Cold weather catfishing

[treddinwater]

I've never done real well with catfishing in cold weather, I know we've only got about a month of actual colder weather fishing left, but does anybody have any tips on what would be the most productive area to fish for catfish right now, mostly channels. Are rivers, creeks, or ponds the best to hit up right now? And what sorts of baits are popular right now? Thanks and tigh lines.

[ScottWiseman]

I would fish rivers and use shad guts or chicken livers...the bloodier the better. Just my two cents. I did well on them the other day at the White River.

[fishmania]

I would fish the rivers find a deep hole if you can if you have a fish finder go back and forth over the hole intell you find fish or under water structour go above the fish and anchor cast to the fish good luck

[treddinwater]

Thanks for the replies, I've already got a couple spots in mind to try down on the River. Now I just gotta go get some bloody baits...

[ScottWiseman]

Went today (Sunday) to the White River for a few hours..used shad and shad guts...my son caught this 3 lb channel:

[treddinwater]

nice cat scott, i'm getting catfish fever real bad, i went to the river yesterday for a while in the afternoon and had some wheatys with me and i stopped off at the ravenswood bait and tackle and went in to buy some shad guts, but there was nobody in there at the counted and i hollered but nobody ever came and the sign out front said it was open so i left without any catfish bait and just went after carp. ended up getting a solid 8lber just before i was gonna leave.

[ScottWiseman]

Do you live near Ravenswood? I live less than 2 minutes away from there off of 52nd and Keystone..... Where did you get the 8 lber at?

[treddinwater]

I live about a 10 minute drive from there, I was fishing just below the Monon Bridge there near the Art Museum.

[georgie]

i live in beloit wisc and like to go catfishing aqnd was wondering if any body had any hints to cold water fishin on the rock river behind the high schoool:cool:

[treddinwater]

Welcome to the BOC Georgie. I don't know if I can help you too much with your question about the Rock River, you may want to try and post that on the Wisconsin board, or if that is by chance the same Rock River that runs through Illinois also, you can try and post something there about it. I do know that the Rock River in Illinois holds some monster flatheads. I have done my fair share of catfishing also on the Fox River near Cary, Illinios where my Grandma has a river cottage and I can tell you that you can catch channel cats up there year round and can get into some decent flatheads in the summer. One of the best trips I ever had up there was in late November/early December just a few years ago where we ended up catching something like 20 channels in one night right in her backyard. I would go back and read some of the suggestions on this thread and try out the more bloody baits and baits with a lot of smell to them. Good luck.