Cattin the Chain 2012

[mncountryboy92]

skunked again that 4 trips in a row now i mean skunked on everything

[mncountryboy92]

will do i'll be out there this weekend yea the ice is thicker now then it was last weekend was marking alot of fish didn't get one bite tho i had atleast 1-5 fish marked for over 6 hours

[Rick G]

Icehawk, great report, I forget about the waxies working sometimes too . Mncountryboy92, looks like I will be out tomorrow- Sun.

I made it out for a few hours this evening after hitting Grand all day for panfish. Right off the bat we had doubles, I thought alright game on . Haha, I should have known better. For the next three hours we strugled, we each got one more and missed a few before calling it quits. I am thinking being out there around moon set tomorrow afternoon should trigger them to bite, at least I hope so

[mncountryboy92]

hey im been struggling it's bad lol haven't iced a fish in almost a week i'll be out there all weekend

[Rick G]

Went for multi species action today. Found the crappies from 27-40ft but most were unwilling to bite and the ones that did were on the small side. Found a few walleyes hanging in deep water close to a large shallow flat, or maybe it was hanging in shallow water close to a deep basin Cant just give up my best walleye spots that easy The only one to know for sure is Nels Bells and I know hes pretty tight liped with prime info . After I got my meal of walleyes I went kitty hunting, finding them was pretty easy. They were still in the same holes Borch punched last weekend 20-24ft. Must have gotten 12-15 myself and my buddies didnt fare too bad either. Only thing was that between all the cats we got only 1 was over 20 in and most were 12-15in.

[Borch]

Wish the holes I punched tonight were as productive as those have been.

Ended up keeping a limit of crappies while doing some sorting so it wasn't all bad.

[mncountryboy92]

yea i haven't been gettin one bite since saterday been pretty grim for me which aint normal

[Brad B]

Riverfishingmiss,

any updates on the ice conditions. go to be coming up next saturday instead of sunday the 12th. I can tell you about why I decided to come up saturday instead of sunday if I see you out there. you still in the same area with your wheel houses? are people still driving all the way out or should I look at one of the other option we talked about.

Brad

[mncountryboy92]

brad the ice is all good and yes river is in the same area as before

[mncountryboy92]

got one 20 inch cat the other day that was it

[Borch]

Was in that general area today. I measured 17 1/2 inches in that area. Fishing was slow but ended up with two nice ones, lost 4 and missed several. Didn't mark a fish after 11:00 this morning.

[Rick G]

Brad, Im still back in that area. There is 16-17in on most of the lake, less in the places where there is current.

Borch, in the short time you were there you got more cats than I did all day I ended up getting 1 at prime time, It was a respectable 26in piggy so it wasnt all bad. To be honest I spent a good deal of the day looking for fish that were not cats .

Sat was a bit better than today was. I got about a dozen kittens, all but one were 12-15in runts.

Even if the fishing for the cats has been hit or miss latley there are plenty of other species in the western lakes on the chain to catch and this I am very thankfull for. Those (other)fish have saved many a day for me in the past.

[mncountryboy92]

2 cats and a small eye was slow

[Rick G]

Who's all coming out this weekend? I will be there tonight after I get done at the sportsmans show and both Sat and Sun.

[mncountryboy92]

i will be for sure big time tonight or all weekend i'll talk to u about yesterday in person river u gonna wanna hear this in person

[Brad B]

I'm thinking of coming Saturday in the afternoon just haven't set a time yet.

[Rick G]

Made it out Fri from 6 till midnight. Wind was howling and it was down right chilly out there . I would have liked to jump around and find active fish but with the wind the way it was we opted to fish in the comfort of the wheelhouse tonight. We were all but ready to pack up and head home already at 9 and just call it a lousy day when a good size school moved in on us . For the next few hours we picked one here and one there out of the school. Started off getting them on the glow green Frostees but we both ended up using the glow red Frostee spoons. I kept a live crappie minnow on one of my rods and did catch a few crappies and one chubby little walleye. Did'nt get any monsters but I did loose one that I figure was in the upper 20's, most of the ones we landed were in the 14-18in range with a pair of mid 20's for big fish of the day. did not get a final number but I know we only had a half dozen before 9 and a low ball estimate on what we got after 9 would be 15-16.

[mncountryboy92]

heading out soon will be using my truck as a wind breaker for sure today lol

[aanderud]

Sounds like you guys got into the late bite, RFM. That's one benefit to living nearby -- you don't have the 2 hour drive home afterward. Including drive time, you get at least 3 hours more fishing in every time you go out for the same number of hours spent! Lucky duck!

Of course, I could say the same thing about summer flathead fishing on the MN river. What's the old saying about the grass being greener on the other side?

Nice report. I really should try to get up there one more time this year. We'll see.

[DTro]

Just a heads up for anyone planning on going up on Sunday. There is a group from another site having their own version of "Cool Cats" out at the Meth hole.

Let's see... winter catfishing at the Meth hole with a detailed map posted and potluck at noon?

[sarcasm] What a great and original idea! [/sarcasm]

[Rick G]

Just a heads up for anyone planning on going up on Sunday. There is a group from another site having their own version of "Cool Cats" out at the Meth hole.

Let's see... winter catfishing at the Meth hole with a detailed map posted and potluck at noon?

[sarcasm] What a great and original idea! [/sarcasm]

Go figure, I wonder where they got the idea to do that??? Must be a few spys lurking in the weeds . I hear they will be grillin up hot dogs and have the Justin Bieber cranked so the whole lake can hear

[Rick G]

Well, only two words can be used to describe this weekend, DEAD SEA. This was one of the worst weekends I have had on the chain in recent memory . It was so bad I even thought about pulling the houses and saying the heck with the chain for the rest of the year. Total taly for me was half dozen cats, 2 sunfish, 4 largemouths, 10-12 crappies and a few walleyes I realy had to work hard for.

We now have 17-19in of ice out there after the last couple cold nights and some major road systems going everywhere.

[aanderud]

Ouch. Sorry to hear it's gotten tough. I gotta think the year has lasted longer than most though with the relatively low pressure and fewer people out then most recent years (when they start driving by Jan 1).

Went out fishing with my 4 year old again this evening on a south metro lake, and had an absolute blast. The best part is watching his hooksets. Holy smokes, there's no question. Sometimes he forgets to reel still, so he doesn't get them all up, but he does well considering he is just a couple months over 4 years old. He hooked and reeled in at least 25 crappies all by himself tonight. It was fun as heck to watch. I'll be back.

[Rick G]

Went out fishing with my 4 year old again this evening on a south metro lake, and had an absolute blast. The best part is watching his hooksets. Holy smokes, there's no question. Sometimes he forgets to reel still, so he doesn't get them all up, but he does well considering he is just a couple months over 4 years old. He hooked and reeled in at least 25 crappies all by himself tonight. It was fun as heck to watch. I'll be back.

I think I might need to take some lessons from your son on how to catch em . Sounds like he did better than my whole crew combined this weekend.

Well, the barometer is droping a bit so I hope the fishing is better today than it has been as of late. I'm headed back out in a few too take yet another whoopin by the lake

[smokindao]

Was out on the lake yesterday as well and couldnt agree more on what riverfishingmiss said. We had a nice crappie spot for the last 5 weeks and yesterday, it really was the DEAD SEA. We manged 5 catfish and 2 crappies from 7am to 6pm. We had hoped for the evening bite but there was no fish to be found. Drilled about 60 holes in a 200ft radius to mark a big fat 0 fish.

To top off a bad day on the chain, my brother-in-law tells me to play Pandora on my phone and the first song that came on was "where'd you go? i miss you so...Seems like it's been forever, That you've been gone." LOL awkward moment

[PR-Guy]

Went out yesterday with my daughter just west of the winter access and it was really quiet. 1 little 9" eye that went back and 1 8" perch (fatter than the walleye )

Sitting about 26 fow water and working the bottom 6-8' most of the day. Couldn't believe the carp that we saw right under the ice though, big school of them with the smallest looking to be in the 10lb range! little wild seeing them 3 feet or less under the ice.

[Rick G]

Went over to Cedar today to take another look around. Found some active gills and crappies hanging on and near a small shallow shelf. All fish came from 6-23ft but most came off a inside turn area that was 12-15ft. Tryed a few jigs again and got god numbers on the gold dimond jigs but again the bright green Lindy Toads tiped with larve were the hot bait. I think its the small profile and the fact that the Toads fish heavy for their size that makes them so efective, they are one of my new favorite (go to) baits.

Around prime time we went out to the end of a underwater point that bottomed out in 28ft with a nice muddy bottom and waited for the cats. The wait wasnt long . Had a pod of fish move in within a few moments and they were hungry. Had doubles right away and I thought we were going to smoke em tonight, wrong. We did not hammer them but for as dead as it was this last weekend we did pretty well tonight. Enden up getting 11 betwen the two of us and four of them were 20-25in so I consider it a good trip. All the cats were caught on the 1/16oz glow red Frostee spoons tiped with the heads of fatheads.

[Shawnny B]

Hey guys making another trip up this weekend, hows the ice out there anything to watch out for? we have one older guy in the group and hes grumping about having to pull his portable out, not sure if i will be brining mine or helping him pull his and hole hopping. Thinking about trying to find that meth hole and maybe hit long/brown lake.

Thanks

ShawnnyB

[Rick G]

18-19 is what I have been measuring on most of western lakes on the chain except for the access to Becker where it crosses the river. On Horseshoe there is a major road system thats almost better than the roads here in town . The meth hole is pretty easy to find, just follow the road till you see the million old holes. Browns is a good panfish lake but does not have the catfish that Horseshoe , Cedar Island or Long do.

[Shawnny B]

WOW, im envious, we only have 13-14" of ice, only gotten about 1 inch over the last month just straight east of you in Chisago area. Thanks for the quick response. we will leaving the Cities around 7-8am on Friday and not leaving St cloud area till about dark thirty friday night =)