Setlining for flathead catfish on the Wolf

Think of your favorite, mouth-watering fish fry. What species comes to mind? Beer-battered walleye? Pan-fried perch or maybe crappies or bluegills? Perhaps you prefer a delicious ocean fish, like grouper or red snapper?

Chances are, you probably aren’t thinking of catfish. Unless it’s a Wisconsin fish fry with the big, ugly flathead catfish as the star attraction.

Most channel catfish are tasty, but they definitely have a fishy taste. Growing up on the Mississippi River for the first 20 years of my life, I ate plenty of channel cats, but they are not my favorite eating fish by a long cast.

I had to move north to Wisconsin and settle near the Wolf River before finally trying flathead catfish. I would put its firm, white meat up against any of my other table favorites listed in the first paragraph above.

Maybe it’s the way Robin Sayler and his wife, Heather, of rural Larsen prepared it, but I don’t think that’s the only reason it was so delicious. He removed the dark belly meat when filleting it. She combined the Cajun and regular flavors of Shore Lunch breading before rolling the cubed meat in it and then deep frying it in a huge skillet over an open fire.

We were sitting in the Saylers’ back yard, about 10 feet from an inlet of the Wolf River, before I popped that first chunk of flathead goodness into my mouth. Boom. The word “catfish” will forever take on a new meaning to me.

What’s more unique than this delicious fish is the way Sayler catches them. He’s learned the relatively unknown sport of setlining, which is more reminiscent of trapping than fishing.

Sayler credits Dan Rudebeck, one of the old-timers in the Boom Bay portion of the Wolf near Larsen, with teaching him this disappearing fishing method. They first became acquainted in the duck blind, then Sayler learned the tricks to turning long ropes and huge hooks into muddy-green gold: Beneath those frog-like hues is one of the best meats on the river.

Setlining has its own set of regulations and license. The setline also must be tagged with the tag provided, which is numbered to match the license number. Only rough fish, catfish and turtles may be caught and kept from a setline; all game fish must be released immediately. Detailed regulations on where setlining is allowed and other rules can be found here: https://widnr.widen.net/s/7fjpgsdz2j/setlinebankpoleelectronic2223

A long nylon rope is the main body of a setline. Large hooks (Sayler uses 7/0 size) that must have a ¾-inch gap or more between the shank and barb tip are required. The setline is anchored to the bottom of the river and tied between posts. One includes the setliner’s flag, which includes the license number. This allows game wardens to quickly identify the angler. A setline can include no more than 25 hooks.

A bank pole (also called a set pole) is set into the bank and can include only one or two hooks, with a minimum size of 3/0. Setline licenses are $11.25 for the metal tag attached to the flagged anchor pole; bank pole licenses are $3 and include five tags.

Specific waters are designated as legal for both methods of passive fishing. The season on the Winnebago system (which includes the Wolf, Fox, Shioc and Embarrass rivers) opens the Saturday closest to May 20 and closes Sept. 30.

Sayler prefers using suckers as bait on his setline, which he purchases from a bait shop. Those live bait must be at least 5 inches long on inland waters.

The cleverest part of his setline setup is the looped line trick he uses to attach or remove hooks from the main rope setline. Each hook is tied to a loop, which in turn is looped to additional loops tied in the 550-foot rope setline. Since setlines must be checked every 24 hours if hooks are attached (even with no bait), Sayler can quickly remove the hooks but leave the setline if he doesn’t want to check it for a day or more.

Sayler and other setliners contribute to the state’s knowledge of this species when they find and report tags that biologists place on the fish during hoop netting and electrofishing surveys, according to Tom Meronek, Oshkosh team fisheries supervisor of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

“This information is crucial, evaluating exploitation, movement and population metrics,” he said. “Anglers are asked to leave the tag intact if the fish is released but can still report the information.”

Flatheads on the Wolf have reached 40 years old. By age 5, they are about 20 inches long and by 10, they are 30 inches or more. A 40-inch fish is about 15 years old, Meronek said. The otolith, a bone in the catfish’s head, is used to determine exact age, but the fish must be killed to do so.

Sayler plans to teach his son the unique sport and, based on Everett’s grin, this tradition on the Wolf will carry on.

Ross Bielema is a freelance writer from New London and owner of Wolf River Concealed Carry LLC.