Does anybody strictly fish for cats. Latly I have been trying and have been picking up alot, but most are about 2-3 pounds. What kinds of tactics or baits are used to get into the bigger ones, dept, area. Thanks alot

Try cut cucker minnows on the bottom. If your talking about the horeshoe chain look for areas that the river runs through the lakes. That is how I have got them on the chain in the summer.

well I am talking about the mississippi, but is it the idea that the bigger the bait the bigger the catch????

I was watching some guys catch them at 10th st dam with shrimp.

i know one buddy fished with liver and stinkbait and did good by the college, i have a spot way in the back of a park i use to fish with lots of down timber lots of cats in there

I have caught lots of cats off the riverside park side of the dam on that ledge. Some were pushing 10 punds.

Try using chunks of redhorse with the skin on.

Using whole or parts of game fish, goldfish, or carp for bait is
unlawful. That is copied from the law book. Don't get caught using parts of redhorse.

Not true, there are restrictions, you will have to do digging to see what is legal and what is not, i think size of it etc matters but dont quote me, call the dnr or check the regs, also go to the catfish forum they would know very well, Hason one of the Mods on here knows all the regs so ask him as well

The regulations just say carp and goldfish. Redhorse would be ok...but I do believe you can only use it if you caught it from that same lake. Just to be safe I'd buy suckers at a bait shop and cut them up.

Redhorse is a type of sucker.Suckers are legal to use as live bait,if they are less than 12 inches in length.Catching a redhorse out of the river,killing it and cutting it up for cut bait, is legal.Even if the caught redhorse is longer than 12 inches in length.

suckers and redhorse are considered rough fish. rough fish are allowed to be used as bait, with the specific exception of carp and goldfish, in parts or whole.

as far as length goes, suckers under 12" are considered minnows, and can be transported and used live, over 12" would have to be used as cutbait.

I'd advise anyone interested in catfish, to check out the catfish forum here on FM... posts going back to 1999, and is an awesome resource for anyone looking to learn about catching the whiskerfish. the MN river, as well as all of the Mississippi river forums are also treasure troves of knowledge!

It is true. The line about what you can use was copied and pasted from the DNR reg book.

Redhorse is a rough fish. When used like Grant said above, it is legal to use as bait. Rehorse is not a game fish, carp or gold fish.

I've used Redhorse for years without a problem, it works great; I didn't think it was a big deal...