Focus efforts in the area where fish appear in the spread, and adjust location as fish move. Beyond the tip-ups, set Automatic Fishermans. Out from there, create a circle or cross pattern with tip-ups. The center point of this area is reserved primarily for jigging. From the center of the area, drill holes out to slightly deeper and shallower water to increase the target zone. Concentrate primarily along the edges of breaklines or in areas you previously located fish. Study contour maps and identify an area of deep water to fish. Most are 1 to 3 feet off the bottom and the rest are suspended from 3 to 10 feet off the bottom. Using a MarCum 385c color camera, I often see pods of 20 or more fish. Typically, catfish aren't all doing the same thing, at the same time. Keep searching until deep holes are located and the edge of nearby structure is pinpointed.
#Automatic fisherman ice fishing closeup full#
With no moving parts on the screen, battery life is a full day. I use a Marcum Showdown for identifying bottom hugging fish. To locate cats on big waters, I rely on a good sonar and underwater camera. Load up a lake map on your GPS, make sure the auger is full of gas, and plan for a day of studying electronics and hopping holes to stay on fish. Soft bottom areas with minimal weedcover and a slightly irregular bottom hold the most fish. Look for them on breaklines and rolling structure close to large feeding shelves. In large natural lakes, I find that channel cats tend not to favor water deeper than about 40 feet and prefer depths in the 15- to 35-foot range. The greatest concentrations of catfish, however, are most often in deep water. Like bass, they occasionally come as shallow as a couple feet of water to feed on weedflats. Channel cats often are tight to the bottom when not feeding, and patrol edges during feeding periods. In ponds and small lakes and reservoirs, a good starting point for locating catfish is the deepest hole. But concentrated fish leave a lot of area devoid of fish, so locating them requires searching. Once you find them it can be quick action, and they tend to use the same wintering areas each year, cutting down on future reconnaissance time. This makes locating them a double-edged sword. They congregate as water temperatures drop into the mid-40Â☏ range.
During first ice they're relatively active, becoming less active during midwinter, and then picking back up in late winter. Their winter activity levels are comparable to largemouth bass, also a warmwater species. They don't enter a dormant state during winter. They also possess swimming speed when agitated—enough to spool a tip-up if you're slow to the chase.Ĭhannel catfish on ice occur throughout the ice belt in ponds, lakes, and reservoirs. Not little fiddler catfish but 8- to 20-pound bruisers with muscles and attitudes, power and stamina.
Ice fishing catfish is one of my favorite things to do through the ice.
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