catfish though the ice

We r heading to castle rock n r lookin to catch some channel cats . We have never tried though the ice b4 n r lookin for some tips on baits n rigs. Thanks in advance.

That's my neck of the woods, try a mouse or rat for bait, pour syrup on it, mustard and soy . set your sinker about 16 inches down from the hook. cut bait is always good, but mice and rats are like candy for them and then the cats taste great smoked. I wouldnt steer ya wrong... Enjoy.

I have not tried on Castle Rock but, friends get em there while eye fishing. I get them through ice quite often on lake near my home. Catch them on most anything I would use for walleyes=jigging various minnow swim baits of the Jigging Rappalla type, spoons, whistler jiggs. Most come well after dark and prefer the glow colors or attach a very small glow stick to lure. I also tip the lures with small fathead minnow or just a head. sometimes a little fish scent also. Have got a few on tippups with shiners or cutbait also but, more fun on a medium action rod with open face reel spooled with spectrabraid line. Mono will lose you many expensive lures! Caught a 24"er Fri. evening just after dark, only fished em for 15 minutes, one was enough. Couple other guys in same area had 2 before sunset.

they catch a lot of channel cats on the north side of Lake Mendota in Madison while tip-up fishing. you might get lucky and catch a northern too.

Ol sarge I believe this forum is for catfishing and not commenting on the way people spell or "text hand" as you Call it. Do you troll lake link and comment to everyone that does not spell it out for you? I am sorry it did not meet your standards. Keep your old grumpy comments to your self or just dont use the computer because its full of "text hand" as you call it.

please do not use text hand when posting. It makes you look ignorant and is hard for us older folks to read.

The best way to catch cats through the ice is using the Automatic Fisherman. Cats tend to run off a few feet of line and then drop the bait, so you miss a lot on tip-ups. Use a piece of fresh cutbait such as whitebass, bluegill, or sucker on a #8 treble hook on 10 lb mono or fluorocarbon.