LOOKING FOR SOME FIDDLERS CATFISH

[rjmiller47]

I'm originally from Illinois and love Fiddler Catfish. Seems all i catch in MN. are large ones, but, i have been fishing lakes, so maybe thats the problem. I'm in St. James and wondering if anyone can point me in the right direction to catch those small, 3/4lb. to 1-1/4lb Channels. Just love them beer battered and defried with a cold beverage.

[DTro]

How far do you want to drive?

The Horseshoe Chain of lakes near St Cloud is full of them.

[rjmiller47]

Thats 2 hours away, may be a little further than i'd go. Thanks for the heads up though.

[Eric Wettschreck]

I'm not familiar with the St. James area, but I can help ya out a bit if you want to drive southwest about an hour.

Shetek and the dam feeding the Des Moines river is full of them. I've caught my share of channels on the west side of Bloody lake also. The dam feeding Lime Creek in Avoca has seen it's share of channel cats come out of it. Lake Okebena in Worthington sports a good number of channels. Both East and West Graham have spit out a goodly number of them also.

[TruthWalleyes]

Just head to Mankato and fish the MN River. Bring a boat, or go onto GMaps for good shore spots. Bring some fresh cut bait or stink bait.

[muc33]

Lake Okabena has an abundance of catfish in the 3lb and smaller catagory. Head to Worthington and cast a line, I can almost assure a catch!

[kerryd15]

you could try the watonwan or blue earth rivers. maybe the creek coming out of lake hanska. I have heard good things from the cottonwood by sleepy eye.

[123fish]

Kind of curious why a .75 - 1.25 lb. catfish is called a Fiddler's catfish?

[rjmiller47]

Because they most often just pick at or "fiddle" with the bait. Not as easy to catch as the large cats. But oh so good.

[123fish]

Thanks, now I know. Never heard that term before. Hope you catch a million of them.

[TruthWalleyes]

In that case take Eric's advise

[ice_medic]

I second or third the advise eric and muc gave out. Anywhere here around worthington is great for them. They seem to be the only fish i can get through the ice in the winter time so have a blast catching them

[mr_jman]

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Fox lake by Sherburne has cats in that size as well. (Just a short drive down highway 4 from St. James). I am originally from the St. James area myself.

[crothmeier]

I caught all the catfish that size I could stand on Fish Lake by windom last winter. All 16"-20" long after dark.

[basssmasher*]

Des Moines river is full of channels, as well as the cottonwood river. I used to fish cats on the cottonwood all the time between sanborn and lamberton.

[TruthWalleyes]

I'm not familiar with the St. James area, but I can help ya out a bit if you want to drive southwest about an hour.

Shetek and the dam feeding the Des Moines river is full of them. I've caught my share of channels on the west side of Bloody lake also. The dam feeding Lime Creek in Avoca has seen it's share of channel cats come out of it. Lake Okebena in Worthington sports a good number of channels. Both East and West Graham have spit out a goodly number of them also.

Went to shetek outlet, didn't catch any, no flow.

Went to shetek/bloody, no luck.

Went to 1st bridge downstream of avoca dam. Flow at a trickle. Lost shoes in mud. Daughter retrieved shoes. Fished in socks, 2 bullheads. Started raining, each of us were knee deep in mud leaving. Daughter thought it was great.

[Eric Wettschreck]

Sounds like a good time to me.

[S.D. Ice Angular]

ME To!!!

[TruthWalleyes]

Alright guys. 3" of rain last night. Where should we go to find the cats?

[Eric Wettschreck]

Avoca dam....................(lake side not the creek)

[TruthWalleyes]

We went a few miles east of the farm to the next desmoines bridge. 1st channel in 30s. Ended up with 6 channels, 2 were pushing 20" on cut bullies.

[TruthWalleyes]

[Gordie]

Like ^^^

[Eric Wettschreck]

That bridge sure looks familiar.

I've shot a lot of ringnecks in that area.

[TruthWalleyes]

Good spot for ringnecks for sure.

Eric, I'd advise you head to the N side of the bridge. Drop a hook/weight with bait right on the upstream side of this timber. Shouldn't take more than a minute

I thought i was going to break my rod lifting a big male catfish out of there

[Eric Wettschreck]

I just showed the wife the picture and her reply..............."She's gonna be as tall as her dad."

Things change and I'm not familiar with that particular chunk of brush, but a couple weeks ago Matt and myself were on the north side of the bridge. Good thing Moger doesn't care if i'm on his ground cuz I had to run offa the bridge and get wet to pull in Matt's cat. Otherwise he would have broke his pole.

Guess what we had for supper that night.

Good times.