# inland lake cats



## westbranchbob (Jan 1, 2011)

kind of a newbie to catfishing.Always caught a few throughout the year but never really targeted them.Well after finally smoking a few and beer battering a few I find them wonderful tablefair so I now have a few questions.
1-how well does the fishing hold up on northern lakes into the fall?
2-I've been doing the best on large wild chubs,will this change as the water temps fall?
3-I've have found that I prefer flatheads and channels over blues but catch alot of blues,is there a way to target individual species?
Thanx a bunch in advance for any help,I kind of stumbled on to a great pattern this summer and would like to keep it going,my kids really enjoy them and they don't have to spend all day casting for a few fish.They are not as easy as everyone thinks to catch consistantly,definately a worthy gamefish.


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## Rod Hawg (Jan 13, 2011)

Blues/Channels eat dead baits mainly. Flatties will too but they usually eat live baitfish. Channels also can be caught on Crawlers, Minnows, Dip-Baits, and I've heard of them being taken on soap. I'd use certain baits to catch certain fish. Just curious. What lakes are you getting them in?


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## chris311 (Oct 24, 2010)

west branch is filled with nice channel cats and some flats i would just throw our a small blue gill or cut shad and the channels will come and maybe a flat


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## Rod Hawg (Jan 13, 2011)

Thats the lake I'm starting on. Didn't know there were flatties in there.


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## westbranchbob (Jan 1, 2011)

ya actually this is what got me really going on the cats this year,totally got lucky but I've done real well this season and was just looking for some adivice on what other tactics were.


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## JSykes3 (Oct 14, 2010)

If I remember right, didn't you get that off a swimbait?


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## westbranchbob (Jan 1, 2011)

ya I was fishing for walleye,from what I've seen on the boards this year there must be a decent population in the lake,but things got quiet as spring led to summer,maybe a turn on again in fall?Once again not really up on catfishing that much,but I'm getting there.


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## catfish_hunter (May 31, 2005)

Just wondering was that flathead released? Did you get a weight on it? Nice fish!


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## westbranchbob (Jan 1, 2011)

no I kept it,have eaten almost the whole thing,only have the tail meat left for the smoker.51 lbs.


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