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Student seeking a teacher, I need to find a channel cat and a walleye through the ice, how do you get them to bite this time of year? I'm assuming I can find some ice to get on to try it this weekend... My thoughts are the booming runoff in the rivers will push the cats and eyes into the more static backwaters and perhaps I might be able to find one, but how do I get them to bite? Last time I seen a cat taken through the ice their bites were very tentative this time of year and that was in deeper water where I could graph them better.. Now I'll be in shallower water and most likely won't be able to rely on electronics to help me.... Would appreciate any help you could offer... Thanks J
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[#0000FF]I have caught both cats and walleyes through the ice at both Willard and Utah Lake. But since they are both likely unfishable now I couldn't offer much help.
The key is always to first find the fish. And depending on the water they could be in many different places. A combination of food and structure is a good place to start. But both species move around slowly, looking for food or more comfy conditions.
While both may bite very tentatively, both will smack your offerings when they are hungry and active. And while sometimes small lures work best on neutral, inactive or finicky fish, you can also do well by jigging larger lures...like rattling lipless crankbaits.
Both species are scent oriented and both will bite better on jigs or lures sweetened with minnow, crawler or fish flesh...like perch meat. Gulp minnows work well too.
If you target them, you will likely not catch them. But gear up for other species and don't let thoughts of walleye or catfish enter your mind and you may catch one "on accident". If you can't stop thinking about them, try a foil hat.
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Thanks Pat, got it foil hat coming up..... I went and let two categories go mostly blank on the ice contest and now it's going to be my undoing, so just hoping for one last shot to break into those categories... Thanks for the tips... J
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[#0000FF]Good luck. Most of my better catches on those two species through the ice have been early in the ice season.
With the current rotting ice situation you gotta be especially careful you don't try doing any special walleye or catfish dances. You managed to dodge the self-rescue thing on Bear Lake. Might not be so lucky the next time.
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Thanks Pat you are right on the ice conditions, I don't know if there are any spots safe at this time... If I do try I'll make sure it's in a shallow location that I can touch bottom so I can get out and I'll probably take my waders and float tube around me like a float toy just in case... Most likely I won't be going after them... Thanks for the info though, just in case... J
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I've seen the channel cat/walleye combo happen at yuba once. But I wouldn't fish ANY lower elevation lake's the rest of this year!!! And heck I've caught some channels out of echo and now it has walleyes in it to boot lol.
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I think the floods just put my fishing on hold. Been trying to clean up and drain things out all day so I'm pretty sure it will continue tomorrow. Nasty dang storm, the ground is so saturated everything is flooding, got a river running through my hay field and it sounds like Cutler will be in my back yard before the weekends over. Hope the catfish and walleye come with the water. Later J
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Yeah you guys up north got hit by that storm pretty bad!! While I was at the gorge I watched the news and they were predicting an inch and a half of rain in one day. It got me a little puckerd up and I kept hoping the storm wasn't going to hit us up their, and we did get lucky, it never rained until we were heading back. But that south wind blew most of the time we were their and it made for some really warm night's/mornings.
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Yup it was a nasty combination of events and made a mess but we're dealing with it. Thanks for the concern. J
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