Catfishing On The Zumbro

[Jeff88]

Hello everyone. I've been fishing quite frequently on Silver Lake for Carp which has been a blast. However I would like to start targeting other species and thought Catfish would be interesting. I've caught a couple small Channel Cats a long time ago(2-3yrs) from the Zumbro near Fisherman's Inn. I have not been fishing there since then. I was wondering how the Catfishing is there now a days, and if it was worth trying. I will be fishing from shore and right by Fisherman's Inn again. What rigs and Bait would be the best to use?

Any other tips you can offer me would be great also.

[ikeslayer]

Although idon't personally target kitties on teh zum that much there are those on here that have. if you look back a page or two there will be some good reads. i always head to ol miss for my kitty hunting. i am sure some good info will be indulged in here. Welcome to the forums absolutely some great people and great info on here. ike

[Tyler Holm]

Jeff88,

First off, Welcome to FishingMinnesota and HotSpotOutdoors.com. You've come to the right place for the info your looking for.

For starters. Right on my Man. Great to have another in our area that enjoys the beastly fights of those carp and catfish.

As Ike suggested, take a look at some of the previous posts in this forum. Even go back a few pages. We've talked a lot about both carp and catfish this summer. You might even run across some pictures that will really get the blood flowing.

The point at Fisherman's has produced some darn nice catfish this year. Carp, Bluegill, and Suckers too. If you toss our a crawler on the bottom, you'll have a good catching a variety of fish. If you want to focus your efforts on channel cats exclusively, I'd recommend chicken liver or cut bait (sucker, redhorse, flathead minnows, mooneye).

For a rig I might recommend a hook around #1 - 2/0 hook. I prefer the wide gap hooks at this point, but I'm still experimenting with others. Maybe a 10" leader to a slip sinker just heavy enough to keep your bait in place.

Keep your bait fresh. If it sits for 20-30 minutes, change it.

If you have any further questions, feel free to ask.

[Jeff88]

Thanks for the information guys, I really appreciate it. The rig you mentioned is exactly what I'm using for Carping on Silver Lake.

As for bait I have plenty of experience fishing with Liver so I'm definitely trying that. How about any of the pre-packaged catfish bait you can purchase such as Berkley Powerbait? Are these worth giving a go or should I stick with liver, cut bait, etc?

[hanson]

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How about any of the pre-packaged catfish bait you can purchase such as Berkley Powerbait? Are these worth giving a go or should I stick with liver, cut bait, etc?

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Stick with fresh cut baits - sucker, mooneye/goldeye, shad.

I think the pre-packaged baits and stinkbaits are good on some waters but not all. Are they worth a try? Probably but don't stick with them if they don't produce. They definitely are preferred in the southern states which leads me to believe there is a water temp threshold at which they really, really work. Stink works better in southern MN vs northern MN.

[Tyler Holm]

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How about any of the pre-packaged catfish bait you can purchase such as Berkley Powerbait?

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We've tried these baits on two occassions and have never landed a fish on them yet. They only seem to pick this stuff up and run about 5', then drop it. I'd guess they are only holding it in their lips as they never seem to be there when you set the hook. I've seen 1 caught on the Miss River, but that's it.

Cutbait for quality, chicken livers for quantity, crawlers for variety. Of course there are exception to all of them thou.

[Crickschop04]

I've had a lot of success on the Miss w/ stink bait on really hot days! But they were all small.

[Jeff88]

Thanks for all the help everyone, I appreciate it. Hopefully I can get out there in the next couple weeks, I'll be sure to let you know how I do.

[crazyice]

If you are strictly fishing from the Fisherman's Inn area, I think that one problem you may find is that you might not catch many catfish. They are starting to head to their winter holes, which typically are the deeper parts of the lake. I am sure that you will catch a few, but I think that it might be a tough bite. I would definately bring liver and cutbait. I think that I would start with the liver first and see what happens, because if there are any fish up in that area, you will definately get hits with the liver, just like Tyler said. Tyler and I have put in quite a few long nights and mornings out there this year, and just like he said, quality with cut, quantity with liver. That is why I would try the liver first, I think that it would be a good kind of thermometer to see if there is anything happening at all. You know there are cats in town as well anywhere below the dam. Good luck.

[Jeff88]

Yeah I kinda figured fishing there this late in the season would be tough going. I'll still spend a day fishing there and see what happens. If I don't catch anything there is always next year.

[rgcurtis]

Do you guys normally fish with your bait right on the bottom? I've came across quite a few decent cats this summer when I was fishing for gills.

[Jeff88]

You may want to wait until more experienced Cat fisherman reply. Yes you normally fish on the bottom for Catfish as they are primarily bottom feeders. However sometimes the fish may be suspended in the water column. During this time having your bait up off the bottom would be best, using a float or some similar method.

About a year ago I was fishing at Chester Woods. I was using a small 1/16oz white feather jig, mainly trying for Crappie and possibly a stray Largemouth. Well when I was retrieving the jig about 3-4ft off the bottom something hit the jig. It was a hard strike, thought it was a big Bass. After about a 5 minute fight, I finally got the fish to shore. The result was a 9lb Channel Catfish.

Sorry for the rambling just thought I would tell you my unusual experience, at least to me it was.

[hanson]

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Sorry for the rambling just thought I would tell you my unusual experience, at least to me it was.

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No... not really unusual. For the majority of the open water periods, cats are found near the bottom. As summer wears on and they move to their wintering holes, they start to adjust. During the winter, I usually find cats from 1' off the bottom to 10' or more off the bottom.

Will cats do this in the summer? You bet they will. In bodies of water with decent current, cats really concentrate on the current, or lack thereof. They sit on the edges of the flow; either in eddies, in holes, behind riffles, etc.

Cats are food oriented #1, which many fisherman should really apply to their daily fishing routines. They want food, but don't want to exert much effort into finding it. Thats where reading and understanding current becomes very important.

When the current slows, thats when the baitfish spread out and the cats do as well. This is where cattin' becomes tricky in rivers, and especially reservoir situations where there isn't much current to begin with.

Follow the current, find the fish. When the current is gone, spread out and start looking for the food.