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Colorful Catfish Report – 11/9/07 (5 pics)


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Crazyice and I slipped out to the local watering hole, north of town for a little catting action last night. It was well after dark when we got there and I really wasn’t sure what to expect since I haven’t been on the Zumbro in search of cats for well over a month.

To top it off we tried an entirely new spot with a little deeper water than we were use to. I did some zig zagging and figure eights over the area looking for breaks and fish on the graph. We found a spot that showed some potential and dropped anchor and never had to move.

5 minutes into the night and my rod bounces with this 25” (6lb 13oz)

ty_cat7.jpg

At this point I hadn’t even had time to take my coat off yet.

A couple fish later I landed what is possibly my brightest catfish ever. This thing shimmered in gold.

ty_cat5.jpg

I jumped out to a quick 4-0 fish lead over crazy, but it didn’t take him long to take it up, then take the lead with this 26.25”er

andy_cat3.jpg

I managed the hog of the evening with this respectable 27.25”er (8lbs 6oz).

ty_cat3.jpg

On this fish I measured the diameter of this fish from the tip of its left spine to the tip of its right spine. It was 7.75” across. I’ve been thinking ICE a lot and how big a hole it’s going to take to pull fish like this (and possibly bigger) through the ice. This measurement told me quite a bit.

It was an awesome night on the water. No wind, comfortable temps, and the fish were really going. We ended the night with 8 cats each and probably missed 5+ fish each. 7 of our fish were two foot or better. For about an hour one of us would get a bite every 5 minutes.

The color on these fish continues to amaze me. The fish ranged from several shades of grays, browns, and yellows. Pale and Gold are other colors that come to mind.

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hit 9 more last night with 2 right near the 24" mark. Larger fish have been tough to find as of late. We moved around a bit, but couldn't find any active fish except in the same spot as as we caught fish earlier in the week. The bite has also gone very soft compared to the summer bite.

Hanson, I'm still looking for the early ice spot. To answer your question...No

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These last two outings have been interesting, found fish, but no monsters. It sure would be nice to be able to figure out where the sumos hunker down for the winter!! I am eagerly anticipating pulling some of them through the ice!

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • Brianf.
      I'm not there, so I can't tell exactly what's going on but it looks like a large area of open water developed in the last day with all of the heavy snow on the east side of wake em up Narrows. These two photos are from my Ring Camera facing north towards Niles Point.  You can see what happened with all of snow that fell in the last three days, though the open water could have been wind driven. Hard to say. .  
    • SkunkedAgain
      Black Bay had great ice before but a few spots near rockpiles where there were spots of open water. It looks like the weight of the snow has created a little lake in the middle of the bay.  
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the south end...   Thanks to some cold spring weather, ice fishing continues strong for those still ice fishing.  The bite remains very good.  Most resorts have pulled their fish houses off for the year, however, some still have fish houses out and others are allowing ATV and side by sides.  Check social media or call ahead to your favorite resort for specifics. Reports this week for walleyes and saugers remain excellent.   A nice mix of jumbo perch, pike, eelpout, and an occasional crappie, tullibee or sturgeon being reported by anglers. Jigging one line and using a live minnow on the second line is the way to go.  Green, glow red, pink and gold were good colors this week.     Monster pike are on a tear!  Good number of pike, some reaching over 45 inches long, being caught using tip ups with live suckers or dead bait such as smelt and herring in 8 - 14' of water.   As always, work through a resort or outfitter for ice road conditions.  Safety first always. Fish houses are allowed on the ice through March 31st, the walleye / sauger season goes through April 14th and the pike season never ends. On the Rainy River...  The river is opened up along the Nelson Park boat ramp in Birchdale, the Frontier boat ramp and Vidas boat ramp.  This past week, much of the open water skimmed over with the single digit overnight temps.   Areas of the river have popped open again and with temps getting warmer, things are shaping up for the last stretch through the rest of the spring season, which continues through April 14th.   Very good numbers of walleyes are in the river.  Reports this week, even with fewer anglers, have been good.  When temps warm up and the sun shines, things will fire up again.   Jigs with brightly colored plastics or jigs with a frozen emerald shiner have been the desired bait on the river.  Don't overlook slow trolling crankbaits upstream as well.   Good reports of sturgeon being caught on the river as well.  Sturgeon put the feed bag on in the spring.  The bite has been very good.  Most are using a sturgeon rig with a circle hook loaded with crawlers or crawlers / frozen emerald shiners. Up at the NW Angle...  Ice fishing is winding down up at the Angle.  Walleyes, saugers, and a number of various species in the mix again this week.  The bite is still very good with good numbers of fish.  The one two punch of jigging one line and deadsticking the second line is working well.   Check with Angle resorts on transport options from Young's Bay.  Call ahead for ice road guidelines.  
    • CigarGuy
      With the drifting, kind of hard to tell for sure, but I'm guessing about a foot and still lightly snowing. Cook end!
    • PSU
      How much snow did you get on Vermilion? 
    • Mike89
      lake here refroze too...  started opening again yesterday with the wet snow and wind...  very little ice left today...
    • Hookmaster
      A friend who has a cabin between Alex and Fergus said the lake he's on refroze. He texted me a pic from March 12th when it was open and one from 23rd when it wasn't. 🤯
    • SkunkedAgain
      I don't think that there has been any ice melt in the past few weeks on Vermilion. Things looked like a record and then Mother Nature swept in again.   I'll give my revised guess of April 21st
    • leech~~
      As I get older it's really not just about sending bullets down range.  Some of it's just the workmanship of the gun and the wow factor. The other two guns I have really wanted which I'll never have now because of their price, is a 8mm Jap Nambu and 9mm German Luger.   Just thought they always looked cool!  
    • jim curlee
      I had a guy hit me with a lightly used 1969 BAR, he wanted $1650 with an older Leupold scope. More than I think they are worth, I made an offer, he declined end of story.   You know if you look at the old brochures, a grade II BAR sold for $250 in the late 60s, $1650 would be a good return on your investment.    Why would anybody want a 50 year old gun, they are heavy, have wood stocks, and blued metal.  I guess mainly to keep their gun safes glued to the floor. lol   You can probably buy a stainless rifle that you never have to clean, with a synthetic stock you never have to refinish, is as light as a feather, and for half as much money, perfect.   I'm too old for a youth gun, although I've shrunk enough that it would probably fit. lol   No Ruger 10/44s.   Jim      
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