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Cattin the Chain '11


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  • Rick G

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welcome back to the 320 dtro! for how much time you spend here you should run for mayor. look forward to seeing your reports......

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The cats are already in their wintering spots. I went out a week ago and caught between 15 and 20. in just over an hour.

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Yep they are in the winter holes. The bay to the west of the meth hole has a great deep water funnel area that is loaded with them right now.

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Riverfishing... Where is the "Meth hole" ? I'm new to the whole Chain-O-Lakes thing.

Yep they are in the winter holes. The bay to the west of the meth hole has a great deep water funnel area that is loaded with them right now.
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Riverfishing... Where is the "Meth hole" ? I'm new to the whole Chain-O-Lakes thing.

Be safe! Ice conditions on the chain can vary greatly!

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if you have never been out there be careful around the meth hole. it is normally open year round but last year it was covered enough that it was hard to see. this area is like 30 to 50 feet deep. if you stay straight north of the point you will be to the left of the meth hole if you are facing south looking at the point. the best way to learn the area is to talk with locals that live there or people that are on here that fish it regularly. the way I learned about the area was by attending cool cats last year. if you can make it try to get to it, it is a fun time and you will gain alot of knowledge. check out the trhread from borch about it.

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That can be a bad spot most years. I have seen a truck and a fourwheeler go in right there in the last 20 or so years and have heard of a few others taking a dip right there. The county sheriff used to have this area marked but that hasnt happened in a few years. I might take some of the orange road cones I have in the garage and mark the hole off my self this year.

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So to be sure, the meth hole is actually closest to the point? For some reason I thought it was further north towards the west side of the river mouth? I started fishing the area later last year so I never saw open water in the area.

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You are correct JimBuck, it's about midway between the point and the western shore a (probably closer to the point though) and a little south.

I think it may move around a bit from year to year though.

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It does indeed move around a bit from year to year and some years there is no actual open spot just some thin ice and other years there is a hole big enough to drive a bus into it.

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Creators

Put a cone there and people will come. Seems like it draws people like magnets. I don't know why but I've seen the cone get run over a couple of times.

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Put a cone there and people will come. Seems like it draws people like magnets. I don't know why but I've seen the cone get run over a couple of times.
On second thought I may not do this as I see your point wink I would hate to be the cause of someone else falling in.
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yeah I guess you are right. it could open a whole can of worms if a person went in because someone put a marker there. The more I think about it I think people should just spread the info via word of mouth about being careful in that area.

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I still wish they would put a few fence posts and some reflective tape in the area. All last year I knew about it but didn't know exactly where it was. I remember a few times thinking about venturing around a bit more and am glad I didn't. It seemed like many of the people I ran into out there really didn't know of the location or have never heard about it.

I do see your point though in regards to people being attracted to this kind of thing, like skeeters to a bug zapper.

Really looking forward to getting out there in the coming weeks.

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  • Official Fishing Report Team - MN

The area is not marked I believe because of liability issues. Yrs ago they marked it a few times but the authorities won't do it any more. I have witnessed trucks,sleds and Atv's go down in that area. My advise get to know the area before ventureing around to much with any motorized vehicle!

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got the same response from khandi county....do not know if it related to budget cuts as well, but it is a crazy world with a lot of sue happy people/lawyers out there. how ironic that someone/entity can get sued for trying to help you out!!!

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plenty of cats in every lake that has deep enough water for them to overwinter. you hear mostly about horseshoe, because it is the more accessible.

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Definitely caught quite a few cats on Cedar Island lake this fall. But man accessing that area in the winter would be like ice road trucking on TV.

I've never purposely fished for Cats in the winter, let alone any time for that matter. I do like the fight they put up. So they like to winter deep?

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you will most often find them hanging out in the low to mid 20's through low to mid 30's during the day. towards evening they can start to move up a little to the nearby flats. would assume this could be true for the pre dawn bite, but can't say for sure because i don't like to get up early smile

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