High Water Flathead Tactics

Enough rain already!! I’m the first to admit my flathead catch rate goes down some when the water gets way high. The big boys seem a little more difficult to locate for me. Anyone willing to share some of their hard earned high water successes and tactics? Some of the things I do are to look for the same type of water I have success with during normal flows, just have to search a little. Sometimes I’ll fish behind large snags that break up the current and fish inside bends. Do you think flatheads totally vacate their normal water snags to areas with less current or just adjust their position within the snag??

Great post Dirk! I’ve been dealing with this for weeks now. LAKE St Croix is a differant animal than the Miss. But this boy didn’t leave the Croix.

Tonight…or Saturday night depending on the lightning, I’m going to work the back side of a couple wing dams and points. Then try some shallows just past some breaks…Don’t know what else to do?
I’m hoping someone will respond with the silver bullit

Brian – We know that big flatheads are caught from Stillwater all the way down to Prescott. The problem with locating fish in that stretch of water is that the techniques need to be different from the normal fish the snags approach. The stretch of the St Croix from Stillwater to Prescott is almost like a reservoir. I have been doing a lot of reading on reservoir catfishing and plan on trying some of those techniques around the Bayport area. It will be tougher to fish because of the big boat traffic. From what I have been reading the key seems to be forage. The new In-Fisherman Critical Concepts 2 Catfish Locations book has some excellent information on reservoir fishing. Their book says that day or night the best areas in any reservoir are where a major channel pushes up close to a flat or where some unusual feature adds appeal to that part of the channel. That should target the neck-down areas. I know the fish are there – we just have to figure out the presentation part.

This is a good topic. First, this high water is not normal and I really shouldn’t be talking because I haven’t been able to stick anything worth while. In years past I have done very well in high water. Find the easy meal and you will find the cats. I usually switch to night crawlers on two poles and a bluegill on the other. When the water is high the river is loaded with food. I think they don’t bite as much because forage is easy to find. One year, I fished below a culvert that was running. No real structure or depth to speak of and the fish were there in numbers. I figure they had no reason to leave. The water was dirty that served for cover and the crawlers were being washed in by the thousands. I know because the commercial fisherman who had his nets there could hardly lift his nets for the crawlers in them and all the cats. I also think they stack up on slack water off the current. It is hard work to swim in heavy current all the time. Fish spots you normally wouldn’t and don’t sit for as long. They are active or not. Dirk’s inside bend flats have produced for me too.

I’ve been focused on finding the baitfish – they seem to gather on the eddy end of points, etc… where there’s a break in the current. I’ve fished a feeder area a few times and nailed the medium sized flats. This is the first year I’ve done well in high water. For me it’s all about the bait – finding it, that is. I’ve also got quite a few flats in areas adjacent to what is normally slackwater (which now has mild current). I think they definitely move out of their snags – I’ve caught some in entirely woodless areas. Got soaked last night – fished a “mudline” where one raging channel met slackwater – had seven hits, caught four. This one was interesting:

That’s a bite mark along it’s back – it had a matching one along its belly. I want to catch the one that did this! I see them like this closer to the spawn, but it seems early now. Whatever – it still obviously clamped down pretty good on this one.

Happy Hunting,

Matt

Matt…Big Louie wasn’t interested in your little bait…How much weight do you have to use for a flathead that size? Very interesting picture! Leaves you imagining the big guy…

By the way…Whiskerkev, you know everytime you mention gills for bait, Dirk looses another hair or two

Looks like Saturday night is going to be the night I find a flat on the Croix. 20 minutes at each spot from 10 pm until 6 am…hmmm…that’s only 24 stops and I’m not counting travel time.

Guess I’ll have to spend two nights out there…bummer

B

Between bluegills, wardens, magazine articles, and high water he should be stone cold bald by know. That doesn’t even broach the lousy sports teams up in the nort woods. I looked at the weather this weekend and decided to rewire my boat instead of making the roady to cat water. Next weekend…..

About the question of flathead locations in high water. Last night I picked up 10 channel cats in some St Croix backwater areas I normally don’t fish because they are too shallow at normal pool elevation. I think this high water (almost 7 feet worth) has turned some normally shallow locations into perfect water. There is really a lot of forage in the backwaters so those boys are just following them in. Lots of fish splashing and jumping in all the backwater shallow flats. I didn’t pick up any flatheads but the channels are back there and I am sure the flathead are too. A lot of timber I normally passed up is now perfect looking – if this high water holds for a while the big ones should be moving in and ready to pay the rent.