hope I helped,Paul