Horseshoe Cats and Crappies

[Rick]

Horseshoe crappie

Dennis caught a BUNCH of nice channel cats too.

Horseshoe Cat

Tom Johnson and Matt.

Icehawk makes the home page - CLICK HERE
Thanks Chris for a GREAT cat trip.

[This message has been edited by Rick (edited 02-08-2004).]

[IceHawk]

What a day of fishing is all I can say. Our group consisted of a team of the following FMers. I St Croix Boy, Wigeon, Dennis S, Rick, Matt Johnson and Tom Johnson, our target was cats. Well we iced over 100 plus cats!!! and a few bonus crappies. The bite varied throughout the day and presentation and technique were the keys to staying on a consistent bite. Glow devils,Buckshots were the lures of choice for the active fish and small minnows on a hook rig triggered the non aggressive fish. Technique varied alot, at times they wanted alot of movement with the spoons, other times leaving it totally still was the key.

IceHawks Channel Cat

See the Glow Devil in the Cat's Mouth

All in all it was great fishing with all you guys, I am looking forward to it again!!!

[This message has been edited by Rick (edited 02-09-2004).]

[This message has been edited by Rick (edited 02-11-2004).]

[Wigeon]

Yesterday was a good day cat fishing.There was plenty of cats caught and plenty to be caught.St.Croix Boy,Dennis,and myself all had to take a guess at the depth we were fishing,our locators had too many fish showing to correctly give the depth.I believe it was 32'though.Rick,Tom,Matt,and Dennis it nice meeting you all,let us know if you want to do this again.Tom and Matt enjoy your cats for supper tonight.

[MinnesotaMuskie]

That looks like way to much fun. My boys and I would like to try for cats. If there is ever another outing give us a shout @ MinnesotaMuskie @ aol.com.

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Practice CPR...Catch, Photo, Realease. Unless you pickle a small northern of course.

[Dennis Steele]

A big thank you IceHawk,Widgeon and St Croix Boy.That was a lot of fun!I can honestly say I have never seen a concentration of cats like that before.Solid red! If a guy didn't know better he would have thought his electronics were on the fritz.
You guys are welcome to chase some BIG cats with me on the MN RIver anytime.Probably won't see that many cats but it will be a good time.

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Minnesota River Guided Fishing
www.mnriverguidedfishing.com
[email protected]
NPAA #863

[bturck]

Nice reports guys and some good pics. Sounds like a good time was had by all. Bill

[ATM]

I will be heading to the shoe on friday, I have done very well all year here, If you see a black ford explorer and a fish trap voyager stop on over, I ussually have a few cold ones and would love to meet some more fm'ers. Adam

[The Chemist]

So is anyone going to be going out on Monday? I am planning on being up there for a full day. Let me know.

[so haaad]

I'll be there on Sunday. Hey, I'm new to cats, do they usually bite all day? Best in the morning? Right before dark?

[Mykal]

Awesome job guys! I love this chain of lakes.

Icehawk, Grabs and I are shooting for Feb. 29th for our get together.

[Mr. Pike1]

Mykal, what was the report from Friday night. I believe you were going to head out after work..

[Mykal]

Went to the "spot" and found no one else in the area. Set up in 19 feet thinking the crappie would remain shallow as we have been finding them in 17 to 21 feet the last few weeks, shallower than most guys are fishing them, plus plenty of Cats, and a bonus "Eye or 2.
Well I found fish...Caught the first Crappie at about 4:30 then I missed one, but to my suprise the Cats came in thick and stayed thick instead of the Crappie this night. I found it hard to find my lures on the LX-3 at times. I managed over 30 in just a few hours. It was a blast! After dark I still could not get into the Crappie at 19 to 21 feet. The Cats slowed down a bit, but average size went up as the night progressed averaging 5-6 lbs. I had one pole down with chunks of Shiner minnow by this time as most of the Cats were stealing my Crappie minnows. I had one Cat I couldn't pull off the bottom, after several long runs it said goodbye. About 9:15 I saw a huge mark up high pulled up a Shiner to it and wham! a huge Eye, got it to the bottom of the hole and it popped off.

Meanwhile one other group of 3 guys showed up around 8:30pm and set up in 25 feet. When I went to check on them at 9:30pm and they had a few Crappie and not one Cat. Big difference 4 feet can make. They weren't more than 30 feet away. Looks like the Crappies are at 25 feet and deeper and the Cats just a bit shallower right now.

Plenty of snow on the ice now and 4-wheel is a must if you get off the trails. Watch out for bigger drifts! Had a great night of action anyway.

[so haaad]

Mykal or anyone else-
I fished Horseshoe today for the first time, trying for cats. Fished on the east side of the '57 foot hole (kind of by the Go Vikings fishhouse). Basically right off the big point to the south. Caught a few cats on jigs and minnow heads in 34 feet of water, but not a lot. Any recommendations where to go for better numbers? I've heard about the meth hole, but where is it? I'm heading out tomorrow morning again. Thanks for any advice.

[Mr. Pike1]

Mykal, your assesment may be correct on the crappie being a bit deeper. It may also be that with you being the catfish "King" that where the majesty goeth the cats of the village cometh to serve and give praise. Good to see you got a shot at a nice walleye on the last weekend of the seasson. Was the beast pushing the upper 20's in size? I am going to go to a small local lake today after 2:00.

[This message has been edited by Mr. Pike1 (edited 02-15-2004).]

[The Chemist]

Mykal do you think I can get the van out on the chain? I'm planning on taking the oldest out tomorrow since I don't have to work.

Icehawk: if you get a chance e-mail me I got a couple questions for you.

[email protected]

[The Chemist]

So Haaad: if you were near the 57 ft spot you were near the hole.

[Mr. Pike1]

Mykal, I did well on Sunday on lake by my house. The report in posted under metro forum lake Gervais. I had consistant perch that were in the 7-9" class and sunfish 7-8". I got some walleye at dusk to close out the season.

[The Chemist]

Well I just got back from the chain. And to say it was a mixed trip is an understatement. First of all I didn't get out there as early as I wanted. And then I couldn't find an area I was looking for, maps look totally different than what's out there. So I decided to go back to the Meth hole. well the only "road" that would get me close I decided to take but it was to a house so I went a little further on it to be polite. Thus I got stuck. Got dug out and 2 guys helped to push me out. Next I get everything out of the van and shut the doors only to realize that my keys were in my jacket that was in the van. So Haad ended up as I was trying everything to get in. Well a partially closed door and a stick fixed that. So I in turn figure to set up further away from the hole than I have before. 22 feet of water. Me and Zach ended up bringing home 6 cats a crappie and a rock bass. Yet again I lost in the fishing to him again. His last 2 fish: a 6 pound cat and a 2 pound 'eye. I had to explain why his last fish had to go back. Oh and as we are about to leave he informs me that he HAD to go to the bathroom, but because he was supposed to be quiet in the fish house he couldn't yell for me to come help him. ALL in ALL a great trip. Best I have had in a while especially being able to spend a day away from work with my son.

On a side note it looks as though the cats go shallower around 4 or so.

Unable to get Glow Devils I picked up an equivalent at the Richmond Marine.
Them with a partially pinched body of a fat head were the set up of choice. I just left the pole sit until I saw the rod tip bend and they were stuck. One of the lures glowed blue(yellow body) and the other red (orange body)

[This message has been edited by The Chemist (edited 02-16-2004).]

[so haaad]

Mykal, thanks for the info. The Chemist and I both did alright today, but I was deeper in about 34'. I caught three in the afternoon with a green pimple and minnow head with quick jigging. Then they got quiet for awhile, and moved into shallower water by chemist. Hey Peter, the bite was awesome after dark, it started right when you were pulling away. They were on the prowl, and were coming in constantly. I topped off my limit and also lost three or four fish in the next hour. I also got two walleyes today. But the highlight was my last fish: I had a huge tangle with my other rod, so I dropped down another jig on my panfish rod...with 3# test line on a light rod/reel. I pulled in one that went about 5lbs! What a great fight! I thought he was going to spool me a couple of times! Chemist, it was nice meeting you today. Now go get that extra set of keys made.

Haaad

[Mykal]

Cord, LOL! How did you do on said small lake? The "eye was mid 20's I'm guessing as I didn't get a good enough look just based on weight.
So haaad, like Chem said you were actually pretty close to the meth hole if you were off Hammers point. I usally fish it along the steep breakline on the far Nothern edge. This area has been okay at times but way down on average do to fishing pressure I'm guessing due to pressure. To find Cats (the chain is loaded with them!) get off the main path. Find a bay with a deep hole and fish the steepest edges. I'm finding them shallower in these remote areas and they are much more aggressive.
Chem, if your van is 2-wheel drive you will need to stay on the trails or you will have trouble.

Good luck.

[This message has been edited by Mykal (edited 02-16-2004).]

[This message has been edited by Mykal (edited 02-16-2004).]

[Mykal]

As the traffic goes down late ice is great out that way. Last year we had a few days of awesome action late in March.

[Mr. Pike1]

Glad to see that fun was had by all. Chemist, hopefully we will hook up with you fishing one time before the ice season is complete. I am glad to see that they are by the Meth hole. As the season progresses I am less and less comfortable driving the truck on the shoe. The Meth hole is easily walkable for late ice.

[Flashman]

I'm planning on fishing the Shoe this Friday, the 20th; and was wondering if anybody else is planning on being out there? If so maybe we can hook up.

[Flashman]

Sounds good, I'll be in a blue extended cab F150. Should be on the ice sometime around noonish.

[so haaad]

Flashman-
I'll be in St. Cloud for work on Friday, but was hoping to hit the Shoe later that afternoon. Look for my red Jeep Cherokee.

Haaad

[JiggingSpoon]

Hey So Haaad,
I might be wrong, but i believe i talked to you out on the Shoe on last Monday. I was with my dad and we had the same "Explorer" portable as you. I am pretty sure, cuz i saw The Chemist and his van in shallower water. (it all makes sense by reading this forum) We ended up with 4 cats and about a dozen decent crappies in the deep water. Sounds like we should have stayed longer, we took off at about 3. If ya are heading out there soon let me know, maybe we can go exploring. i only caught 3 cats, but man was it fun, it would be great to get into some numbers.

JS

[Rick]

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[The Chemist]

Jiggingspoon: So that waas you over there in the deeper water w/ the Snoboat that has the stenciled on license? I had all intentions to fish closer to the deeper water but I couldn't get a path to drive out with the van, and with the kid I wanted to stay close. I think if I wouldn't have had to get home I would have stayed until 10 or so, because right when we were pakcing up the Vex lit up like a x-mas tree 12ft from the bottom and down.

[so haaad]

Jigging Spoon-
Yep, that was me out there on Monday with the other SnoBoat. I caught three right away in the afternoon with vertical jigging, and then they stopped bitiing for awhile. But I stayed after dark, and they became active again. They were hitting really light, but did come in quite a bit. They wanted it completely still, so I put on a bobber. Most times they would just bump it, not taking it and running. So I started setting the hook at any decent bobber movement, and this seemed to work pretty well. I'll be in St. Cloud for work today, so I'll be out on the shoe this afternoon. Stop by and say hi if you get out there. Haaad

[Mykal]

Guys, How is the ice out there? Are the trails getting sloppy yet? Thinking about heading out there on Saturday if anyone is going.

Thanks.

[This message has been edited by Mykal (edited 02-20-2004).]