By: Sawyer
The lady & I made a road trip up to Wisconsin, & then to Minnesota for a few days, last week to go to a wedding & to surprise our families. Luckily I managed to make it out fishing a couple nights as well.
We made two trips to a stretch of the Yahara River in Madison, WI & tossed 3/8 oz. jigheads paired with various colors of Vortex Shad on both outings. We concentrated on working rocky shorelines between docks. The average water depth in these areas is 2′-5′.
The technique of choice was finding an underwater rock pile within 10′ of the shoreline (generally even closer than that) & crawling the jig over the piles & letting it fall down into the crevices created by the rocks. These fish eat almost like a crappie, in that they do not usually hammer the jig. Instead, they lightly bump it, which makes setting the hook at the right time particularly challenging. Getting them out of the rocks is another challenge in itself, but man is it fun!
Really miss jigging for these cats when I’m down here. Has anyone tried this technique (or a similar one) & found success on big cats in the rivers in the Pensacola area?
Tally for the Two Trips: Total of 18 channel cats
Me: 13 channel cats ranging from 29” & 10.2 lbs. up to 36” & 21.4 lbs.
Bryce: 32.25” & 37” channel cats
Mike: 28.5” & 32.5” channel cats
Kyle: 32.25” channel cat
Troy: Nada
Tight lines everyone.