By the looks of the fish cleaning house at Everts Fishing Resort, a person would think it's the well known March walleye or November sauger bite. Folks from all over the Midwest are hearing about and wanting to cash in on the hard fighting action!

Don't have a boat? There's shore fishing in Red Wing and near Everts Resort. The fishing is fantastic from the head of Lake Pepin all the way up to the dam. That's 11 miles of cat fishing paradise!

Here's a quick "how to" if you haven't tried channel cat fishing yet. Grab your heaviest walleye rod or better yet a medium weight bass rod. Add a 2 or 3 oz "no roll sinker, a sinker bumper, a swivel, about 8 inches of leader made out of your fishing line that's 10 pound test or better and finish off your terminal tackle with a Team Catfish 6/0 Dead Red treble hook. I pinch down the barbs on the treble for easy hook removal.

My bait of choice this summer has been Sudden Impact fiber bait. With the small fibers mixed into this bait it stays on the hook much better and longer then regular stink bait in these warmer waters. Find a good current seam and make your cast. Many have been catching fish in the 5 to 8 pound range within feet of shore making this a perfect shore fishing bite.

Do not leave your rod unattended! Many many rod/reels have been lost to the river by channel cat anglers that say "I'll keep an eye on it!" These guys mean business. They are hard fighting fish that would rather take your rod for a swim then meet the likes of you!

How do the Mississippi River channel cats taste? I've had people that tried channel cat for the first time tell me "they taste better than walleye!" Prepared correctly, there's a slight sweetness to the taste that might make you a closet cat fishing person! Ol' Pete a cat fisherman from way back taught me his way of cleaning them that I'll guarantee you'll have a very hard time telling the difference between a cat or a walleye at the very least.

Filet the cat just as you would a walleye starting behind the rib cage cutting along the backbone. Flip the filet over and filet off the skin. Now clean off any red meat that was near the skin along with the lateral line. Place your filets in a pan covering them with water and hold over night in the refrigerator. The following day, clean off any yellow that appears. This is fat. Chunk up and coat with your favorite fish coating and pan or deep fry. If you like fish, you'll love channel cat prepared this way!

I do recommend using selective harvest. My choice has been to Catch-Photo-Release channels over 8 pounds and under 3 pounds. But I'll leave that choice up to you.

If your kids have out grown bluegill fishing but still need the action of sunfish, catfish is the perfect fish to target. Relatively fast action, a fight that makes many walleye angler say "I've got the state record walleye on!" only to find out it's a 3 pound channel cat.

Right now is the best time to dial in on some of the years best action!

Good Luck!

BrianK@in-depthoutdoors.com

651-307-8326