Cattin the Chain 2012

[Brad B]

riverfishingmiss,

hey just wanted to say thanks for the tip. if it wasn't for taking your tip I think the cats may have still won. atleast now I can finally say I have offically iced my first cat every(after 3 seasons of trying) along with my first ice walleye. as I told you I have caught many cats and walleyes during the summer but this was a first for me when it comes to ice fishing. can't wait to come up again and try round 2 with the cats. keep the reports coming. will be looking to talk with you more about what we talked about(just PM as it gets closer to that time.)

[aanderud]

Good to hear they're still biting up there. My son and I hit a metro lake and got about 40+ crappies. Between 5:20 and 6:00 they were snappin HARD. Only 1 before that and only 5 after that. Very tight window, but that's OK when you're with a 4 year old they don't want to stay out all day anyway.

Nice to see you popped the catfish cherrry, Brad. What was the tip? Do share, so that others here might save themselves from a dreaded skunking!

[Brad B]

Good to hear they're still biting up there. My son and I hit a metro lake and got about 40+ crappies. Between 5:20 and 6:00 they were snappin HARD. Only 1 before that and only 5 after that. Very tight window, but that's OK when you're with a 4 year old they don't want to stay out all day anyway.

Nice to see you popped the catfish cherrry, Brad. What was the tip? Do share, so that others here might save themselves from a dreaded skunking!

all I will say is I was going to setup in the wrong area and riverfishingmiss showed me a better area and it paid off.

here is a pic of the cat & eye. the eye went back and the cat will be made into cat balls. it was a 24 incher. I knew they put up a good fight but boy does the short ice rods make it feel even harder. I couldn't believe how many times the drag would scream when the fish decided to run.

[Brad B]

one thing I forgot to add. I ended up with a 4 species night. I got a cat, walleye, crappie, & the of course a party crappie.

[pushbutton]

Nice fish Brad. Glad you got on the board. Strange looking trees in the background.....black oak?

[Brad B]

Nice fish Brad. Glad you got on the board. Strange looking trees in the background.....black oak?

I think the houses on the shore would of gave this area away and I don't want that to happen.

[mncountryboy92]

head back out tonight was fun fishing last night brad wasen't to bad of a night all and all. i'll let u know how i do tonight taking my 2 brothers out there 17 and 3 should be a blast. 3 year old brother is addicted to cattin since i take him with me almost everyday in the summer

[Brad B]

head back out tonight was fun fishing last night brad wasen't to bad of a night all and all. i'll let u know how i do tonight taking my 2 brothers out there 17 and 3 should be a blast. 3 year old brother is addicted to cattin since i take him with me almost everyday in the summer

good luck. hope you get your 3 year old brother on a cat like the one I caught last night. will be looking to hearing a report.

[mncountryboy92]

i hope so to im hading out now he's nuts about cattin

[mncountryboy92]

well was nice seeing up out there river didn't get anything but was marking out of fish just no takers

[Borch]

Nice finally meeting up with you RFM. Popped an nice cat in the first 15 miutes we were there and after that a few crappies and many. many lookers and bumpers. You definitely keep after them and for thsat you get your rewards.

Nice cat Brad!

[Rick G]

Yes I was good to finay meet you and Brad . As far as im concerned you are both great guys and can can count on me for any thing you might ever need. Brad, thanks for the hand in landing my cat. I did get quite a few over the last couple days but that was the biggest. Borch, thank you for drilling that shallow set of holes, almost all my fish the last two days came from them.

Bite was pretty slow durring the day on sat. Wind was brutal so I opted to sit in the wheelhouse and catch crappies and wait for the cats to move in. Around 5pm when it became clear the cats were not going to find me I had to find them. I worked the holes in the 27-35ft range that I cut early in the day, not much going on in that depht. Around 6pm it started to snow a little and I found my first active pod of cats in some 20-22 ft holes Borch had cut(thanks again ). From the time I had found them till 10:30 when the finaly shut off I picked up quite a few, missed a bunch and just plain lost a whole lot of them. I woke up around 6 this morning and drug my house back to those same holes and had my first fish 10min later. From 7-9am action was pretty darn good for this time of year. For the rest of the day the bite was slooow with a good flurry at prime time. While I was in the prossess of packing up MNcountryboy92 showed up with his brothers. I had him set up pretty close to where I was and wished him good luck. I think he should do ok tonight as there were plenty of fish still in the area when I was leaving. I hope those boys put a hurtin on them cats tonight

[Rick G]

I think the houses on the shore would of gave this area away and I don't want that to happen.

Thanks bud, afterall it more than just a fishing spot too me I will pm you when we get closer to that time

[mncountryboy92]

yea didn't get any brother was sleepy so we left at about 8:30 had no takes alot of them followed tho ill be putting a hurting on them cats tomorrow mourning from 5 or 6 am -10am problay tomorrow

[Brad B]

Riverfishingmiss,

thanks for the tip of going there. I will always black out the background if it is a spot someone showed me. I do this out of respect for the people that share spots with me. can't wait to come up again. looking like I might come up on the 12th of February. Can't wait for that other thing also.

[Rick G]

I will always black out the background if it is a spot someone showed me. I do this out of respect for the people that share spots with me. thanks again for this

can't wait to come up again. looking like I might come up on the 12th of February.

I will be spending the weekend out there somewhere, let me know

[aanderud]

Nice work fellas. Sounds like there's still some fish biting, which is impressive considering it's almost Feb. I think the lower amounts of pressure help a lot. My son and I went out crappie fishing instead of cattin this weekend. He got this 'eye about 30 minutes into the day. Thought the craps weren't going to bite but they finally turned on right at dusk, made the night pretty unforgettable.

[Rick G]

Good job aanderud, that boy sure looks a lot like his daddy aanderud jr.

[Borch]

Borch, thank you for drilling that shallow set of holes, almost all my fish the last two days came from them.

Glad I could help

[mncountryboy92]

if anyone is up do u think the ice is still safe to drive on for today since i wann go fishing before i go to sleep since i work night shift

[Stick in Mud]

Great reports, guys....and I'm glad to hear you're still getting them. I've been too busy up at Mille Lacs to get out to the Chain.

And good to hear you finally got one, Brad! They sure are fun on those small rods and light line!

[Rick G]

Mncountryboy92, the ice is still in the same condition as we left it on Sun. . No, my wheelhouses wont be going anywhere soon but I thank you for your concern, we definatly need more people like you on the forum It' always good to know someone is watching out for fellow FM/HSO members.

Well it happened for the second time this year, I was skunked for cats. I just knew I should have stayed at work . It was not quite a total skunking and Im gratefull for that. I did end up getting a couple walleyes and one jumbo crappie, stupid rough fish . It wasnt that I could not find them, there was at least one and most of the time there was quite a few below me. I did get a bunch of bites but my timing was just a little off this fine day . My two partners for the evening each got a couple so they didnt fare quite as bad as I did. They rubed it in all the way home oh well, netx time I will make up for it.

[Brad B]

Great reports, guys....and I'm glad to hear you're still getting them. I've been too busy up at Mille Lacs to get out to the Chain.

And good to hear you finally got one, Brad! They sure are fun on those small rods and light line!

yea a 24incher (5LBer) puts up a good fight on a 7 foot rod during the summer but in the winter on the 26 inch rod the fight is magnified. pound for pound I think they are the hardest fighting fish in minnesota.

[mncountryboy92]

ok yea im goin out tonight to try it imma drive out haven't been out all week since i work 1-1130 now

[mncountryboy92]

cats and smallies r pound for pound

[mncountryboy92]

not a problem if u need help ever let me know im heading out tonight well this mourning im gonna take ur advise on some things we talked about i'll let u know how it goes good to know ice is still 17 inchs make me feel good driving my truck out i'll talk to yall tomorrow hope to see u on the ice friday river

[Horseshoe_Don]

Was out on Monday. The cats were active and aggressive but for only one hour from 3-4 pm. We got 2 cats both were nice around 4 lbs. I also lost 3 on the way up during that time period. After 4 they quit biting. Saw so many at about 3:30 my graph(lx-7) was full from 18 to 30 ft. Also got a 5 lb citty on mud earlier that day. The bite was active around us during that period also.

[Rick G]

cats and smallies r pound for pound

Oh no, did someone stumble apon my shallow holes? I thought I covered them up good when I left just kidding Did you find that school?

Ok, I will let the cat out of the bag, good smallie bite taking place right now on the shallow rocks . I try to keep a few things for myself but oh well, it's not like anyone reads this anyway . Just remember that it catch and release season for the smallies this time of year. Oh, and yes pound for pound the do fight almost as good as the cats imo.

Unfortunatly I will not be out there Fri, I have to show up for work atleast a couple days this week or someone might notice Im gone I will however be staying out all weeekend, so if you are out come on by.

[IceHawk]

Found some real aggressive cats today on Long Lake. Myself and a buddy iced well over 30 in two hours. Fish were cruising breaklines and shallow flats 15 ft and feeding heavy. Power noodles and meatsticks were the key to seeing the light bites key presentation was small lindy toads packed with about 4-5 waxworms. Cats were all caught at mid day 11 pm two 1 pm. Key tip if you are haveing bad luck getting them to commit downsize your whole setup it works trust me!

[aanderud]

Great report, icehawk. It's rare that I even bring waxworms or euro larvae with. I think I have only tried it once with little luck. It seems like it might help though when the bite "turns off". A guy's gotta offer them something they don't see every other day. Good job laying the smack down on them. I'll keep that in mind next time I'm up there, for sure.