Minnesota Outdoorsman

Fishing Forums => Species Specific Boards => Catfish => Topic started by: tangle tooth on July 07/18/23, 01:10:19 PM

Title: Catfishing.
Post by: tangle tooth on July 07/18/23, 01:10:19 PM
      I sometimes fish lakes for catfish. I seem to be having an issue with weedy lake bottoms. I have tried Carolina

 rigs and Santee Cooper rigs primarily.

Today I even tried suspending the baits under a float or bobber. Not much success. I still feel in lots of weeds. I was fishing the south end of Lura Lake in Blue Earth County.

What do you folks use when fishing weedy bottom lakes for catfish.

Thanks.
Title: Re: Catfishing.
Post by: Dotch on July 07/18/23, 01:24:12 PM
Just curious, been years since I last fished in it, but are there catfish in Lura?  :scratch:
Title: Re: Catfishing.
Post by: mike89 on July 07/18/23, 01:40:25 PM
never fished the lakes there for kitty's, only the Mn river and the Blue Earth river...   good luck!!!   
Title: Re: Catfishing.
Post by: tangle tooth on July 07/18/23, 02:21:46 PM
Quote from: Dotch on July 07/18/23, 01:24:12 PM
Just curious, been years since I last fished in it, but are there catfish in Lura?  :scratch:
There are. Haven't heard of monster cats there. I did see several fish jumping. Looked more like carp, though. Wish I could go  for carp intentionally. Used to go bowfishing for them all the time.
Title: Re: Catfishing.
Post by: LPS on July 07/18/23, 06:52:21 PM
I used to live for catfishing on the St. Croix.  I always looked for deeper spots and anchored above them so my bait drifted right into the hole.  That is where they hang out.  Waiting for dead stuff to drift past them. 
Title: Re: Catfishing.
Post by: tangle tooth on July 07/18/23, 09:40:58 PM
I, too, usually fish rivers. Fishing lakes is kind of new for me. I mostly fish the Blue Earth, Minnesota and sometimes the Watonwan. I thought I might loose less tackle fishing lakes.
Title: Re: Catfishing.
Post by: tangle tooth on October 10/09/24, 02:05:31 PM
      Tried Lura again last week. Too weedy to fish the bottom. It was too windy to try to use a float on the surface.
      I was trying some of that Catfish Charlies dip bait on a 3/0 circle hook. I tried a 1 ounce sinker , about 18" of mono with a float. That didn't seem to help much.
      Any ideas?
Title: Re: Catfishing.
Post by: roony on October 10/09/24, 06:12:33 PM
Dynamite
Title: Re: Catfishing.
Post by: roony on October 10/10/24, 04:19:03 PM
I know people from the Mapleton area that fish that lake quite a bit but I don't recall any of them mentioning catfish. It is such a shallow weedy slough. Maybe through the ice would work better.
Title: Re: Catfishing.
Post by: LPS on October 10/10/24, 07:01:16 PM
You must be fishing from shore.  Would be easier at a solid shore line so you stand there and can cast out to deeper water.  Bridges are good.
Title: Re: Catfishing.
Post by: mike89 on October 10/10/24, 07:09:15 PM
I don't recall cats in that lake...  but that was many years ago when I lived down there...  I'd be fishing the rivers, that's where I caught all my cat fish.. good luck!!! 
Title: Re: Catfishing.
Post by: roony on October 10/10/24, 07:25:56 PM
The deepest that lake gets is 9 feet.
Title: Re: Catfishing.
Post by: mike89 on October 10/10/24, 07:34:26 PM
Quote from: roony on October 10/10/24, 07:25:56 PM
The deepest that lake gets is 9 feet.

bull head lake then I'm thinking...
Title: Re: Catfishing.
Post by: tangle tooth on October 10/10/24, 09:13:45 PM
      You are correct. It is a shallow lake but it's a 20 minute drive from the home. Rivers right now are more like streams. Although, this would be a good time to find and mark the deeper pools.