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Mr. Mader
March 10th, 2005, 01:37 AM
Any good catfish lakes in Wisconsin???

Pepperoni
March 10th, 2005, 08:21 PM
"Mr. Mader" > wrote in message
...
> Any good catfish lakes in Wisconsin???
>

I can't recommend sites in Wis. I can recommend certain types of fishing
spots early in the year. (April and May) I prefer river fishing,
specifically upstream of large lakes. My favorite spots are directly below
wall dams where fish cannot pass upstream. Early in the year when the carp
spawn, the cats move up to feed on the <massive> spawn. The fish are
concentrated here for well over a month. Of course, night fishing is
preferred, but a good 2 hours of prime fishing is possible just after dawn.
( until the sun rises above the trees)
http://home.comcast.net/~thuxton/flathead.htm
http://home.comcast.net/~thuxton/firstone.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~thuxton/earlymorncarp.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~thuxton/morningcatch.jpg

I've found that the flatheads are the usual take. We do have channel cats,
but they seem to travel into the river at dusk and return to the lake by
morning. Channel cat catches are rare <and small> far up the river near the
dam. The flatheads remain in the river and hang just below the carp trapped
by the dam.
http://home.comcast.net/~thuxton/gonefishin02.htm
In these pics, my fishing spot is a deep quiet pool to the right of the wall
seen at the right side of the carpfin pics.

My preferred bait is hot dog slices about 1/4 inch thick. The cats love
'em. The carp also take occasionally, but my preferred carp bait is frozen
corn. Carp can't resist the sweet corn. Other fishermen have good luck
using bluegill fillets as bait. Gar like this bait, as do the cats.

For the channel cats, I've found the best luck directly above the lake at
dusk (and later) The channels seem to sweep the river at night and return
to the big water. They will come like a wave and seem to be moving steadily
upriver as a group. Again, hot dog is the preferred bait.

I've switched to superlines instead of mono because of the zebra mussels. I
use a 6' UL rig, but use about 25# superline. (getting old--- can't *see*
the smaller stuff) On a larger river, I would use more rod, but for walking
an overgrown bankside, the small one piece rod is best. I've whipped some
real monsters with my little stick.


Pepperoni
<<Huron river near Ann Arbor, Mi>>>