Ice-Out Channel Catfish

Ice-Out Channel Catfish.

 By Nick Johnson.

It might come as a surprise to many anglers to learn that channel catfish go on a feeding rampage almost as soon as the ice starts to melt in many of the reservoirs or lakes containing shad and other baitfish. These water bodies experience routine winter die-offs like this every year that affect a portion of the shad and baitfish population. The catfish take full advantage of this new food source, freshly released from the ice that trapped them late in the winter. Not only can the fishing be great, but there’s a chance you might be the only angler in sight!

In many of the reservoirs in our state, Saylorville, Red Rock and Rathbun, there is a period of time after the ice goes out where channel cats feed heavily on primarily dead shad killed throughout the hardwater months. This often begins when there is still ice that hasn’t fully melted off the lake yet and will last for a week or even a few weeks post ice-out. The strategy is really very simple and about the only thing you have to contend with is some potentially cool temps outside. Totally worth it for a bunch of hungry, hard fighting cats.

Where to Find Them
Because these catfish are actively targeting dead baitfish, those baitfish are at the mercy of wind and currents and will be pushed around accordingly. The good thing about this style of fishing is it can be done both from the bank or via boat. If you plan to really cover some water and spend a day finding the hottest bites, a boat is probably the best avenue as some of these reservoirs are huge.

Areas of special interest would be wind blown shorelines and points, or areas where a small amount of current pushes up against and bank or point. Take a look at the wind direction for that day and plot out some likely concentration points by using a satellite map. I really like to use the mobile app Windy because it not only shows the current wind direction and forecasted direction and speeds, but also overlays that with a satellite map and gives handy little wind direction motion streaks to aid in dialing that in.

Start off fishing shallow, close to shore and spend about 25-30 mins in each spot until you find actively feeding catfish. You will know if the fish are there or not because the bites should come pretty quick. Make a few different casts along the area and in varying distances from shore. This is easily done with two rods or utilizing the optional third line license to fish three rods. If you have a friend that wants to join in the adventure, the more fishing rods soaking bait, the merrier.

One other good spot to keep tabs on would be bridges, especially if they have a little bit of current moving through them. Smaller bridges on the upper portions or narrow portions of lakes and reservoirs being an ideal setup. Early spring cats will often position themselves on the down-current side of the bridge, just from the main flow to the edges. The flow may not be much , but if there’s a lot of rain the raises the water levels and increases the flow these spots can be on fire, especially as the water warms a little. These areas are also pinch points for cats traveling to shallower, warmer bays from the main water body.

The Rig
The rigging for this style of fishing is very simple. Generally speaking, there are two good options that work well for this type of application. One is using a slip float to present the bait just off bottom and letting it drift in the wind. The other is just a standard bottom rig, similar to a Carolina rig style setup used for bass.
For the slip float, about the trickiest part is setting the float to carry the bait a few inches to a foot or so off the bottom. Channel cats won’t hesitate to strike baits up in the water column so even if you are a couple feet off bottom it’s not a huge deal, but six inches to a foot up is best. In most cases though you will be finding these cats in shallower water, say 2-6 feet. Below the float, run a split shot about 6-12 inches up from a small circle hook or bait holder hook. Make sure the split shot is big enough to sink the bait and stand the float up easily without sinking the float. Cast this rig in such a way the wind direction will take it into shore or along the shore, feeding line as needed.

The bottom rig one is also very simple. I like to use a lighter weight since there is generally little to no current outside of what is generated by the wind. Something like a ¼ oz egg sinker works just fine. Attach a bead as a sinker about a foot up from the hook, looping the line through twice to ensure it wont slide when you whip a cast. Then use the same style bait holder or smaller circle hook. If I’m not getting a bite within 5-10 mins I will reel in and position the cast slightly deeper or slightly further down the shore until a pattern emerges.

For a rod and reel, you don’t need to get crazy or use beefed up tackle like you would use going for flatheads or blues. Often the areas on these reservoirs have few snags outside of chunk rock which brings up a good point in term of line usage since these rocks can be very sharp. I generally avoid using braided line or fluorocarbon when there are rocks like this potentially present.

My favorite setup for cold water spring reservoir channels would be a medium-heavy or heavy spinning rod setup, around 7’ in length and a quality reel with good drag. I’ll pair this with 8-12# monofilament which is about perfect for most of the channels you will encounter and still allow for long casts. A thinner line also helps with light biting fish if they happen to be in a less than ravenous feeding mood.

The Bait
It may seem obvious here but in these dead shad conditions, naturally you would want to gather what the catfish are primarily feeding on. Usually you can cruise along a windblown shore a little and find some dead shad to use for bait without too much effort. Rubber gloves help a lot in this situation in terms of stink. If you want to get really serious and technical you can even cast net some shad if you can find a school of live ones. I like to cut the head and tail off the shad and use the midsection. If the shad are extra-large, like five inches plus, I will then cut the midsection into two or more chunks. This time of year, you don’t need an overly large chunk of bait since most of the shad they are feeding on are in that 2-4” size range.

I almost always avoid using those salted shad packs you buy from a store, just never had good luck with them at all. If you cannot find dead shad, as this sometimes happens when you have a lot of seagulls and other shad eating birds present, there’s still hope. You can always just use crawlers, dip bait, shrimp, or other forms of cut bait and still do just fine.

As we near the spring thaw, and if you love to catch catfish, start thinking about poking around on the reservoirs in Iowa right after the ice comes off. Many towns in the state aren’t overly far from one of these bodies of water containing shad which is pretty handy. As always, be safe on the water and good luck this spring!