…are on the prowl!
While taking a break during their 25-30 walleye day, my guests Allen and Ryan cranked in these two cats. The flat came in at 31″ and 15 lbs 7 oz, while the channel came in at 29″ and 11 lbs 5 oz.
June is a time when we get these aggressive daytime kitties with regularity. Fun on heavy tackle, they are just a hoot on walleye gear!
ooops…here’s the channel.
MEOW, very nice. Looks like your client had a good time with those two brutes 
Nice fish Jason 
Pete, Wissota does have a small, quiet catfish following. For good reason…there are some supertankers in there. Dave Markquart had a 40-pounder last season, and I’ve seen recent baitshop pics of similar-sized fish this year already. Fishing with Dan Meyer a couple weeks ago, I hooked one that towed us ~ 100 yards across a bay before finally snapping me off on a dock post. I had absolutely no ability to get that fish to do what I wanted it to do.
I’ve caught my cats in the big lake and in the rivers. They are widely distributed. I’ll see if I can dig up some other Wissota cat pics…
Nice Jason! 
They are a blast on walleye tackle for sure! 
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Pete, Wissota does have a small, quiet catfish following. For good reason…there are some supertankers in there. Dave Markquart had a 40-pounder last season, and I’ve seen recent baitshop pics of similar-sized fish this year already. Fishing with Dan Meyer a couple weeks ago, I hooked one that towed us ~ 100 yards across a bay before finally snapping me off on a dock post. I had absolutely no ability to get that fish to do what I wanted it to do.
I’ve caught my cats in the big lake and in the rivers. They are widely distributed. I’ll see if I can dig up some other Wissota cat pics…
Interesting… How would you rate the cat population on Wissota? It seems like you guy’s tango with those kitty’s a fair amount during the summer months while pulling cranks.
I’m curious to why we don’t see a catfish base on Menomin like you do on Wissota. Both being dam’ed up river’s I’d assume they hold very similar properties aside from overall size and Menomin’s lack of natural structure. I’ve caught a few small channel catfish here on Menomin but nothing along the lines of what Wissota produces.
Here’s just a quick smattering from the past year or two.
I think a big difference is the volume of deep water available in the two bodies of water….but I’m no cat expert!
Here’s the one I posted a few weeks back… Almost 34″, 17 lb.
We all know that catfish can be aggressive predators and will hit crankbaits just like walleyes will… But have you ever seen a catfish hit a “dead-stick” crankbait on the surface over 15-20 fow??
I was trolling yesterday and couldn’t get anything to go, so I stopped the boat and jigged for a while. I just left my two shad raps out (they floated to the surface and were in no danger of tangling). There was no wind and the surface was like glass. After 10 minutes of jigging, my trolling rod starts jerking in the holder. I picked it up, wondering what was going on and reeled in a nice 7lb channel cat. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of one “slurping” a completely motionless crankbait off the surface of the water, but a fun surprise nonetheless!!
No pics due to solo trip.
Mike
I had to scratch and claw and cover water for my fish yesterday, Mike. I would pop 3 or 4 in one pass, only to go over the same area on the next pass and get my 
handed to me.
We ended up with 25-30 fish. Couldn’t crack 18, but had numbers in the 16-17.5 range. Only found 3 unders all day. 3 cats total, 3 smallies, and the eyes kept us busy.
Also, about surface feeding:
I’m sure you noticed the mayfly hatch yesterday. Lots of husks on the water, and we saw flies hatching all day too. We saw a LOT of surface feeding activity focused on the flies. Most that I saw were smallies (why didn’t I break out the float-n-fly??), but I’m sure some cats were up there as well.
Intersting… How would you rate the cat population on Wissota? It seems like you guy’s tango with those kitty’s a fair amount during the summer months while pulling cranks.
I’m curious to why we don’t see a catfish base on Menomin like you do on Wissota. Both being dam’ed up river’s I’d assume they hold very similar properties aside from overall size and Menomin’s lack of natural structure. I’ve caught a few small channel catfish here on Menomin but nothing along the lines of what Wissota produces.
Pete, I would say it is because Wissota is on the Chippewa River, there are huge cats up and down the whole system and it would have to considered a big river system, while the Red Cedar river system might not have all the tools so to speak to grow big cats. That would be my opinion.
Ya, you guys are probably right. Just make me jealous that you can accidently run into those cat’s while out trolling for eye’s. 
hey pete, Menominee and Chippewa Falls arn’t too far apart. no reason why you can’t enjoy both systems.
Slow Joe!! Ready for the big trip next Thursday???
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hey pete, Menominee and Chippewa Falls arn’t too far apart. no reason why you can’t enjoy both systems.
Very very true, I really should make a point to try and get out on Wissota this year
Pete, if we can make our schedules work out, I’ll show you around some evening.
I appreciate the offer Jason, We’ll have to try and make something work
Will you be disappointed if all we catch are pesky 17″ walleyes? 
All kidding aside, there should be good daytime cat activity for a few weeks yet, and then a nice night bite developing as the water warms. We only went out for “on purpose” nighttime cats once last year and had a blast.
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Will you be disappointed if all we catch are pesky 17″ walleyes?
I would be terribly upset 
Always ready for fishin! It will a good warm up for my Lac Seul trip the following week. Just hope Mr. Halfen won’t dump us on shore after he listens to us bicker at each other all day.
You could use the exercise anyway….
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