kitties in the fargo area

[beaverlakeman]

Just wanted to ask a quick question.

I am by no means a catfisherman. I acually got into it this year and to me i think i am doing alright. everytime i go to the spot i fish i land 1 cat 8 lbs or larger, and always get them at 4pm. But seems i can only catch 1 or 2 cats and then i dont even get any bites. I usually fish from 1pm till around 6-9 pm. I use strictly cut goldeye.
Cant find any frogs so i just use the goldeye. Can anyone give me some pointers on how to get more bites/fish. Or maybe im doing something wrong?

My set up is a medium action 6'6 rod with 8 pound test. 4oz slip sinker with a no.6 circle hook.

reason for the light equipment is i love the fight. I have only lost 3 fish due to my line snapping..

Any help would be greatly apreciated.
I only catch and release. I am to chicken chit to eat them.lol.

P.S am always looking for a new fishing partner. Doing all this by myself gets kinda boring..

thanks in advance..

My email is.. mutey78 at msn dot com

[This message has been edited by beaverlakeman (edited 07-26-2004).]

[hanson]

beaverlakeman,

Wish I lived in the Fargo area, I'd come fish with you. Anyway, don't be afraid of eating the catfish... They are absolutely awesome!!

That 8 pounder, you are not going to want to eat that one. Stick to eating the 2-3 pounders. Check out the Catfish forum for some recipes. Between you & me, I think they taste better than walleye! Ooops, between you, me, and everyone else reading this.

[CatManLee]

I myself don't think you are doing anything wrong. You are probably fishing in a location that is'nt all that productive. Sure your catching fish, but try moving to different locations. You don't have to move a long ways, there might be a better spot near by. I am not an expert on catfish, but I do consider myself a very good fisherman when it comes to catfishing. One thing that I do know, if you sit in one spot on the Red long enough, you will catch a catfish. So if you're only catching a couple of fish during an extended amount of time, you should probably try some different spots. When I first started Catfishing, I used to sit in the same location all day by myself every time I went to only catch one or two fish. Granted, they were always nice fish (15-25lbs), but once I started moving more, I caught more fish. Different areas will hold fish at different times, you'll learn through practice what locations produce the best at certain times of the day or year.
Another thing to try, is bait size. Big baits will usually catch bigger fish, and smaller baits will catch smaller fish. Of course there are exceptions. If you just want to catch big fish, don't be affraid to use really big baits. I'm talking about the head of a goldeye or half the body, not just a small chunk, if you've seen the size of the mouth on a big cat, you know they would have no problem swollowing a bait that size, but make sure you size up your hook as well or you'll miss alot of fish. You want to have a lot of the hook showing for a good hook set.

Hope some of this helps in your catfishing adventures. If I lived in Fargo I would take you fishing some time and put you on some good fishing, but I live way up in NW Minnesota, so i never go fishing in the FM area. I always fish the GF area of the Red and northward.

Good Luck Fishing....

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CatMan

[This message has been edited by CatManLee (edited 07-26-2004).]

[Ed Carlson]

Your on the right track, your bait and rigging sounds good, and what your finding is common. One or two active fish on a spot then it slows to a picky halt.

My tip is develop a Milk Run. Do this by scouting several spots that have likely cat holding areas and look them over well. Spend and hour or less on one spot, then move along to the next. Hit and run fishing for channel cats puts your bait in front of more cats and ups your catch on most outings.

When you Hit and Run it is better to fish 1 rod well then 2 rods half *** . Pack light, don't drag the whole garage with. And try to keep your eyes open for a new good looking spots while on the road from spot to spot. So many top spots in the FM areas, that can be fished from shore, seldom if ever do get fished.

Actually if your a bike person you can hit tons of top spots from the bike trails around the Red. This type of angeling is a big deal in Europe, bike fishing.

Have rod...will travel...up your odds.

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Backwater Guiding
"ED on the RED"
701-893-9107

[email protected]

[Scoot]

Sounds like lots of good advice. When you get a few tips from Ed, be sure to listen. They tend to be worth their weight in gold.
When looking for milk run spots, keep in mind snag piles, holes, sharp bends, and long straights with grassy spots on the shoreline. Hit different combos of these spots and you're likely to find some fish.

One other thing, if you find frogs, use 'em. I haven't found a good supply of them yet. I'm looking, but none to be found yet. I tend to do better post-spawn on frogs than anything else.

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Scoot

RodsbyEngel: custom made fishing rods

[LeviM12]

Hows it going everyone! I had pretty good luck on frozen frogs tonight. I fished from 8-10 pm and caught a few around the 9 pound range. They were very skinny and looked like they were on the feed. I am also not an expert on catfishing yet, but I was wondering if live frogs work better than frozen or vise versa. I have been using both all year and had mixed results. I can not decided what has produced more cats. Any advice or comments on live or fozen frogs would be great.

Good luck everyone, looks like the big sumos are the prowl!

[Scoot]

Levi,

No hard facts to this question, just opinions- here's mine. I don't think that there is usually a difference. On occasion there might be a slight advantage to live frogs, but not typically. Freeze 'em up and use them when you want to.

Don't suppose you'd share your frog catchin' spot with me, would you? I haven't found much for frogs at my usual spots this year.

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Scoot

RodsbyEngel: custom made fishing rods

[Ed Carlson]

The ponds by the beet plant can be a good spot to find frogs, same with the treatment ponds in West Fargo near the diversion.

A handy dandy tip on freezing frogs.

Toss live frogs in a large zip bag alive and then place them in the freezer. After the harden up into Frog-Sickles toss them into another bag and repeat the process. Try not to freeze too many at a time and they will not cluster freeze. They curl up in individual balls that way and you do not get a mass of mushy frogs when the thaw to use.

As fall nears I use frogs alive more then dead because the walleye action picks up into late August and early September.

I often use a live frog tell it slows a bit then I slit it down the belly with a thin blade or utility knife so the Kitty's find it faster. In my opinion Walleye prefer the live and kick'n hoppers over the frozen 10 to 1. Keep that in mind in days and night ahead. And I feel that the best way to feed frogs to walleye is with jigs, tall stand-up style jigs. Use a heavy wire jig, like a 4/OT jig...no light wire crude. Add a 3" fast clip Stinger hook to the jig eye and hook it high on the Frogs back for the short hitters. Smaller new hatch hoppers really do not need a stinger.

Scenic Tackle has a very good heavy wire hook stand-up jig that I really like for frog Fling'n, maybe drop Jeff Beckwith a call/e-mail if you need to stock up.

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Backwater Guiding
"ED on the RED"
701-893-9107

[email protected]

[LeviM12]

Scoot

I have no distinct area where I like to catch frogs. What I like to do is drive around at night and catch the frogs jumping across the back roads. I like to go around the north moorhead area, it seems like there is just alittle bit more water for them around there. I don't know if any of this advice helps! Good luck

[beaverlakeman]

thanks alot for the replys all.. been away from the computer for a while.

Hey ED,

Im the guy that was shootin the breeze with ya down at oxbow a couple times in april ( the one with the back surgery), i told you I was probly going to book a day with you on the river this summer, And it still stands. When would be the best time to do this? It will have to be in september sometime. I am going to my brothers wedding in pennsylvania august 21.. Let me know..

Its best to email me, I check that more than here.
mutey78 at msn dot com

thanks again all.

[Ed Carlson]

OK, hope that back snapped back for you. I know that deal all to well, it is a tough deal to get back right again.

Depending on what you want to shoot for? Latter in September would be a great shot at eye's and cats in our region. Drop me an e-mail down the line, we can find a bite to work. Since your close we can jump a bit faster on the bite, that helps.

------------------
Backwater Guiding
"ED on the RED"
701-893-9107

[email protected]

[beaverlakeman]

sounds good... i'll holler at ya when i get back..