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I went down to the river south of Nampa the other day, and though it was cold as all get out, I got a bad case of fishing fever (had my wife and son in the car, and no pole). The river has smallies and catfish, and though the smallies are slow right now, I've been told the cats will bite fairly consistently throughout the winter.
My question is what can I use for winter cats? I fish an ultra light and don't want to bait fish. I was thinking roadrunner jigs, plain jigs, curly tail plastics, and/or rubber minnow spinners. Think that will get the job done?
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[cool][#0000ff]Hey Bro, you can't have your cake (cats) and eat it (them) too. You CAN catch cats all year round...even under the ice in some lakes. But, they aren't very active in cold water and they do not move far or fast to chase down lures.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Winter catfish usually require some kind of bait...either soaked on the bottom of deep holes or added to jigs bounced slowly along the bottom of the deeper holes and slower runs.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The good news is that you don't have to fish stink bait. A small piece of crawler or a piece of sucker meat on a lure will make it much more attractive to the cool cats.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]There are lots of cats along the Snake River. Most dedicated cat chasers prefer to fish during warmer weather, when they can just "chuck and chance it" with a worm or minnow soaking on the bottom, while they snooze in the warm sun. But, if you are looking for a battle during cold weather, the cats are still there and they can be had. Just think deep, slow and flavorful.[/#0000ff]
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