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Cattin the Chain 2013


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I was solo and had to cut back to one line to keep my sanity. smile

I actually called that fire in because it was so big i thought it was a structure. Turns out it was just a very large brush pile.

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Made it back out today, fishing was a bit slower than it has been the last few days. Still managed to get in the mid teens for numbers myself. Had quite the crew with me, I think we ended up with 10-12 guys on the ice by prime time. Just about everyone got at least a few, some more than others wink Even if the bite wasn't on fire we still made a pretty good time of it.

Roman, any luck over at the Meth hole after you left us??? My buddies all agreed, your a pretty good dude wink It was good b-s'n with you again!

Lots of guys off the 22 access tonight, few on the meth hole too. Saw a couple wheelers and even a riding lawn mower out on the ice. Had 8-9in where we were at.

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Got my 5 year old son up that way for the first time today. Up until now the 3 hours of driving for 3 hours of fishing has been too bad of a ratio to risk with a 3 or 4 year old. Well, he had a BLAST.

He got 6 cats, doing everything by himself -- from jiggin the rod to setting the hook to reeling them in, holding for pics, and releasing. Outfished me, that's for sure. I felt like it was a slot bite, but still my best time out there that I can remember.

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Blue glow jig outfished red and green 4:1 tonight, even though blue was only on one rod.

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Great pic Dad!!! that is awsome, you should be proud of that young man wink I have a buddie that likes to think of himself as a manley man but won't touch cats, wait till I show him this grin

Did you see our little city? grin

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Likewise Rick! Good times in the little city! We ended up with about 10 more at the meth hole.. not fast and furious by any means.

-aanderud, that catfish looks huge in your kid's hands!! Future KOTC right there!

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Yeah, we saw the little city down your way. I said to Darren "Geez, it's getting busy up around Rick lately!". Didn't know you guys were all partying up that way!

Adam is hilarious. He's a pretty good fisherman, does everything except bait his own hook. Also impressive is his patience -- he mentioned the slow bite ONE time last night, and that was right after Darren got done whining smile But Seriously, any time a kid thinks he's having the most fun ever and you only pull 9 cats and a crappie through the hole in 3 hours, you know he's serious about fishing. He absolutely loves the sonar, and I think he loves being "one of the guys", instead of being left home again this year like he was last year when I went cattin. Even ordered a 3rd seat for the otter this year for him so he woudln't have to feel second-rate on a bucket or a camping chair smile

Roman, you're right about the size -- that's probably like a 23 incher, but it looks giant in a 5 year old's hands.

Good luck out there tonight, Scott.

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  • Official Fishing Report Team - MN

Hey guys if things slowdown out there might want to give some of the lesser known lakes like Long and Cedar Island a try. I know of some catters winkwink that have been doing quite well on these lakes!

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Good point, IceHawk. There's plenty of other fishable water. I'm always a bit more exploratory when I get my sled out. With the cold snap the next couple days, and hopefully a bit of snow tomorrow, I think next time I'm up I'll have the sled.

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Awesome reports and pics, guys. Shamefully, I haven't been able to get out....excuses, excuses, excuses. Hopefully this upcoming week will be my first trip out. I can't wait!

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Solid night, sat from 3:30 to 6:30 to scratch the itch. Pretty consistent action the whole time, I brought home a limit and a couple crappies. Released quite a few too. Not my best trip ever but not far off the pace either! Biggest was 22".

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Back at it today. Decided to keep mobile untill I found what I was loking for. Spent lots of time looking in a area I know there are cats in, found and worked a couple large schools of crappies that had me fooled into thinking they were cats frown. Around 3:30 I started marking cats, by 4 I had my first one while sitting over 26ft. I only got one more in the next 20 min so I moved out to 32ft, jack pot grin ten solid feet of fish. They hung for almost 3 hours grin At one point there was 15ft of solid fish with a few loners almost all the way up to the top of the ice. The bite was one of the best I have had in years! I even snaged two in the pectoral fins while setting the hook, this has never happened to me before, but then again it's been a long time since I have seen a tornado of fish that big. The bites ranged from just a light bump on the Ice Buster, all the way to they set the hook on them self because they took it so hard and fast. I can't even put a honest number on what I landed but my best guess would be a whole bunch wink No real monsters in the whole bunch but did get 4 between 25-26in. Glow red Frostee was king again tonight.

I think we are up to 10in in of ice in some spots but I did find one place that had only 4in so caution is still needed.

Lots of people on the ice today, quite a few out from the access, a big Canvas Craft and a Clam over on the Meth Hole and even a few folks I didn't know back by us.

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Anyone heading out tonight for some X-mas eve fishing? I'll be out but I may be fishing the bay by my lonesome. If it looks like a party by the meth hole I may drop by to say hi.

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i'll be fishing all day tomorrow was gonna go back out tonight only manage 17inch catfish last night other then that just marked a few was fishing over by the winter access. probably be on horseshoe and cedar tomorrow wish i wasn't so lazy to walk to where i wanna fish. i miss eating fried catfish guess i need to try harder lol. atleast i got my first cat of the season plus im loving my new clam bigfoot thermal.

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only manage 17inch catfish

There does seem to be a heck of a lot of those this year.

Back again this evening. Fishing wasn't near as hot as yesterday, but still was very good. Started marking fish consistantly around 4pm, and by 5 we had a decent school below us. Ended up over 34ft of water and had jigs set at 22ft and 28ft, the top one was getting a bit better size than the one closer to the bottom. Got quite a few in the whiskers and only a hand full in the top lip so they weren't realy aggresive like they were last night. We found the fish about 100yds out into the basin from where they were last night so they sure didn't go far grin Miinow heads on 1/16 Rattlin' Flyers or Frostee spoons in anything glow did the trick this evening.

I was surprised at the number of people on the lake being it is Christmass eve. Folks all over the lake now, bunch of guys on the Meth hole today.

I measured 10in of ice tonight, I know it's not consistant all over the lake yet but it sure is getting thick fast grin

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Pretty slow for me last night, I was set up in 18 fow and had a tip up in 20'. The tip up produced better size and was keeping me busy but all in all lots of fish with none of them being big enough to keep. About a dozen walleye all under 12". One decent crappie and no cats. I think i'll have to move deeper into the basin to get into some size and numbers. I drilled about 10 holes and had anywhere from 11" to 6". Still plenty of "thin spots" so I was shocked to see some wheel houses on the lake already.

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would anyone be willing to share any general locations besides the meth hole to try any info would be greatly appreciated.

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My best advice would be to find a crappie looking area ( hole around 30ft deep) with a soft mud bottom.

Yes the meth hole does get pounded, but that basin the meth hole is located in is pretty big. Just do a little exploring and it might just pay off. Lots of water out there but there are tons of cats through out the whole system.

NKLCOLT1911, you have a pm with more spot specific locations wink.

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My best advice would be to find a crappie looking area ( hole around 30ft deep) with a soft mud bottom.

Yes the meth hole does get pounded, but that basin the meth hole is located in is pretty big. Just do a little exploring and it might just pay off. Lots of water out there but there are tons of cats through out the whole system.

NKLCOLT1911, you have a pm with more spot specific locations wink.

Thank you.

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Just drill holes around the breaklines from 20-30ft. Keep moving until you find them. Sometimes you can stay on top of them all night, other times they move on.

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Thanks for the videography, Darren. You can't tell Mister Adam was having fun at all. LOL.

As for spots -- any sharp breaks will do, but I prefer ones that lead into well-defined holes. In fact, the meth hole area is not even close to the best spot on the lake. It's so wide open and such a big deep water basin that they can be spread along ANY of the breaks covering literally a 1/2 mile. There are much better small holes on all the lakes within the chain, where the fish are more concentrated and you will get more consistent action. You just have to get on the lakemaster, navionics, or similar maps and find them. Then, drill holes from the top of the break to the bottom, and when you find the fish, catch em!

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Any info on where to get the kittys? Its been a while for me since I have been on the chain as well as targeting cats so any info would be much appreciated smile
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Ya i noticed it after I posted haha. sometimes I skip things without looking. Im basically looking for where to start. not so much structure but north or south end on the lake type of deal. Im a walker so I want to use the closest access to where I start.

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Its amazing just how many cats are in this chain. They seem to be everywhere in every lake. Look for isolated holes in a basin or washouts in the river sections or main lake channels and work you way around them. These fish mostly move around in large schools, if you are not seeing fish...move. The bigger ones seem to be a bit more nomadic and roam around a bit more.

I was just recently watching a video from several years ago and was taken just after christmas on a spot that I haven't fished in 2 years now. The fish bit all day and we didn't even fish after dark. I think I might need to revisit that spot. smile

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