Flatheads during the day?

I have been chasin’ cats for 8+ years now and I now you don’t catch many flats during the day. I am wondering if anyone has a proven tactic to catching flats during the day. I have caught many small flatties during the day, but never any pigs. I would think fishing deeper in the same spots you fish at nigth would produce but I keep getting nothing. It is so frustrating to sit on a good spot during the day and get nothing, only to come back after dark and nail a monster

Yes you can get them. They rest during the day in cover or deep holes. They will eat but you have to drop your bait right in front of them. Fishing them directly in cover is a challenge, you could hook the fish of lifetime and not have any chance of wrangling them out of cover. I target outside bends where there are holes and barge washout holes. Another good place (especially south of Lacrosse) is where two running sloughs come together. If you don’t get bit in 10 minutes move to another spot. They don’t run much during the day so you have to pay attention for a pole bob. Another spot to try is the holes next to or beside channel markers.

I have caught lots of monsters during the daylight.. noon can be a great time to be fishing. Deep holes and deeper snags are the key. Its pretty easy to fish the holes, an dfthe fish do move around some and sitting the fish out if you know they are there can be somewhat effective. Fish will use shallow snags in the daylight hours, but they will hold tight to the cover. If you can manage to get a bait hovering in front of them, they will take it.. but if you feel anything other than your bait you better be prepared to rip the fish out of there.

I have had success in snags during the day.. boat nearly bumping the snag and *cane poling* the fish out.

Its very frustrating and you lose a lot of tackle, but its more exciting than a musky on a figure 8 if you hook up and succeed in landing the fish.

I managed to try some daytime flatheading this year and had some “moderate” success. The others are right about getting in the snag and putting the bait right in their face. This can be very difficult to do and is not very fun. Not to repeat anyone, but you will lose a ton of tackle. On the other hand, there are some areas that are much easier to fish where flatheads can be active in the day. If you can find these spots I would suggest fishing them first before you head deep into the woods. Current breaks and wingdams are some places to look. I found a decent spot this year where there is really no cover to speak of. Its just a slight current break near a drop off into the channel, nothing obvious. But every time I’ve fished it except once, I have caught flatheads there in broad daylight. If the fish are there and feeding, you should get bit in 5 to 10 minutes, tops. Force yourself to try a dozen or more spots in a day and even try areas that dont necessarily look that good. Looks can be decieving. One of my favorite flathead spots is probably the last place many catmen would look. I just happened to stumble across it when I first started fishing cats. Try not to worry about fishing the wrong spots. Fish them and if a flathead isn’t in the boat in 10-15 minutes, move on. The more water you cover, the faster you’ll find fish. Good luck!

I still have better luck at night though…

I am not so sure that all flatties hang out in deeper water during the day. I’ve caught a lot of pigs while pulling cranks for walleyes in pretty shallow water (4-6 feet). Most of them are caught along rip rap.

When more inactive during the day, would one be better off with cutbait than live???

FlatheadWI has some ideas on this daytime approach on his website. Hey Matt – Isn’t this what you call “Dinking and Dunking”? Is this the approach you use for daytime flats?

I’ve taken quite a few flathead (“mudcat”, as well call them back in SE Minnesota) by accident while walleye fishing on the Mississippi during the day. I believe that mudcat sometimes feed actively in daylight, at least on the Mississippi, because quite a few of those accidental catches came in front of wing dams in less than ten feet of water–sometimes as little as six feet, and in the middle of the day with a bright sun overhead. That does not seem like a place for a resting fish to be hanging out.

Down around Pool 17 where I live now, I make it a point to bring a few chubs, green sunfish, or bullheads (all legal bait in Iowa) along with me in the summer. If the walleye aren’t biting during the day, I switch to channel cat fishing, but I have learned it is worthwhile to anchor on the tail end of a wing dam, and drop a large baitfish into the scour hole behind it. It is not unusual for a flathead to hammer it. Those fish probably are inactive, as other people said, but when you put something right in front of them they hit it.

Thank you guys. I am itching to get out and try some of your ideas and tactics. It does sound very frustrating fishing wood cover like that though. I’ve got a 5′ pool cue of a rod that I built out of an old broken muskie rod. I am thinking it may have the backbone to pull a fish off the bottom, we’ll see I guess. Thanks again guys.

They are not always on the bottom when they are in snags. They can be anywhere in that snag.. back to a trunk of a tree, laying on a submerged log, etc. Most of the time when you get hit when fishing within a snag, your line does not have a chance to hit the bottom. I assume the fish that hit up higher are somehow suspended in the snag, but they might just be ambushing the offering from below. I am sure them little tiny eyeballs light up when a bait is struggling above their head and daylight above the bait has to show the siloette(sp?) well.

I have done this type of fishing many times, but I dont do it anymore. It can be a lot of fun, but it can be very frustrating on the same note. Bring lots of extra tackle, and expect to do a lot of re-rigging. There are others out there that have mastered it, I have done it enough to know it can be effective.

You might want to try a float. Get a big bobber and enough weight to make the line below the weight as close to vertical as possible. That way you might have better control and a good visual to put the bait close enough to entice without getting snagged. Plus, you’ll see a strike and maybe be able to turn her before she gets turns back into the cover. You’d have to be directly upstream from the cover to do this, which means you’d have to be in a boat.

pug.. the float idea wont work unless its a snag free structure. The only way your going to pull a fish from deep in a snag is having your fishing rod verticle as possible to the bait… its pretty simple in theory… if you feel anything that you suspect is a fish, set the hook and keep on pulling. You have to have the fish out of the snag before it knows its hooked.

A float is going to be wrapped around the snag in an instant. Think of it as verticle jigging flatheads.

Thats exactly what I was thinking, vertical jigging for cats. I am thinking of making a couple giant jig heads. I have a custom mold for 2 or 3 oz mushroom style jigheads that I can also put a weed guard on. I am figuring a bullhead on a jig would entice ole’ whisker face to come out and play. I am heading down tomorrow I will post how I do.

I have seen Doug Stange do it on one of my DVDs, however no matter what you do, you are going to lose a lot of tackle. You’ll probably miss a few fish too. I just thought I’d throw that out there.

This thread seems to have run its course, but I thought I would note that I caught a flathead yesterday on Pool 16. This fish hit a crawler harness fished in about fifteen feet of water out in front of a wing dam, and hit it at about 5:00 in the afternoon on a sunny day. Again, this happens fairly often.

Sometimes those crazy flatheads think they’re a walleye!

I was going to say I also saw Doug Stange and Steve Hoffmann from infisherman catch them during the day. They like most of the guys here say the same thing. Get that bait right in front of the fish. They usually wont pass up a free meal, if they do they must of just eaten.

Im going to try to fish for them during the day this year, maybe I’ll learn a thing or two.

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Im going to try to fish for them during the day this year, maybe I’ll learn a thing or two.

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Yes.. things like.. the fishing is usually more consistent at night

If you can get out and get a line in the water, its worth fishing. Flatheads are catchable 24/7

The latest issue of Fir-Fish-Game has an excellent artical on fishing flatheads during the day. It is well written.

Who wrote it RR?

I am not sure who wrote it. I don’t have the issue here. I read it while I was waiting for my wife –shopping– this past weekend.