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catfish on the chain?


mrpike1973

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i fish the chain every weekend for cats. the last couple i could hardly buy a bite. do they tend to go deeper when fall comes i dont want your spot. i hope im not to shallow shore lines etc is were ive been mostly fishing thanks.

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I only fished the river and shallow eastern lakes and as fall approaches would look to the deeper pockets and holes between the lakes. There will a lowlight shallow bite though for a little while yet though. Grab a bay close to the main current run and bobber up. For the western side, sure Rick will chime in, but would probably looking in the mid teens to low 20's areas that are close to some sort of structure or food source at night. For the deeper fish on both ends...fish them like walleyes either jigging or dragging some type of live bait rig.

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Never used them, but don't see why not. Would suggest putting a gob on though. The bigger the presentation.... will inevitably spread more of a scent trail. Crawlers or minnows will also work, alive or dead, so will chicken livers. They are not the most particular fish and almost anything that looks and smells disgusting will catch you some wink

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The last few times I have been out there we have found cats in good numbers on the same weed flats as the crappies and walleyes. They are there for the same reason as the other fish are, food. Watch the surface for action, cats love to nail those minnows that are dumb enough to stay at the surface ;)There is still a decent amount of cats in deeper water too but most are scattered through out the water colom so targeting numbers of them is kinda tough.

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I only got into chasing them out on the Chain last winter, so I'm new to it...but do they start schooling up later in fall in the same way that they are during early ice? If the wind wasn't too bad, it might be a lot of fun to find one of those gigantic pods of fish. Probably easy to find, too...just putz around until it looks like the depthfinder is broken. smile

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just putz around until it looks like the depthfinder is broken. smile

It is kinda fun to see 20ft of solid fish over deeper water on the graph wink

They will start to school up in their winter locations shortly after the lake turns over. They are pretty agressive at this time, jigs and fatheads will turn a bunch wink

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I wish I could get out to the chain once this fall to try for some cats before ice up. do to the fact that my mother is having surgery and I have no one to watch my kids for a couple hours on weekends so I can go, I have decided to put the boat away for the year. I am how ever planning to try and hit it in december for early ice. Grandma will be back to normal and will be able to stay with the grand kids by then. Rick keep me up to date on the ice conditions once it starts to freeze. I'm hoping it will start to freeze by the begining of November but with the river current I am not sure when it will start to freeze. what is the earliest and the latest freeze up on the chain.

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I have decided to put the boat away for the year.

what is the earliest and the latest freeze up on the chain.

Sorry Brad, that sucks! Earliest I have ever been out on first ice was the week before thanksgiving. Latest was around Christmass.

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let's hope it will start around thanksgiving this year. If I remember right the earliest I have been on a lake by my place was the first week of december back in 2008. December 8th to be exact. this was the day I got my two 10" bluegills that are now on the wall.

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  • 1 month later...

Anyone live near methhole that would be willing to charge a small fee to park and go out from thier house? I only have a car this seaon and would live to fish for cats early but dont think I can drive the car out there.

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This same question comes up every season, my best advice is to come to the lake a bit early, or on a weekend, and ask around the lake for winter access. Quite a few of the homes around the meth hole area are owned by year round residents, I have found that most of the people that live on the lake are pretty good folks and pretty much all fish, some will even be willing to help out fellow anglers wink

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