# Bay is hot



## topwater (Dec 22, 2004)

Sandusky Bay gave up lots of nice channels all day Sunday. We were actually bass fishing and caught two channels on a spinnerbait and one (10lb) on a chatterbait before we decided to target them. Fun day!


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## mastercatman (Jan 30, 2005)

Thanks for the report! Sounds like a fun day! I know it seems a bit early IMO but, that looks like a male that has been doing a bit of spawning already?? Catfish are very rough on each other during the spawn and generally show lots of battle wounds from their frisky counterparts! How many did you catch? What did you use once you decided to target them? Were they in the boulder piles/breakwalls at all? Good Fishing!


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## M.Magis (Apr 5, 2004)

mastercatman said:


> Thanks for the report! Sounds like a fun day! I know it seems a bit early IMO but, that looks like a male that has been doing a bit of spawning already?? Catfish are very rough on each other during the spawn and generally show lots of battle wounds from their frisky counterparts! How many did you catch? What did you use once you decided to target them? Were they in the boulder piles/breakwalls at all? Good Fishing!


Sounds like a fun day. A 10 lb channel on a spinnerbait, that's sure to wake you up. Right now is spawning time for channel cats. 
The wounds aren't from females, they're actually caused from laying under structure while protecting eggs/fry.


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## FISHIN216 (Mar 18, 2009)

Bay is so awesome for big channels

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## topwater (Dec 22, 2004)

ya know, that one in the pic was the only one that was really beat up like that which was kinda weird. We caught around 20! Once we decided to target them all it took was crawlers on a slip sinker rig. I'd say the biggest concentration were on little piles of rock but really they were everwhere. We even got back to the dock and threw out a line with gulp dough bait and had another in 5 minutes.


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## topwater (Dec 22, 2004)

here's the big one on the chatterbait....action shot!


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## FISHIN216 (Mar 18, 2009)

Awesome pic


topwater said:


> here's the big one on the chatterbait....action shot!




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## mastercatman (Jan 30, 2005)

M.Magis said:


> Sounds like a fun day. A 10 lb channel on a spinnerbait, that's sure to wake you up. Right now is spawning time for channel cats.
> The wounds aren't from females, they're actually caused from laying under structure while protecting eggs/fry.


Well, I know the channels down here are just getting going on the spawn, I have caught a few recently that are still full of unripened eggs. I figured Lake Erie would be a bit behind us. If I may say this....Catfish have "rough sex" if you will. I have spent the last couple of years working with them at an aquaculture facility and they definitely beat each other up in the milk cans! They do get plenty of wounds on them though as a result of where they choose to spawn in the wild. If I had to guess, they are just staging up around spawning areas at this point in the bay. 

Great fish and thanks for the info and report!


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## M.Magis (Apr 5, 2004)

mastercatman said:


> Well, I know the channels down here are just getting going on the spawn, I have caught a few recently that are still full of unripened eggs. I figured Lake Erie would be a bit behind us. If I may say this....Catfish have "rough sex" if you will. I have spent the last couple of years working with them at an aquaculture facility and they definitely beat each other up in the milk cans! They do get plenty of wounds on them though as a result of where they choose to spawn in the wild. If I had to guess, they are just staging up around spawning areas at this point in the bay.
> 
> Great fish and thanks for the info and report!


Do they get open sores from the females? I always figured they would mostly get just some bumps and bruises, but can't say I've actually watched them. This is roughly the time period I use to fish for them on the banks down this way, maybe about a week late. Given that many were caught off of rock piles, that would make me think that at least some are spawning up there. Of course, not all go at the exact same time. Either way, it can make for a fun day of fishing.


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## mastercatman (Jan 30, 2005)

M.Magis said:


> Do they get open sores from the females? I always figured they would mostly get just some bumps and bruises, but can't say I've actually watched them. This is roughly the time period I use to fish for them on the banks down this way, maybe about a week late. Given that many were caught off of rock piles, that would make me think that at least some are spawning up there. Of course, not all go at the exact same time. Either way, it can make for a fun day of fishing.


The open sores are generally bacterial/fungal infections that set in on the open wounds. The wounds are not always directly from the females though they do bite at each other. I would venture to say that many wounds on wild fish do come from the structures they spawn under/around. You are absolutely right about them not all spawning at the same time. It is definitely possible that some are already spawning up there! It is a function of temperature and some fish will spawn @ 68 degrees Fahrenheit while others may not get going until it hits 78 degrees. 72-76 degrees seems to be the magic range for most of them though. If you can get baits presented to them, it is a blast!!! Also, to head this off before it comes up....surface temps have been high and that is what most people are getting on their fishfinders. Take readings down to 3-8fow to get a real feel for where the actual spawning temps are coming into play.


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## twistertail (Apr 10, 2004)

I was up there Sunday fishing at the ramps at Dempsey and the cats were on fire! We started out fishing for white bass at the lighthouse in Marblehead and only got a few. The wind was blowing pretty good so we thought we would try for some perch at Dempsey. We got there about 9:30 and by 11:30 we had 18 on the stringer and had thrown back just as many. It was really amazing the amount of catfish that were being caught. At one point I counted 14 people on the sidewalk, I was at the very end so I kept looking back and someone was always reeling in a fish and most of the time several people had one on. There were probably over 200 catfish caught in the time I was there!! At 11:30 things slowed way down, we only caught 3 from 11:30 to 12:30, so we left. I did catch 8 perch also, only 3 big enough to keep, and a few bullheads 4 or 5 small white bass, a couple white perch and a sheephead. Was a really fun morning.


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## FISHIN216 (Mar 18, 2009)

I have been there 10 times in the last 2 years and I have never caught less than 10 nice cats

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## katfish (Apr 7, 2004)

The causeway usually gets busy with catfishermen.
Sounds like ya'll had a good time!


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## twistertail (Apr 10, 2004)

I had a blast catching them on my ultralight perch rig!


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