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Posted

2# line and a 30" cat. Nicely done!!

I yanked all my 6# off after last weekend's abuse and put on 10#.

Posted

I'm on my way up from the cities with my boy. He is super excited to catch a catfish through the ice. We will be in a black and grey Otter out by the meth hole. stop by and say hi if you see us.

Ed

Posted

ETH. I'll be on the ice in roughly 3 hours. Black frabill 1-man and i'll have an otter sled in tow behind the 1-man.

If you see me, stop over. I'll be sure to help you get your son &you on some fish if i know where they are.

Posted

Fishblood, I saw you out there, but didn't see your post till now. How'd you do? We struggled. They were biting so lightly, we couldn't feel them. We put on bobbers and they wouldn't hardly twitch. A guy fishing next to us gave us a spring bobber and then we finally got a few. Also got a few crappies, one on liver which was weird.

Posted

Found a very active pod of cats tonight. I lost count in the high teens, but bet I touched 50 smile Some bit very light, while others about took my rod. Glow red with minnow heads worked very well, had to keep a fresh head and fresh glow otherwise the bait wasn't. Getting bit. full-26589-51947-1220141748a_burst01.jpg

full-26589-51948-1220141748i.jpg

Quite a few "trash" fish as well grinfull-26589-51949-1220141351_burst01.jpg

  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Builders
Posted

You got them fish dialed in Rick way to go!

Posted

Found a very active pod of cats tonight. I lost count in the high teens, but bet I touched 50 smile Some bit very light, while others about took my rod. Glow red with minnow heads worked very well, had to keep a fresh head and fresh glow otherwise the bait wasn't. Getting bit. full-26589-51947-1220141748a_burst01.jpg

full-26589-51948-1220141748i.jpg

Quite a few "trash" fish as well grinfull-26589-51949-1220141351_burst01.jpg

Nice going Rick G smile

That crappie is sweet.

Posted

wow. just wow! way to go, Rick!

we had our worst outing ever up there tonight (at least as far as fish count goes). drilled all along the break we were fishing, didn't mark much until dark but after that plenty of marks, very little biting.

no real tornado action, but fish on the vex almost all night, just not wanting to bite. We caught four (4) total. LOL.

Posted

wow. just wow. way to go, rick,

we had our worst outing ever up there tonight. drilled all along the break we were fishing, didn't mark much until dark but after that plenty of marks, very little biting.

no real tornado action, but fish on the vex almost all night, just not wanting to bite. We caught four (4) total. LOL.

I remember a couple yrs back when you guys hammered them and I got skunked.

Fishing is funny like that sometimes.

Posted

Of course they had to be biting on the other side of the bay. grin

First time skunkaroo for this guy. I was surprised to see 13-14" of ice yet disappointed to find out all of our Plan A spots still hadn't even iced over yet and plan B sketchy.

Adam found a few fish though.

full-105-51955-10857779_1015253763491429

Posted

Nice job Adam!

Posted

Was out a few days ago. Marked an absolute ton of fish. Probably caught close to 50 between a few guys. Had to leave before dark though. They were roaming pretty heavily and due to the slick and sketchy ice conditions hole popping was fairly tough. Decent size and a couple little eyes mixed in made for a good time though.

Posted

Well saturday we did good on crappies so now we want to try catfishing. How do you guys know where to set up. Do you drill until you mark fish and then set the house up, are they suspended, is it only a night bite? Any info is appreciated!!

Posted

How thick is the ice well my first post of the year had to make a new account just woundering how the ice is since ik.coming back home for Xmas miss ice fishing right now. Hope to ice some catfish.

Posted

How thick is the ice well my first post of the year had to make a new account just woundering how the ice is since ik.coming back home for Xmas miss ice fishing right now. Hope to ice some catfish.
Posted

Yea I know how the chain is been the cool cats a few times. Lived in cold spring my whole life. Yea all I have for a vehicle is a 04 powerstroke different not taking that out on the ice lol

Posted

I was told by another guy out there fishing on Sat that a 1 ton drove out by them.

Posted

Fishblood, I saw you out there, but didn't see your post till now. How'd you do? We struggled. They were biting so lightly, we couldn't feel them. We put on bobbers and they wouldn't hardly twitch. A guy fishing next to us gave us a spring bobber and then we finally got a few. Also got a few crappies, one on liver which was weird.

I caught 29 Friday and 25 Saturday.

Pretty slow overall except Saturday morning when live fatheads and shiners were out fishing dead.

Bite died when Dtro showed up!

Posted

Merry Christmas FM! Fished the cats a couple times 2 weeks ago - looking to bring my wife and boys out tomorrow and have a question. I want to bring my wheeler to make getting everything out there a bit easier - boys are 7 and 3 and my set up is a heavy pain in the a**! Anything I can do to make it easy for all of us the better - if you have young kids you know what I mean. smile Is there a place to park a truck and ATV trailer somewhere out there? Would it be safe to cross the channel from the dnr launch on the N end to get down to the meth hole? (Never gone that way) If not - any other places to park a truck/trailer? Thanks!

Posted

It is not safe on the summer access. A wheeler went through the ice there a few days ago. You can park a truck/trailer on the road near the winter access(North of it).

Posted

You can park along 22 close to winter access. I would not use the "done" summer access to get onto the lakes.

Fishing was pretty good again tonight. Got a bit of a late start, but was set up by 5PM. Bite started as soon as my Frosted spoon got to the fish. Was a Pretty short window, by 7pm the fish had shut down. Think I got 15-20, all were small. full-26589-52018-1226141746.jpg

full-26589-52019-1226141934a.jpg

Posted

How thick is the ice on Horseshoe?

Posted

I'm heading out tomorrow for the first time chasing cats through the ice. Probably gonna hit horseshoe or long first in the afternoon. I'll have a black tent up, "the clam". Drop by and say hi!

Posted

Looks like a lot of fun catching cats on the Ice never done it before but its one thing I want to try this year how deep do u fish them and I assume to just use a minnow head and some sort of glow spoon can u fish them during the day or do they bite better @ night? Thanks

Posted

Really depends on the day. I've had days where they won't bite hardly at all during the day but once it starts to get dark they come alive. And vice versa. Overall I'd say evenings or low light hours tend to be better but it really depends on the fish. Depth is another guessing game. I'd say anywhere from 20 to 40 or so feet is where I catch most cats and yes in low light situations glow is usually quite helpful

Posted

Went out today from 2-8:30. I didn't mark a single cat, let alone catch one. All I have to show for it are three crappie. It wouldn't sting so bad if I hadn't drove 4 hours round-trip. Pretty sure location had something to do with it... are there any decent spots aside form the meth-hole?

Posted

Yes there are decent spots to fish throughout the system to catch cats. Don't get locked into just Horseshoe Lake for cats.If an area is getting a lot of pressure, or has been, try fishing away from the crowd. Can't believe the cat pro's haven't chimed in with a response yet.

Just curious what your setup was? Depth, locations tried, and presentations used.

Posted

There are SO many great places to catch cats on the entire chain. Every lake is good. Not much else to say that hasn't already been said 10 times. Sorry but can't make a new post of tips every time someone asks. Read through this post, last year's post, and search YouTube videos. All the answers are there.

Posted

Tom, I fished two rods. One was a 1/16 once red frostee spoon with a minnow head. The other had a 1/8 once VMC tear drop jig with chicken liver. I fished them from right off bottom to 5 feet off. I tried near the south end of long lake, and near the access of horseshoe lake. Dtro I have done quite a bit research, was just curious. Thanks for a reply.

Posted

Was out last night with couple guys. Marked an absolute ridiculous amount of fish. Managed to catch a few but they were a finicky bunch and an overly light biting bunch at that. Glow blue seemed to do the best but it's tough to say for sure. This cold weather is really helping out the ice conditions.

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • monstermoose78
      Ok the ice was 15-16 inches and less than 2 inches of snow. It’s was -15 this morning and the weekend looks to be cold again. The fish were there but not biting with change in weather. 
    • Dash 1
      I guess the vikings are a lot like fishing.  Very entertaining but frustrating at times. I've probably been cheering the vikings for 50 plus years  that i can remember and once again it's all about (there's always next year).  
    • Dash 1
      I remember Jeno's boxed pizza years ago.  Mom made it every Saturday night while dad and I watched All Star Wrestling.  
    • smurfy
      Chef boyardee box pizza. Good stuff 
    • smurfy
    • leech~~
      Smurf, still trying to get his lure jigging down when using the camera!  🤭   https://www.facebook.com/reel/517510734635573
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the South Shore... Ice fishing is going great on the south shore of Lake of the Woods, with resorts and outfitters reporting thickening ice conditions with two feet of ice in some areas.  Many ice roads are now open to 1 ton vehicles pulling a wheelhouse.  Every road has different weight limits, check with each resort for details before traveling up and out on the ice.      Some good fishing this past week.  As a rule, fishing activity is happening in 28 - 32 feet of water.  Resorts do just about everything they can to get customers on fish and this past week, some resorts made some long runs, resetting fish houses in new areas miles off shore.  Most are reporting good fishing as a rule.     It is common to sort through some small walleyes and saugers to get your keepers on LOW.  Naturally, some big fish are showing up, especially in deeper water.  In addition, this has been a very good year for jumbo perch with good numbers being caught.  Other fish in the mix are eelpout (burbot), pike, tullibees and an occasional sturgeon.      Anglers are using the one-two punch of jigging in one hole and deadsticking the second hole. In the jigging hole, a jigging spoon tipped with a minnow head or tail in gold / pink, gold / glow red, glow white / pink, or Wonder Bread have worked well.     Especially in the deeper water, some anglers are finding success on rippin raps or using jigging spoons with a rattle as well.     On the deadstick, a small jig with a live minnow hooked behind the dorsal fin set 6 inches - a foot off of the bottom is working well.  One day the jigging line catches most of the fish, the other day a deadstick is hot.     Electronics are very helpful to see suspended fish, know when fish are coming through and adjust your presentation to the mood of each fish.  Most resorts, outfitters and bait shops in the area rent electronics by the day.   On the Rainy River... The Rainy River is still producing some nice walleyes and saugers, primarily in the mornings and evenings.  A jig and minnow working well.   Catch-and-release sturgeon fishing continues to be good for those targeting them.  An oversized hole, or three holes drilled together, with nightcrawlers or frozen emerald shiners on a sturgeon rig fished on the bottom are what anglers are using.     Ice conditions on the river can vary significantly due to the current. To stay safe and maximize success, always work with a local resort or outfitter familiar with river conditions.    Up at the NW Angle... Ice fishing continues to be very good up at the Northwest Angle. Resorts have fish houses set up on various pieces of structure as well as adjacent to structure in deep mud.  A consistent mix of walleyes, saugers, jumbo perch, pike and tullibees in the mix.     Shallow structure is best right away in the morning and as the sun starts going down in the late afternoon.  Mud is more of a slower bite but all day.   The ice road from Jerry's on the mainland (Angle Inlet, MN) to island resorts (as of this past week) was open to 1 ton vehicles.  Guests drive right to their island resort after picking up a road pass at Jerry's or Point North Services.  Venmo is also available at all resorts.  Work through your resort for specifics.   Ice fishing is in full swing across Lake of the Woods and there are openings for lodging, fish house rentals, sleeper fish house rentals and meal plans across the area.  Ice fishing is extended on LOW with fish houses allowed on the ice through March 31st, walleye / sauger season open through April 14th and a pike season that never closes.  
    • Brianf.
      From your fingertips to God's ears...  Finally got some snow!   Several inches of new snow fell before and during the weekend.  Sunday eve when we left, the high winds had already begun to create some drifting on the lake.  It was fun riding for sure.  Lots of folks on the lake this past weekend too.  We fueled up the sleds at Shamrock and saw as many people fishing in that area as I've ever seen in the Winter on Lake Vermilion.     Our weekend results were decent.  Jeff and I and a buddy caught probably 50 walleyes between the three of us, mostly fishing a jig/plastics with our three biggest being 24", 25", and 25.5".  We also got one large pike of unknown length.  During the midday on Sunday, we targeted whitefish and Jeff managed one big one.  We released all of our fish, except for three small walleyes that our buddy wanted to bring home for a meal.  Definitely a fun weekend on Lake V!   
    • leech~~
      The Vikings are the Vikings so it's nothing new.  It is kind of sad that Darnold's off season stock is now going to drop like a rock after these last two games. It kind of shows he's not a big game guy.  🤔
    • smurfy
      I'm blaming leech... his food selection has been lacking game days recently  🤣
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