Catfish on ice...

[BuzzH]

Went out and tried some ice fishing yesterday. Pete and I went to a spot he'd marked on his gps during the summer. Payed off big...we caught over 30 catfish between 6-15+ pounds in about 2 hours. We kept a limit of 6-10 pounders, which are about right. The largest cat was one I caught and released, 30 inches and barely made it through the 8 inch hole.

Heres the dozen we kept, the 4th fish from the left has a pop can above it in the picture for reference.

Next weekend its on to the 'eyes and perch.

 

[T Bone]

Wow. That's quite a haul of cats!

Have you found the cold water makes for better eating?

 

[Buschy]

Good eats Buzz. Well done!!

 

[BuzzH]

T-Bone,

Theres no question the cold water makes them better...not even a comparison between summer and winter catfish. I rarely keep any cats I catch in the summer.

 

[TLC]

nice whisker fish Buzz. in the summer, put them live in a tub of clean water. taste as good as cold water cats that way. also, you can clean them, cut them up into 1" pieces, and let them soak in hot sauce overnight. then fry them up. good eats right there. may even try baking them? never tried that yet.

 

[twodot]

Buzz, you just set me free. Heck with all those little bluegills I'd rather eat catfish any day. I got two holes full of them within sight of the house!! Just never even thought of fishing for em thru the ice. Just one question, bait, were you using full sized "summer" baits or little tiny pieces of crawler, stink bait, minnow,what?. My whole family is tore up for a big mess of cats. Thanks for posting that. twodot

 

[BuzzH]

twodot,

I've used three things that work the best for me on catfish...nils masters, jigging rapalas, and a trilobite jigging spoon. I typically use all in a green glow. I also tip them with dead minnows, small 1-2 inch shad, fatheads, etc. work real well. My buddy Pete does pretty well on a 1/2 ounce jighead with 3-4 shad hooked once through the head, he also uses other jigging spoons as well, but always in glow.

The three most important things after that are to fish them deadstick, fish them deadstick, and fish them deadstick...roughly in that order. Cats dont seem to like anything moving much. I usually fish about 1 foot off the bottom. Bites can range from very light and hard to detect to you better have your ice fishing rod tied to a lawn chair or in a good rod holder.

The thing about cats is they stack on top of each other in the winter and when you find them, you can really beat them up. I think conservative harvest is a must or you'll catch them all...literally. I guard the places we catch catfish in the winter, and we typically only keep a limit or maybe two per season. On rivers the deepest holes are usually loaded with them...on reservoirs (where I fish) they are typically on humps near the main river channels.

A couple more pictures:

 

[shoots-straight]

Really nice fish. Yummy!

 

[twodot]

Thanks Buzz, I will be trying this out in the next day or two!! twodot