Cattin the Chain 2015-2017

[Borch]

I fish the meth hole area later in the year. But be prepared to drill lots of holes to be rewarded. There are areas that are easier to fish this time of year.

[M1dwestF1sh]

Is there a certain depth or anything. Not looking for exact spots just a good depth to look around as I've only ice fished for cats one other time. Certain bait or jigs this time of year. Heading out early in the morning tomorrow. Thanks for the quick responses!

[Horseshoe_Don]

Look for any holes in the chain over 20 feet that there is current in. There are several from horseshoe to Cold Spring. They will be filled with hungry cats. Have fun

[M1dwestF1sh]

I'm out now and have marked fish in 26 but that's about it. Been drilling a lot and moving. They come up off the bottom and look at my jig or my fathead then swim down. I'm on the west side of the road but was wondering if anybody fished on the east and if so how do you get on over there. Any help would be great!

[DTro]

I was surprised to find open water at our spot yesterday. The warm weather is not doing any favors to the ice conditions. In fact I heard of a person on foot breaking through on the lower section of the river. We set up about 40ft from the open water and had about 6 inches of ice and 4 hours later the open water had creeped up into our house. Be careful out there for sure.

The bite was fairly slow with only about 15-20 caught. Marked TONS of them though, just couldn't get them to bite.

[CaptainMusky]

Dtro, that is because you have your buddy heater outside heating the atmosphere. :-)

That's a little close to open water for my liking, but Im sure you had fun.

[DTro]

yeah, it was so warm we could have left the heater at home.

[YB_Bassin]

How's the ice on horseshoe? Still driveable with these warmer temps?

[DTro]

a quick vid

[Huntin&Fishin]

Today from the DNR.

Sauk River chain of lakes (Stearns County) – Anglers will have an expanded opportunity to harvest channel catfish, which became established in the late 1970s and since have become very abundant. A bag limit of 10, but with only one of the 10 longer than 24 inches, is to provide the opportunity for more harvest yet still provide a healthy population of catfish.

[rbs]

effective March first it looks like

[DTro]

Decided to try a whole new lake today. We hit one of the lakes off the main river system. Much different fishing with 21" of ice under us.

Popped around a hole a bit until I hooked up with a fish and we set up right there. Short bite window from 5-6pm, but the overall bite was much more aggressive and the average size was much bigger.

Of course the little guy outfished us all again.

[derbier122x]

My not quite 4 year old daughter and I are headed to the shoe as soon as we both get our layers on and a quick stop at the bait shop.

[ClamITup]

Same here, but son. Where you headed to? My son wants to get done crappies

[derbier122x]

We went out past the meth hole. She lasted a couple hours before she wanted to leave. Dang is the water nasty out there this year. I find it strange though with how gin clear the ice is.

[Kelly Oman]

Me and a buddy hit up horseshoe yesterday for cats. It was our first time looking for them. We searched all day!We finally found them after dark,managed to pick up a few. A lot of lookers but not many biters. From the looks of it not mnay people were doing well. A lot of people leaving or moving around.

[Horseshoe_Don]

It always gets nasty as the winter goes on. Never really clear there do to the river current near by.

[Randy Kato]

Hello fellow fisherman is there a good place i can take my truck and wheel house on the chain for cats my wife had a knee replaced a few weeks ago so we can not do the portable fishing we have never fished cats thru the ice before we live in Mankato so any help would be thankful before we drive there and find out we are SOL we would like to come up there this weekend

Thanks Randy and Tammy Melvin

[derbier122x]

Sorry don, should've clarified. I didn't mean the water to be gin clear, but last winter was way more clear if I remember correctly. I couldn't even see my jig at the bottom of the ice this time out.

[eyeguy 54]

welcome to the site Randy. south on 22 to winter access

[Randy Kato]

|Thank you eyeguy 54 i have never fished there before any advice would be thankful

Thanks Randy

[eyeguy 54]

good info in this thread.

[Borch]

Pretty much straight across the road from the Horseshoe winter access is the Cedar Island winter access. Cedar Island can be very good as well. Just look for holes at least 25 feet or deeper.

Ok here's a cat fishing nugget. During the day don't be afraid to look shallower near the deeper holes. People often fish too deep during the day.

[Randy Kato]

Thank you Borch

[derbier122x]

Has anyone gone south of the winter access on shoe? If so is it vehicle safe or is it a wheeler sled area? Looks to be a couple promising spots going south as opposed to north.

[DTro]

Here’s the deal, there are cats everywhere in the system. Look at a contour map and then try to find holes that are well defined with a sharp break (lots of lines close together). Drill holes around that sharp break area from shallow to deep. Don’t be discouraged if you can’t find them, sometimes the school will find you. Don’t get stuck to the idea that the Meth hole needs to be your go to spot. All the lakes have spots as good or better than the Meth hole. Its really as easy as looking at a map. Speaking of which, when you look at the map, you can see the general path the river takes as it enters and exits the system. Anywhere that current flows you may have sketchy ice. Basically anywhere away from the current has good drivable ice right now. Obviously you need to use common sense around neckdown areas. Sometimes it takes a little more effort than driving up to a spot and unloading. Put in a little work and you will probably be rewarded.

I’ve heard good reports from Cedar Island and we did well on Long last weekend. Seriously get out and explore, the cats are everywhere.

[Horseshoe_Don]

Has anyone gone south of the winter access on shoe? If so is it vehicle safe or is it a wheeler sled area? Looks to be a couple promising spots going south as opposed to north.

Horseshoe is safe going south until you get near the car bridge to long

[derbier122x]

Thanks don. That helps a bunch.

[Randy Kato]

Thanks for the advise fellow members We fished little rock Friday afternoon and thru the night lots of little perch ended up with 2 jumbos and 1 13 inch crappie then we headed for Horseshoe sat morning thru this morning i did finally get my first ever catfish thru the ice saturday night i got 3 altogether my wife not so lucky and met a fellow member Horseshoe Don who is a really nice guy and has a pretty cool snap together fish house so that was the trip in a nut shell then the 2 hr drive back home

[MuntzAngling]

Was out today about 3pm til 10pm at the meth hole. I wish I had checked here earlier to read what DTro said, but everything started great. We got a couple crappies, a rock bass and a walleye fingerling all before sundown. Then about 7pm the cats came in and had a few nudges on the spring bobber but no hookups.

I've previously been out there in 30 to 40 FOW in December and January but not Feb. Anyway, high pressure blew in and there was no moon I could see. Clouds of cats on the graph all night, but super sluggish bite. Didn't seem like anyone was too pleased nearby either.

Out.