So probably my major goal for this hardwater season is to ice a channel. I know there are a few lakes in the metro area that hold decent populations of channel cats and the one i want to try has some deep water(about 40 ft.) with pretty steep dropoffs and culverts where water may stay a bit warmer. Should these be the areas I try and does anyone actually target channels in the metro? Also, what presentation do you give them? I was thinking minnow heads or cut bait on a spoon or a spoon/leader to jig combo.

I buy the pre cut chunks at the grocery store they are yummy

Ice a couple channels last year here in Illinois. We stumbled upon them on the bottom of a steep dropoff. Caught them on panfish jigs jigging for bluegills.

I haven't tried it myself, but did talk to guy that caught a couple on the Croix near Bayport last year. He also said he hooked into a flattie out there too but it broke off at the bottom of the hole.

Flats pretty much go dormant in the winter time. It would be pretty rare to ice one as they usually just lie in deep spots out of the current until the water warms.

Channels are available in a bunch of metro waters; quite a few lakes are stocked to provide opportunities for kids. Rogers and Rebecca have a few in your neck of the woods, bgreen.

Otherwise Bennett, Como, Beaver, Island, Loeb, and Silver in Ramsey county have cats, and Tanners in Washington county has a few. If you can get onto river backwaters you can do okay, or look to travel outstate. Give Zumbro a try, the Cannon river lakes, a few shallower lakes in farm country that stock catfish to combat bullheads, or the ever popular Horseshoe Chain near Richmond/St. Cloud are good options outside of the metro.

your thining what I wanna do too, I have thought about Fish lake in Eagan, it looks small, deep and is stocked, dont know the size of the fish, but if you want to try it out later in the year give me a holler and lets see what we can do!

Shawn

I also would like to try icing some cats, sounds likeit would be a blast. i also would try one of the smaller lakes mentioned above for the first time out. You can easily cover one of those lakes in a few hours time. I hope to make it to Richmond for the "cool cats on ice" this year,heard it is a blast! I heard of people using a spoon or Flyer with a minnow?

I've posted some info pertaining to the same question in the Catfish Forum
http://www.fishingminnesota.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/forums/29/1/Catfish