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Cattin the Chain '11


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I was out there Fri-Sun and it was hit or miss all wekend long. Best bite was Fri evening slowest day was Sat. and never got anything over 22in the whole time out.

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  • Rick G

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Fished Horshoe Sunday 2/13 from 4pm-7:30pm caught a few crappie, walleyes and lost a decent cat at the hole. I was trying all my usual tactics but could not get the cats to bite. Cats moved in at dark and where anywhere from bottom to 8 ft up and there were alot of them.

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Fished Horshoe Sunday 2/13 from 4pm-7:30pm
I give you credit for sticking it out that long with that wind we had. I left the lake around 5:30 after my portable tryed to take flight with me in it shocked.
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I left the lake around 5:30 after my portable tryed to take flight with me in it shocked.

Good idea. I was fishing the meth hole area one night about 5 years ago when a wind storm came up. It was late season and all the snow had just melted. My portable turned into a big sail and I ended up sliding 100-200 feet across the ice. My lines were dragging across the ice, my lantern fell and went out and there wasn't much that I could do. Pretty helpless feeling.

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Hit the lake around 1pm today. Most of the snow is gone and there is alot of standing water and slush in spots. The hill at the access is still holding up well but there is 3-8in of water where the road was. Travel on the lake it self was about the best it's been all year now that the snow has melted.

Fishing was pretty slow all day untill around 5:30 when I had a good size school move in on me. The decent bite lasted for around 45min then the action slowed to nothing. I got all my fish on the 1/8 glow red buck shot and the head of a smaller fathead. A few things I noticed today were the cats liked the smaller minnow heads vs the larger chunks, they wanted a glow red spoon but they did'nt seem to want it glowing brightly and all but one of the fish I caught I had hooked in the whiskers not the mouth.

Last but not least I am very impressed with the lack of garbage on the lake this year. I stoped by the meth hole on my way back to my spot today and only found a couple pop cans and one green propane cylinder. Most years when the snow melts I will pick up a couple garbage bags full but not this year gringringrin. I have a funny feeling it's HSO/FM members keeping the area clean this season wink.

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RFM thanks for the update. Glad to hear the access is still in decent shape. I'm sure w/ the turn in the weather again it has somewhat firmed up again.

I'll be heading out later this AM hoping to track down an eye or , not sure how long into the evening I'll be able to stay, but if you see a green Dodge PU out there stop by and say hello.

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I am stuck at work now but will be heading out there after dinner to spend the weekend on the lake again.

With the cold front that came through last night and rising barometer today I would'nt expect too much action today or Sat but Sun should be ok with a weather system coming in.

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Did make it out yesterday late AM. Saw 1 perm coming off the ice. Fished my normal area and tried anywhere from 24'-35' couldn't mark a fish to save my life. Would've sworn I was on the dead sea. Tried an completely different part of the lake w/ the same results.

On my way back off the lake I figured I'd check the original holes just for GP...I was marking fish in 31 FOW, suspended and hugging the bottom. Ended up staying until about 8:30p with not a single Cat or eye to be had but ended up catch and releasing quite a few Croppies. Green glow teardrops w/ either a minnow or just the head seemed to work for me.

I will say that if you are venturing out this weekend bring some form of traction devices for your feet. That glare ice w/ any form of moisture made for some dicy walking, even have the bruises to prove it.

The ice is in great shape. The 1st 25 yds from the access are rough but still do-able. And with this round of cold weather things should be fine.

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I was out on horseshoe today and it was glare ice out there. fished the meth hole area and didn't catch anything but did have a northern sit and eye ball my cut sucker I had down there for cats. the thing went eye to eye with the camera and then swam away. wish it would of taken the sucker but never the less it was cool to see on camera. the access is a little rough but is doable. the hill is down to dirt. I followed the road out but drove on the right side of it because it was rough in spots. the ice is still 24 to 30 inches thick. the actual meth hole is now 2 visible black spot on the ice(thin in that area) . one guy I talked to said it was open last week (would not surprise me with that warm spell). will be trying out there once more this year then calling it a year for ice fishing.

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Did make it out yesterday late AM. Saw 1 perm coming off the ice.

I will say that if you are venturing out this weekend bring some form of traction devices for your feet. That glare ice w/ any form of moisture made for some dicy walking, even have the bruises to prove it.

Ya it's slick out there. I fell getting out of the truck last night and twisted my knee so bad I ended up in the e.r. for a good part of the evening. I thought about trying to make it out today with the crutches I was provided but figued that I would just make things worse cry

osok,The house you saw coming off was it tanish being pulled by a black one ton dodge?

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RFM, sorry to hear about the knee. Hope it gets better. Hopefully it's nothing TOO serious??

I hope to make one more trip up there at least, prolly cool cats. That's 2 weeks, who knows we might have 20 inches of snow out there by then smile

I think I might try to hit up the tullies on this coming weekend on ML. Those things are just too fun to ignore.

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Ya it's slick out there. I fell getting out of the truck last night and twisted my knee so bad I ended up in the e.r. for a good part of the evening. I thought about trying to make it out today with the crutches I was provided but figued that I would just make things worse cry

now I know you are a die hard cat nut if you even think about going out with crutches. if you do feel better and go out good luck.

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I'm a bit swolen/sore and black and blue. When I went down my leg ended up behind me and I was looking up at the sky crazy. Oh well things happens I guess.

Well with the drop in barometric. presure made the cats feed pretty good all afternoon and well into the evening. I have a few good friends that drilled my holes for me and helped me around as needed today. grin Fished a slow tapering break from 22-35ft and found the best numbers in the 22-24ft range. We caught fish on liver, fathead heads, and small chunks of cut sucker meat. Glow red was best for everyone but got a few on other colors as well.

The wind we had was nuts and made thing intresting to say the least. We were starting to get some drifts around the shoreline but the snow that landed on the main lake was blown off as soon as it landed. The good news is that some of the ruts on the lake will finaly get filled in so the drive out may not be so bone jaring.

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Wow this thread and Horseshoe have been quite lately.....

No cats today, which was ok since I wasn't really targeting them. fished close to where I have had some good luck w/ walleyes this winter and didn't mark a single fish. So I went to an area where I had some decent luck during open water and sure enough as the sun went down my screen lit up. ended up w/ 2 keepers and lost a dandy fish of some sort. I'm thinking it was a northern because it slammed my rattling flyer, and after about 5 mins of toying w/ me it stole my jig. Didn't even get a glimpse of it. Also caught (after sorting)3 really nice croppies right around dark. All fish were caught in 21 FOW.

Good luck to all this weekend.

Oh yeah.......anybody plan on attending the boat show?

The hill and the road are in great shape so this weekend should be good for you guys. It'll be @least Sunday before I get an opportunity to head out.

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How's the driving and ice out there? Thinking about heading out there this weekend.

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Creators

Plenty of ice out there other than the usual methhole. Just follow the road and you'll be fine.

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I've been having great success with both walleyes and crappies. 19-20' has been good all year. I've noticed that moving the shack 10' from my original holes has yielded more crappies, but still provides a nice mix.

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Just wondering how the catfish bite is going? Day or night? Planning to head out there tomorrow... LMK Thanks!

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Was out most of the day today. We tryed three lakes and more than a dozen spots before finaly stumbling upon a decent school of cats. We dint mark much on Horseshoe or Cedar so we ended up on one of the lakes to the east for the remainder of the day. Once we got to my plan b spot we found a few fish hanging around the 20-24ft range. I put the camera down to make sure it wasnt another school of crappies and to my liking it was cats and quite a few of them. Well the bite was pretty slow untill around 5 when it got a little better. The bites we did get were real light and I know I missed at least as many as I hooked. I think the tally for the day was 11 cats and a bunch of small crappies. The crappies were riding real high in the watter colom from just below the ice to 7-8ft down and we even could see them by looking down the hole crazy. The cats on the other hand were glued to the bottom and never came more than a couple ft up to get the bait. We had some luck on the green buck shot as well as the red and got a couple on the rattlin flyer in red too.

Well I think today was my last time out for cats this season. I have a busy spring coming with work mad and pannies grin so I will be waiting till open water before chasing the cats again.

This was one of the better threads again this year on HSO imo and I would like to thank everyone who contributed info ,reports and your 2c .

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RFM,

Thank YOU for making it one of the best threads on HSO. Darren and Brian ran off and fell in love with something slimier and stinkier grin and your reports were the lifeline to the thread!!! Glad to see your knee is getting better and you were able to get out again. Crazy isn't it? March 12th will be the one year anniversary of me breaking my ankle on the ice. Had not ever broke a bone in my life until that point. Everyone be careful out there the next few weeks!

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RFM,

Never did get the opportunity and honor to fish with you this winter. Thank you for all your input in this and other threads. Would love to bounce some ideas off you sometime and take (ahem) advantage of your local knowledge. Work and pannies.....pannies are fun....work?? a necessary evil for those of us that can't afford a sponsor.

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smile yeah, I really slacked off the past couple of months on this thread.

Had the cats stayed cooperative and we were able to catch a good average each time, we would have kept at it. I just know that from the past several years, the bite tapers off quite dramatically in Feb, so you have to make an educated decision. Do you drive 2 hours to catch 4 or 5 fish, or do you drive 2 hours to catch 40 or 50 fish (or more)?

As much as I love to fish for cats, I'm an equal opportunity fisherman. smile

At any rate, I also say thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread it's always one of my favorites each year!

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Thanks to everyone for keeping the thread up to date and interesting. RFM, was good to see your posts here and nice to meet you earlier this year.

I might get one more outing, but if anything it's going to be another tullibee outing up on ML. We'll see.

Seeya all next year on Cattin the Chain '12. Or, I suppose if we're out in early December again, might just tack a couple more '11s onto this one smile

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My son and I was on Long south of Horse shoe hoped to ice some cats, but no luck at all, we had the whole lake for ourshelf, went to Horseshoe late of the afternoon, fish for a bit at Meth hole nothing there neither, nice weather.

Soft.

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Went out to Horseshoe last night and tried for some crappies. Set up about 7p.m. and fished til about 2a.m. Action was a little slow. Marked a lot of fish hunkered down on the bottom, but they just wouldn't come up more than 6" and then shot back to the bottom. I did manage to catch my first catfish through the ice! It was a nice 25", and man did it fight! Just about ripped the pole out of my hand when it hit!full-33711-6874-catfish.jpg

full-33711-6875-crappie1.jpg

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Nice Fishy's Gixxer, I was out on a different lake Monday night with the same results.....darn finicky fish.

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Osok, I see your from St. Joe area, if you want to hook up sometime let me know. I usually fish alone

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