The New Craze: Catfish through the Ice

The New Craze: Catfish through the Ice

By Brad Durick

These days as winter sets in the angling crowd move into one of two camps. The crowd that locks themselves in the house for months and the crowd that gets excited for the cold weather fishing season. In the southern states over the past decade or so the blue catfish enthusiasts click into high gear for what they call the prime of the “big blue” season. While up north in the ice belt the rest of us kick into ice fishing.

Ice fishing in general has continued to grow with leaps and bounds over the past 10-15 years. The excitement for ice fishing is simply amazing anymore compared to the summer seasons. Most of the excitement is for species such as walleye, panfish, or pike. The new found fascination with catfish that is taking over the nation is now extending to ice fishing in the north as well.

Ice fishing channel catfish is nothing new in some circles. In fact, in Central Minnesota it has been quite popular for many years now. The idea of it is growing exponentially and it is spreading to other states including Iowa. One of the top questions I get asked when I am guiding in the summer is if “I catch these fish through the ice?” Unfortunately, I answer NO for a variety of reasons the main reason being that I simply have not put in the time.

I have not put in the time mostly due to life and the lack of daylight during the winter months. Now that I am a full time guide with the brunt of the winter off it is time to change this. It is time to get out and see if these fish do bite consistently during the winter months.

I also have plans to hit some lakes and reservoirs that are known for channel cats through the ice.

With that, I am the wrong person to tell you how to catch a channel catfish through the ice on my own even though I have extensively studied the subject. For the purpose of this article I contacted two great anglers in two Northern States who ice fish channel cats. Two anglers who are states away from each other yet both anglers fish for catfish basically the same way with a few minor twists.

James Love from Des Moines, Iowa is a long time catfish angler on ice. He primarily fishes in farm ponds and a couple central Iowa Lakes. His approach to ice cats is to find a ditch or creek that runs into a lake. He knows the catfish travel along the ditch or creek beds. He will then look for the edges and the shallow end of the creek to set up on the catfish.

He fishes in 15-20 feet of water generally at dusk or just after dark to catch these catfish that range from two to eight pounds. He noted that fishing catfish under ice you have to be patient as they like to “float up on the bait” and tend to “mouth the bait” before a very light bite in which you can set the hook.

In farm ponds, Love also likes to fish the low light hours of the day. He pointed out that these ponds are usually 20 feet deep at the maximum. He gets out to the edges of the deeper holes and moves out from there until he finds fish.

To catch these catfish Love likes to use a floating jig on a tip up with a large minnow. He also likes to set up a jigging rod the same way. He says that because the catfish take so long to make a decision to hit that you can’t jig rapidly but rather a low cadence or no cadence to get them to take the bait.

Eddie White is a bait shop owner and avid catfisherman from Billing, Montana. He fishes mostly reservoirs and the occasional pond for ice cats.

When he gets started on reservoirs he always starts to look for the old river channels that run within. He also likes to look at the inlets to the reservoirs. White says he researches the areas he wants to fish mostly before he even leaves home with lake maps that he has and with Google Earth. He is able to get the lay of the land so when he is on the water he can go right to where he wants to search for these fish.

Once on the water with a game plan Eddie starts drilling holes on these creek beds moving from the deeper part to the shallow edges so he has a depth range from six to sixteen feet deep. He then uses a glow jig set up on tip ups over the deeper water and jigging rods set up near the break lines where the more active and hunting fish should be.

“I don’t think people understand how finicky these fish can be,” noted White. He said sometimes you have to hold the jig so still to give them time to decide on the hit. This is why tip ups can be so effective. White said he really likes the Jaw Jacker product for this too where he can set his rod up and when the fish commits it will pop the tip of the rod up setting the hook and notifying you like a tip up flag.

Like what Iowa’s James Love said, the lower light times are the best times according to White. The cats get more active at dusk and into the night just like they do during the summer.

When visiting with both of these guys it is clear that catfishing through the ice is a highlight of the year both in challenge and achievement. They are leaders in the new rush to figure out the ice cats around the north and open up a new craze in ice fishing.

There is a new rage in the ice belt and it is catfish. Another challenge is becoming mainstream as catfishing continues to grow. Get out and give it a shot if you live in the north. I know it is high on my list and with any luck next season I will have an update to this article only with my own findings on what works and what doesn’t.