Jump to content
  • GUESTS

    If You  want access  to member only forums on FM, You will need to Sign-in or  Sign-Up now .

    This box will disappear once you are signed in as a member.

Otsego/Elk River Catfishing Report


TunaCan

Recommended Posts

Fishing is picking up with rising water depths. Caught seven this morning with the biggest two at 8 lbs. Had my first two smaller cats on nightcrawlers which fishing for bait which usually indicates to me the fish are getting more aggressive. All larger fish were caught on cut sucker in 3-6 FOW over gravel bottoms. Bite was still a little tentative especially from larger fish.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good report!

Catch any pike on cutbait? I caught 3 so far this year which I thought was odd until other people caught one or two. Of course they were all released with everything else.

Otherwise it's been pretty slow for me fishing da Crow/Sip/MN

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The only species of fish I have ever caught on cut sucker is catfish. Pike will certainly take dead bait such as smelt, but I have never caught one on cut bait.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Fishing was surprisingly slow today. I thought conditions were about perfect for one of my better shore fishing spots, but it was tough. I managed three cats ranging from 4-6 lbs on cut sucker. Bites were still tentative and were few and far between.

I did catch my first non-catfish on cut bait. It was a 12 lb carp. It was snagged, but near the mouth and I am wondering if it actually hit cut sucker? Also caught my first walleye of the year on balled up nightcrawler fishing for suckers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

ive had a few pike hit cutbait as im reeling it back in, but only when ive had bigger peices cut more into "flaps" maybe it mimics a minnow.

Also in elk river ive noticed the cats seem to be feeding, the one i got on fri, had a huge paunch on him for 26in, and you could feel the crawfish in him! he was just gorging, caught him on a crawler fishing for bait also. In fact, every elk river cat ive caught and kept has been full of crawfish now that i think of it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Catfishing was humbling this morning. I caught two smaller fish (3 and 4 lbs) on cut sucker in a couple hours. I was about 2 for 12 on bites. My sucker was a couple days old. The fish were stripping the softer meat from the skin without getting to the hook.

I have been catfishing this section of river for about 8 years and have caught hundreds of catfish on cut bait, but never another fish species. A couple weeks back I caught a 12 lb carp and today I caught my first northern. Thought it was worth mentioning since Ebass brought it up.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

yea I hooked into a northern last year up by becker when I was fishing for cats. It took me by surprise as I didn't think that a northern would pick a piece of cut bait off the bottom. the only thing I can think of is there must have been enough current there to have it floating and rolling in the current and this is why the fish hit it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Have been out a couple mornings this past week and fishing has not been good. Bites are few and far between and are not enthusiastic. Will get a hit and then they go away without taking the bait. I normally experience this type of lull around beginning of June so maybe fishing is 2-3 weeks ahead of normal for this year or maybe catfish populations are down in this section of river. The past two years have been a struggle with fewer fish and slower action in general. Size has been good, but numbers are down considerably for me.

Is anyone having good luck on cats right now? If so, what time of day and what depth of water?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Took the boat out Friday morning for the first time this year. Fished for about four hours in a number of different spots and got a total of two bites. Water was obviously very high which complicated things, but I have generally done well for catfish with high water conditions. The Elk River boat landing was flooded up into the parking lot. One of my better shore fishing spots was filled with bullheads...never had that happen before.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Got out this morning for a few hours. Caught a sucker for bait along with a nice eater walleye (about 16") and three nice smallies (15-17") on nightcrawlers. Had several cautious catfish bites, but only managed one fish (a solid 5 lb). Had two others on that came off which is rare using circle hooks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Water was high and rising. Shore fishing was tough, but managed three good fish including a dandy 28 incher that went 7 1/2 lbs without eggs. I lost another good one in a snag and missed a few more bites so a limit would have been possible in a couple hours of fishing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Just wondering how's the fishing on the mississippi at the Otsego park? Never fished there before and might go down and try it on saturday.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • smurfy
      Looks to me like Leech brought his chair home!!😅😆
    • Brianf.
      I'm not there, so I can't tell exactly what's going on but it looks like a large area of open water developed in the last day with all of the heavy snow on the east side of wake em up Narrows. These two photos are from my Ring Camera facing north towards Niles Point.  You can see what happened with all of snow that fell in the last three days, though the open water could have been wind driven. Hard to say. .  
    • SkunkedAgain
      Black Bay had great ice before but a few spots near rockpiles where there were spots of open water. It looks like the weight of the snow has created a little lake in the middle of the bay.  
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the south end...   Thanks to some cold spring weather, ice fishing continues strong for those still ice fishing.  The bite remains very good.  Most resorts have pulled their fish houses off for the year, however, some still have fish houses out and others are allowing ATV and side by sides.  Check social media or call ahead to your favorite resort for specifics. Reports this week for walleyes and saugers remain excellent.   A nice mix of jumbo perch, pike, eelpout, and an occasional crappie, tullibee or sturgeon being reported by anglers. Jigging one line and using a live minnow on the second line is the way to go.  Green, glow red, pink and gold were good colors this week.     Monster pike are on a tear!  Good number of pike, some reaching over 45 inches long, being caught using tip ups with live suckers or dead bait such as smelt and herring in 8 - 14' of water.   As always, work through a resort or outfitter for ice road conditions.  Safety first always. Fish houses are allowed on the ice through March 31st, the walleye / sauger season goes through April 14th and the pike season never ends. On the Rainy River...  The river is opened up along the Nelson Park boat ramp in Birchdale, the Frontier boat ramp and Vidas boat ramp.  This past week, much of the open water skimmed over with the single digit overnight temps.   Areas of the river have popped open again and with temps getting warmer, things are shaping up for the last stretch through the rest of the spring season, which continues through April 14th.   Very good numbers of walleyes are in the river.  Reports this week, even with fewer anglers, have been good.  When temps warm up and the sun shines, things will fire up again.   Jigs with brightly colored plastics or jigs with a frozen emerald shiner have been the desired bait on the river.  Don't overlook slow trolling crankbaits upstream as well.   Good reports of sturgeon being caught on the river as well.  Sturgeon put the feed bag on in the spring.  The bite has been very good.  Most are using a sturgeon rig with a circle hook loaded with crawlers or crawlers / frozen emerald shiners. Up at the NW Angle...  Ice fishing is winding down up at the Angle.  Walleyes, saugers, and a number of various species in the mix again this week.  The bite is still very good with good numbers of fish.  The one two punch of jigging one line and deadsticking the second line is working well.   Check with Angle resorts on transport options from Young's Bay.  Call ahead for ice road guidelines.  
    • CigarGuy
      With the drifting, kind of hard to tell for sure, but I'm guessing about a foot and still lightly snowing. Cook end!
    • PSU
      How much snow did you get on Vermilion? 
    • Mike89
      lake here refroze too...  started opening again yesterday with the wet snow and wind...  very little ice left today...
    • Hookmaster
      A friend who has a cabin between Alex and Fergus said the lake he's on refroze. He texted me a pic from March 12th when it was open and one from 23rd when it wasn't. 🤯
    • SkunkedAgain
      I don't think that there has been any ice melt in the past few weeks on Vermilion. Things looked like a record and then Mother Nature swept in again.   I'll give my revised guess of April 21st
    • leech~~
      As I get older it's really not just about sending bullets down range.  Some of it's just the workmanship of the gun and the wow factor. The other two guns I have really wanted which I'll never have now because of their price, is a 8mm Jap Nambu and 9mm German Luger.   Just thought they always looked cool!  
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.