Catfish Fishing

[Nilsfisher]

Does anybody know of a good place to catch some catfish in the northern metro and what to use for bait?

[Born2Fish]

I have often wondered that myself. I live around the same area you live(Coon Rapids, Anoka area) and have not heard of much for catfishing around here.

[DTro]

Mississippi, St Croix, and Crow rivers are all full of cats. Use a cut piece of some sort of minnow for bait, (sucker, shiner, fathead, etc), toss on a large enough weight to keep it on the bottom and wait.

Lots of great tips over on the Catfish forum:

http://www.fishingminnesota.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/forums/29/1/Catfish

[Rory]

I have caught cats under the champlin anoka bridge but that was in the summer months and about 10 years ago. who knows give it a try

[Mr.Seaguar]

Shrimp works awesome for cat bait also. If you have to buy it shrimp is lots cheaper than minnow baits. Here in Iowa we can use blugills so that can be pretty cheap, save the guts from icefishing. But shrimp is way cleaner and less icky.

[UdeLakeTom]

Go down to Newell Park in Fridley...catch some bullies in Rice Creek and go at it.

[Nilsfisher]

Thanks guys for the tips and info. I'll have to give them a try.

[deadeye]

Cant go wrong with the big Miss. I always do very well there. As far as bait goes just about anything geared to cats does well. I really slam the smaller ones in the spring with dip bait and then I use cutbait for some bigger fish action. Even crawlers work. I have even had times where a rattletrap was the hot ticket.

I got out for the first time yesterday and I didnt get anything but I watched a guy haul in a couple decent cats. I wasnt fishing for them (crappies) but it made me wish I had picked up a dozen worms.

[Jari Razskazoff]

Just below the elk river dam.

[thedanimalkmk]

Nice channels in Golden Lake in Blaine. Gob up crawlers or frogs and throw them in the bottom off the piere.

Dan

[mudslinger]

Anywhere on the ole miss. Basic rigs are hook-12 to 18 in mono leader-swivel-1.5oz egg weight. Use anything that smells like something you would never put in your mouth

[phishnerd]

The upper mississippi pool is a great fishery. It has a ton a of kitties in the 2-5lb range. As far as bait goes... just about any creek in the area should have suckers running in it right now! These are easily caught and work great for bait. Check out the catfish forum on this site. The guys there have a ton of great threads and a wealth of knowledge. Hope this helps!

[mainbutter]

Phew I'm finally getting an early evening to myself after work tomorrow to hit up some water in the metro for some shore fishing! I haven't picked a place yet but I'm hoping to target some metro channel kitties.

Got my brand spankin new rod/reel that I has yet to taste fish slime rigged up with a sinker-bead-swivel, tied a bunch of fluoro leaders, went and bought some crawlers which are chilling in the fridge, and have my tackle bag all packed and ready to go by the door.

Wish me luck

[mainbutter]

Well I had absolutely zero luck on a north metro lake supposedly stocked with cats this evening. There was a bit of panfish action to be had by others around there but I was skunked.

[deadeye]

I really havent had any luck getting cats in the lakes they stock either. I guess the river always keeps my head up though. Plenty of action to be had there.