Catfishing Questions

I was sent this email with questions about Flathead fishing. I’m posting this here for two reasons. One so everyone can benefit from it and secondly, there is way more than one way to skin a cat…so to speak. Feel free to add to this.

1. At night, wing dams, below or above, second channel or main channel.

I only fish wingdams when the flow gets down in the 7,000 cfs range. It seems to me that the cats move into the main channels for the current or maybe the food the slight current brings to them. When I do fish the wingies, I fish the scour hole at the end first, then fish the back side and last half of the wing dam. I am talking the main channel. There’s only one closing dam on a secondary channel that I’ve fished. Never really did much good there…good place for big channels though!

2. Sloughs, fairly deep with lotsa of trees or shallow with trees.

We have a number of sloughs around our area. I know there are cats in there as Stickboy pulled a 44 out of one last year along with other folks reporting cats on crank baits too. This is an area that I would like to fish more of, just haven’t had the time to scout them out.

3. Sandbars, channels, second channels or sloughs. Should I be fishing deep drops or the shallows.

“Most” of my larger fish have come from shallower water…2 to 5 feet. But then again, Dan Thiem’s 58 pounder came from 18 feet of water. I spend more time fishing secondary channels because I’m out of other boaters (and their wakes) way. Many times fishing the front edge of an island on the secondary channel side. But I know there are fish on both sides again depending on the currant. Like all other fish, flats don’t like to work to stay on one place. The current is slower on the bottom of the river than it is on the top, add wood or rocks/bolders and they have a perfect resting spot while they wait for food to come by.

4. Bait, albeit not a great question because being from Wisconsin I can use Sunfish.

Being from MN, I can’t use sunnies…but I’ve heard they are wonderful flathead bait. I guess if I was allowed to use them, I would have half my rods with gills on and the other with bullheads. When the flow slows in August, I think I would use the same setup but using cut gills and cut suckers.

Again, this is the way I fish…there are many others that fish many differant ways in the same area. Please feel free to post them.

I am no expert, so I will relay something I recall reading this spring. About currents, flatheads prefer the shallower secondary channels, where blues and channels will prefer the main channels. This was from a study too and not a experienced fisherman’s theory. The only thing I would add to that is when the water gets as low and slow flowing as it was late last season, the main channel/current basically acts like a secondary current. Secondary channels will usually lose most, if not all of their flow and not hold fish.

sloughs are good but have to have current and bait plus some water depth.. top of my head 10 12 ft min. and of course jams. give me red tail chubs and green sunfish for bait. sunfish for a little slower flow. and redtails anytime. the 60 pounder holding in avatar came from a washout hole 12 ft deep surrounded by8 ft of water.

Catmando, Where did you catch that 60 lb hog out of?

Man I wish we could use sunfish…

The Stcroix

Sweet!!

That a different fish? Or did you change jackets?

LOL… different fish

#1 Wing dams… I have most of my luck just off the tip of wing dams where the current is funneled around the tip. Within 10′ of the tip seems to be a *fish highway*, high percentage type of spot. This only applies when there is some substancial flow.

#2 Sloughs … I dont fish them regularly. The only way I fish backwaters is when there is high water and flow levels. At that time I focus most of my attention to inlets and outlets, or secondary inlets or outlets with less flow that usually hold higher concentrations of baitfish. Fish are hard to pinpoint in large backwaters for me. I fish the highest percentage area and go for broke.

#3 sandbars, side channels, second channels.. much like answer #2, but I always search for the deepest water, and scout all the area around it. Often times the deep water is the daytime hole for big flats… figure out where the most likely place for them to feed in transiton to that deep hole. This also applies to river bends.. a washout hole on the outside of the turn, and a sand bar on the inside.. often big flats just move up out of that hole at feeding time to feed on the shallow bar, or the current seam/break in relation to that bar… quick easy meal.

#4 bait… live or cut sunfish can not be beat overall for flatheads. Big chubs are my second overall choice, bullheads work wonders where the fish want to eat them, suckers work pretty good when the water temps are still pretty reasonable(not 80).

I have very unorthadox tactics for chasing flatheads.. I dont fish the same ways as most and do quite well. Most of my fishing i in 15′-30′. Flatheads are top predators and they will relate to their surroundings. There is lots of info out there for general guidelines on how to pursue flatheads.. but keep in mind these are not *rule books*. If you catch a 35# flathead in 3′ of water under a log, or a 35# fish in a 40′ scour hole.. its still a flathead. Do what you can to find a few fish, try different things, and do what works for you and what is catching fish in the area you are fishing.

one thing i do believe is if your cacthing 5 to 20 lb flats in a spot move. if you want a big fish. most all the big flats we have caught over the years were caught right off the bat or right before light find their home.

Have never caught a flathead but would love to one day.