Cattin' the Chain '10

[aanderud]

Good call on going back out for the evening bite. Last time I was out there was >2 hours prior to sunset with a grand total of 0 bites (and only 3 fish seen on the flasher) followed by almost 4 hours of nonstop action as the sun was setting and thereafter.

[wooduck26]

I was out there saturday. I got 5 or6, nothing bigger than 2-3 pounds. I did have one good fish on. Yellow was the best color hands down. Ice buster bobbers are a must IMO. when the bobber twicehed I set the hook! All fish were barely hoooked, even the coule that took the bobber down all the way. You miss more than you hook, you mark alot but they were not cooperating very well. I well Ill be back up there in a couple weeks Im sure!

[riverrat56]

We too were there yesterday evening, very tough bite, 1 small cat, 3 rock bass, a crappie and a walleye. I managed to find enough fish but talking them into biting was a whole nother ball game.

[IceHawk]

Pressure! Pressure! Pressure! IMO and from my experiance the cats on the chain are like any other fish their feeding patterns, locations etc will change when fished alot. The meth hole has seen a fair amount of fisherman and angling pressure already this yr and I think the fish have adapted. They are defiantely still there and some fish will be caught but the great numbers and size will be hard to come by as the season progresses. With the ice conditions improveing don't be afraid to check out some different lakes and other areas on the chain. Long and Cedar for example hold good concentrations of fish. Grab a lakemap of the chain and cut some holes in some promiseing areas and you may surprise yourself. Trust me I have fished these cats on the chain for alot of yrs and I can attest that there are areas untapped that hold large concentrations of fish that are more than willing to bite!

[Rick G]

Myself and a couple buddies went out from around noon till seven this evening. Bite was very tough with a short flurry of action right after the sun hit the horizon. I have been out quite a bit in the last few days and bite is as slow as it has been in some years. Lots of big red marks on the flasher but few that make the spring twitch. And I have tryed roughly a dozen diffarent spots through out the chain. I even tryed from 7 till midnight on Thu. with not a lot to show for it. The good news is that if you work for them some crappies and walleyes can be caught in the usaual spots for this time of year.

[bobbymalone]

what is this meth hole that everyone talks about and why is it called that?

[pushbutton]

have to ditto that, only fished the chain the last two years, but also have simply run into dead spots, this also occurs in during open water. will just nail the cats for two weeks in a row and thud, for no apparent reason the fish just shut off. similarly it just amazing how the fish turn on for about a half hour around dusk. i just sit on my dock with an adult beverage and catch 3 to 6 fish almost every night.

[Brad B]

what is this meth hole that everyone talks about and why is it called that?

the full name is methane hole and it is a 50ft deep hole just west of the land point forming the horseshoe shape of the lake. look at a lake map and find that hole and you are there.

[DTro]

and to be more specific, they call it that becasue for some reason, methane gas rises from the deep there and tends to keep a small area open all winter. So don't be driving around there

[bobbymalone]

So don't be driving around there

GOOD TO KNOW!

I will get myself up there one of these days, sounds like a blast.

[DTro]

Here’s a picture from a Cool Cats event a couple of years ago. IceHawk brought out some soccer cones and we made a big circle around the “danger zone”

[NELS-BELLS]

Here is a picture of the 28" catfish that my son caught on Sat. night. He did a heck of a job fighting it with the crappie rod and only 4 lb. test.

We ended up with 6 cats, 2 crappies, and a small walleye. We could see plenty of crappies swimming around before dark on the camera but they wouldn't even look at the crappie minnows.

Thanks for all of the great advice on catching catfish.

Nels

[Sabrefish]

After watching this thread for the last couple of years, I took my ten year old out on Saturday evening to try catching a few cats. I have fished the Chain many times in the summer but infrequently in the winter. We caught 4 cats and a small walleye. Agree that the IceBusters are a must and work fantastic. Red Frostee worked well with a chopped up fathead. But interestingly enough after catching the first two cats things slowed down so I tried tailhooking a live fathead and boom caught 2 2-3 lb cats in about 5 mins. All-in-all had a great time. Sorry but I will be adding to the "pressure" at the meth hole but I am a catch and release guy anyways.

[sixptrack]

That setles it, I have to try for these cats! I have been reading about you guys in the forum for two years now, it sounds like a blast! It sounds like the "meth hole" would be a good place for me to start. Can I drive a full size pickup out there safely? I would imaging so... but ya never know, its been warm down here (south central MN), and pretty sloppy getting around. Most of the posts here say find water between 20-30 feet, is that still the going depth? As an avid angler, I know that the good tips may be a closely gaurded secret, as they should be, but I would appreciate any info you guys are willing to share! Thanks, can't wait to get out there!

[DTro]

Nice fish Nels!!

Not be a smart arse sixptrack but everything you need to know is in this thread already.

Trust me, even the "good tips" are here. It's not often you see such good info in a thread.

[IceHawk]

Good photo and good info Darren. Good idea to let people know to be carefull in this area. I have seen more than one truck go down out there.

[sixptrack]

yea, no kidding! It almost feels like I'm cheating by reading all of these posts! I know I'm the new guy so I'll give everybody there space. Can I drive out there? Last post I read about ice thickness said 20 inches on the main road. I was on Rice a week and a half ago sitting on 6 inches! We had sleds but there were trucks everywhere!

[DTro]

yes, just follow the ice road that goes West off of 22. As far as I know there are no issues at all driving out there.

Good Luck

[riverrat56]

I was itching to try out some new areas last weekend but had 2 issues. First I wasn't sure of ice conditions around the lake and with the river system/Meth hole I didn't want to be driving cross country. Second and more importantly, my Jeep stalled multiple times and wouldn't restart for awhile. We had to be towed out there (yep that was me being towed onto the lake!) so I wasn't going to leave my potential ride home!

Icehawk, shoot me an email sometime please, [email protected] Thanks!

[IceHawk]

Nick sent you a email

[riverrat56]

I didn't get it, but no fear, I dug up an old one from last winter, hopefully you've got the same address still.

[Gordie]

at the last minuete decided to go to the chain just got bak was there from 4pm-9pm and only caught three kittys very slow saw few fish on the depth finder also. it was still good to get out and give it a try. Most guys I talked to said its been very slow the last few days and it look to be alot of pressure on the kittys by the meth hole so i tink its time to look for a new spot to try.

[so haaad]

Elwood, I was out there tonight too. I think we left right when you guys were packing up. We had the same results as you...very few fish and not even that many passing through.

[DTro]

yeah could be the pressure

I've also noticed that the bite slows down in general as the year progresses.

I see Rick has added a video to the IceLeaders page.

Might be able to get a few tips here:

http://iceleaders.com/

[ross0101]

i was fishing the meth hole of friday night in 33fow. my cousin and i only caught three cats and two rock bass using a green glow jig while our friend caught seven cats, a walleye and crappie right next to us with a green glow rattling spoon. we caught all of them after dark at about four feet off bottom, using full fatheads that we marked up with pleirs.(jigging with the rattling spoon seemed to do best, just let off the jigging right before they hit the bait on the vexilar.

[Gordie]

Thanks Dtro great stuff on that vid keep up the great work

[pikestabber]

DTRO:

Does the bite pick up again later in the year, or is earlier best and it all goes downhill after that? (e.g., is later in FEB still good, better into March...or is December early Jan always best)?

Thanks.

[DTro]

I haven’t done it enough years to put a definite pattern on them. But the 4 or 5 years I’ve been fishing for them, Dec sure seems to have been the best.

Whether it’s calendar related or lack of pressure at that time, I’m not sure, but it seems like better fishing earlier on.

Not unlike other fish, early and late is great.

[pikestabber]

Thanks!

[Rick G]

I have been chasing channels for a long time and imo December is the best month for the most consistent action but good days will be had up untill ice out especially if you can find some areas that havent been hit hard and hold fish. Lots of good spots to try all around the chain that recieves little or no fishing pressure so dont be afraid to do a little searching.