Best time of the year

[Redneck]

I would like to hear what time of year you have the best luck?What the water conditons were (clear ,dirty, etc.)If the water was high or low. The best year I had Was the year of the hundred year flood. Just like to compare notes with everyone else.
Redneck

[Mackdaddy21]

For Channel Cats I would say early fall is probably the best. They will bite well from March through October. If you can find the deepest river holes, you can catch the heck out of them in winter.
For blue cats, most fisherman say winter is best. Fish the big, deep holes with good amounts of current.
Flatheads do not bite well in cold water. They are the only cat that really doesn't feed much at all in the winter. Channels and blues do. It's just a matter of location.

[camo_fish]

I like fishing spring early to summer, again in the fall, too. I guess, like you said, if you know where the holes are we are in there all year long.

[Jigwiggler]

     Channels are the only species I catch so I can't speak for the others.  For #'s, winter (icefishing) and spring account for the most fish.  There are bunched up at this time and if you can find them you can really catch alot.  For big fish, late summer and fall.  I seem to get my biggest at these times during the low/clear water conditions as fish feed up for the upcoming winter.

[big walleye]

That's interesting Jigwiggler. Out here in Manitoba during ice season you cannot get the channel cats to bite. I wonder why???

[Jigwiggler]

big walleye,

I got into them big time this past winter, I posted on the shanty about it.  Location is the key, I fish river system and found a small depression in a deep water area that was LOADED!!  Batteries went dead on the camera and went back on my next day off armed with fresh batteries but the ice was gone.  Don't worry, next year I will be armed with photographic proof of my findings.   They hit the same Buckshots and Pimples I was fishing with for eyes.  Didn't catch one on a Rap though??  Last ice seems to be the best.  Bringing a 10lb cat through an 8" hole, while fishing on 24" of ice with a light action walleye jigging rod is a riot!!  If I didn't have a 4' gaff I would have never landed one.

[TroutFishingBear]

 Didn't catch one on a Rap though??  b

SERIOUSLY??!?!?!?!?!? That's how I get the majority of them icefishing here! I also get them on anchovies on tipups. They are pretty east to catch, and, boy, they are fun!

But big walleye, they are very active in the winter, you just have to know where to find them. Find the deepest spot in your lake/reservoir/backwater and alll the fish within the area will be there! What fun!

Winter is the one time of year cats don't survive well out of water because they freeze in the sub zero conditions

[Jigwiggler]

I also get them on anchovies on tipups. They are pretty east to catch, and, boy, they are fun!

I found that cats are very quick to drop a bait on a tip up.  If you are not right on top of them and set the hook within the first 10' feet of line they take they drop it.  I think that those "Jack Traps" or whatever there are called ( the contraptions that hold your rod with tension so when a fish strikes it sets the hook) would be the cats a$$.  In PA we are now allowed 5 jig poles so I don't use tip-ups for them.  I place my rods in large,sturdy rod holders that can't be drug down a hole and don't spread them out much so I can stay right on top of them.  Double and triple headers are not uncommon so you can't spread yourself to thin.

As far as the topic of this thread, we are now entering the worst time of year for cats here in PA.  They are entering the spawning mode and will be rather uncooperative for the next few weeks.  After that though, LOOK OUT!!    Because the feed will be on!!

[TroutFishingBear]

I found that cats are very quick to drop a bait on a tip up.  If you are not right on top of them and set the hook within the first 10' feet of line they take they drop it. 

Strange, I use quick strike rigs so they kind of have a really good chance of hooking themselves, but usually they run of a hundred feet of line before I get to them. They do not seem to me to be fussy at all with dropping the bait. (then again, the quick strike rig...)

[Jigwiggler]

Strange, I use quick strike rigs so they kind of have a really good chance of hooking themselves, but usually they run of a hundred feet of line before I get to them. They do not seem to me to be fussy at all with dropping the bait. (then again, the quick strike rig...)

Yeah, I don't really get it either.  I've never really run into cats that wanted to let go of anything that tasted good once they got ahold of it.  That's OK though, once I got into them the action was so fast and furious jigging that i didn't have time for tip-ups anyway.

[Hookset]

I always thought that the spring/fall would be best.  But, after thepast two months of catting I have had in Upstate NY, I would take the nights of summer over all else.  Slightly fewer in number, but the quality has been fantastic.  Between 9 pm and midnight for me, with the prime time being between 10 pm and 11:30 pm.  Great year so far.