Flatheads on Plastics?

I might be out of my mind on this one, but I am strongly considering making a couple trips to directly target flatheads on plastics just to *see what happens*.

Earlier in the week I was on pool 4, and caught my 1st flathead of the year on a paddle tail, it wasnt a large fish(4 pounds?), but it was a flathead. Yesterday while fishing the Minnesota river, I hooked into a monster of a flathead on a mimic minnow(glorified beetle spin) fishing white bass. I lost the fish before seeing it, but the catfish jelly on the line after the fight left no doubt to what I had hooked, and the fish hit the bait. Less than a week ago another 40+ pound fish was caught by Dark30 on the MN river when he was fishing white bass.. once again, he was tossing a jig. Earlier this season, a 20# channel cat fell for a large plastic jig in my boat.

This is far more than a coincidence. I know its very common for pool 4 walleye fishermen to hook into them, and it happens to be larger plastics on jigs are some of the most common presentations the fish are taking.

Fish are being regularly pulled out on plastics at the same time we *catfishermen* are drowning live and cut baits having no success while flathead fishing(early and late season).

It makes sense to me. The plastics are mimicing(sp?) smaller profile baitfish in key feeding locations. A 4″ worm might look like a mouth full for a walleye, but its barely a toothpick to a flathead. Downsizing bait presentations in cool water for all gamefish species is very common, why shouldnt it be for flatheads, we already downsize for spring channels.

So… where do I go from here? Directly targeting large flatheads with plastics.

This is my plan I am going to start with. I am going to take 2 heavy spinning rods with me on my catfish ventures for a while. One I will have rigged with 30# power pro for easier casting of light baits. I will rig that rod with a 1/4-1/2 oz jig and a 4″ ringworm, or paddle tail lure. The 2nd spinning rod will be rigged with 65# power pro for a bit more abbrasion resistence and still castable. I will rig that rod with a larger 1-2 oz jig with a 6″ grub/twister tail type lure that will allow me to fish deeper, or faster water.

In theory, when I pull up on a new spot… I will fan cast the area a few times and slowly work the bottom and structure with the lightest jig 1st, then switch up to the heavier jig to see if that entices anything the smaller jig didnt… after that I will put out the usual live or cut bait presentation.

I am confident there is fishing opportunity out there in front of us that we havent been capitolizing on. These are efficient preditor fish, why are we only fishing them like oversized bullheads? If this works, this could open a huge window in targeting flatheads. Who is to say we couldnt be effective drifting or vertical jigging over the deep holes in the daylight hours with large plastics?

Am I just out of my mind? I am willing to bet others can now see I have the yearly flathead itch!

I imagine it would take a lot of patience, but what kind of flathead fishing doesn’t? The real challenge will be keeping your confidence up and picking the right rod/line for the job. I’ve heard of specific times/spots for walleyes that yield flatheads on plastics on a semi-regular basis, even during the summer. And I’ve had them in my boat up to 30# on k-grubs while walleye fishing. Plastics are great multi-species baits … why not flats?

I have got serveral nice flats on 3/8ths and 3 1/2inch white little fishy rubber minnows every spring.I think they look like the shad here on p4.

And Dave as the water warms up start using those muskie sized plastics. That ought to work too!

dd

I’ve caught flatheads on flippin’ jigs in deep water w/timber. nothing huge, but cats none the less.

I was kind of thinking the same thing. I was going to start a post to see if there was any pattern to where and what guys were using when they “accidentally” caught flatheads. You are spot on with sizing down in the spring and fall. That’s when these boards you see the walleye/bass guys with photos of monster flatheads and they are moving and using small bait. Wouldn’t it be nice if you figured something out Dave that would extend our season?

The water is 55 so the ollies are fattening up for the spawn in a few months. Time to get out.

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And Dave as the water warms up start using those muskie sized plastics. That ought to work too!

dd

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Thats exactly what I am thinking. The water is warm enough now at 55 degrees. There seems to be a *magical week* in May the flats generally start to bite here(take any kind of bait offering), but what I think I am learning, its not beginning of the bite, its nothing more than the successful start of traditional flathead fishing… or the time when the fish annualy come to almost all predictable areas to feed.

The fish are already using some of these predictable areas, but they are not feeding in a predictable manner. I am finding in many areas, we have last years babies all stacked up(channel cats and sheephead) which I have to assume are providing a great forage base. Its very possible, maybe even probable these fish are more willing to *chase* right now while they’re in feeding mode. A big jig just may be way too much to resist dancing around in front of their face.

I was doing oonline research and I have located a good assortment of soft plastics.. man they get expensive! I have found 7″ shad bodies, and 7″ & 8″ grub bodies(8″ grubs are more than 1″ in diameter) with prices ranging from about .80 cents, to $2 each body. Jigheads (3/4 – 3 oz)look to be from about .75 cents to $2 per head on average… realisticly, the big jigs are going to be about $3 bouncing through the snags Heavy line will be a must along with a good hook file. I might play around with some other ides with large plastic worm hooks and egg sinkers to reduce the cost if they snag up less and still work.

So are you thinking vertical jigging out of a boat with the big stuff? You’ll have to keep us posted on how this goes. And can you imagine the size of the accidental walleyes you might get?

dd

I have a buddy who fishes on P4 for flatheads alot and the one thing he mentioned using was 6″ swimbaits.Storm baits were what he uses most.Verticle jigging the deep holes in and around the heavy current.He would take a bait and cut a slit in it through the middle of the body and put something with scent inside the bait.I wouldnt even call it jigging,more like hovering 12″ off the bottom.It is not a numbers game but he catches some real hawgs.

Flathead fishing isnt a *numbers game* anyhow around here. If you get 3 fish in a night you had a good night(not counting babies). Anything that could potentially add a fish or 2 here and there is welcome. I have had success in the past fishing the deep holes by day with live bait, if the jigs are effective… who really knows what may come out of the deep.

I thought about the scent thing. I will give them a try both ways. I can easily get some *shad juice concentrate* the next time I go out harvesting shad… it would make a nice dip as long as I kept it cool. That scent doesnt go away. I have afeeling the scent may be insignificant on a moving bait. The plastics create a lot of vibration, and strikes might be impulse strikes.

I will play around with it for a couple months and see what happens. If it works, I’ll try to figure out a pattern.

Funny you brought this up Dave…great minds think alike!

This winter I was thinking that there are way too many walleye guys getting into good fish….and it’s not fair.

Custom made for Briank by the famous Bucktail Wayne.

The first two are in 8 and 12 oz sizes…made specificly for fishing deep holes during the day.

Esox jigs and Reapers. I have used the esox jigs with suckers with some good action. This is a good tactic to use in the big hole below a dam. The ones I have picked up on paddle tails have been small but the Wi state record was caught on a walleye jig so it can be done.

check out http://www.jacksjigs.com
they have just about any jig and big plastic tails you might need very good quailty

Mudeyes will grab at plastic for sure! They will also run down a crankbait if they can see it good. The problem with the Minnesota River is “seeing it good.” I have caught a fair number of flatheads and channels on lures but it just dosn’t seem as consistent as I would like it to be….in this river anyway.

I get lucky once in a while ….

You forgot to subtract the weight of the glove…

Awesome fish!

Thats an awesome fish Kevin!

Now the tough part is going to be catching one larger than that this year!

Im all for trying to catch one larger than that! Heck, Im all for just catching one larger than 17 this year!

Awesome fish Dark30!

“First Flathead”….
Looks and sounds like you got the workout with the mud and fish…
I can see it was worth it.
Thanks for sharing with us Mate!!!!

Hey Dark!
Have you tried any big flourescent chartreuse or similiarly colored cranks on the MN?

dd

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A big jig just may be way too much to resist dancing around in front of their face.

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I don’t see how a big jig could possibly be more enticing than a lively bait. I do, however, know that I’ve never had luck with bullheads in cold water – luckily I have an alternative here in WI. In the fall I only use bluegills and my theory is that the bulls just aren’t lively enough in colder water. Suckers are probably a good coldwater option too. What may be the trick, though, is that by jigging you’re getting the bait to more places and getting it in front of their faces more often. No reason you can’t do that with live baits or cut mooneye either. I’ve tried some jigging but I usually just do it with the normal live bait setup with no swivel. But I’ve never had a jig with a stout enough hook to use with flatheads or I would use it.

Those are good points. Colder water means those cats probably aren’t moving much, so any bait just sitting there is not going to cross paths with any thing. I do think that like Dave said, downsizing is also important. I think a plastic / bait choice would come down to how fast you are fishing it. You probably get more visual movement from a plastic, where as a minnow probably only moves when you are resting the bait.

Who knows, but this has certainly sparked a good conversation and I hope one way or another we learn something. I’d be bummed if it proved fruitless though.

You guys just aren’t looking in the right places for your baits. LOL!

Musky Innovations Realfish Bullhead & Sucker Swimbaits.

Baits are 8″ long weighing 3 oz. They also make MAGNUM Bullhead & Sucker 12″ long weighing 6 oz.

At $16 a pop for the 8 inchers and $20 for the Magnums, I’m not going to be the guy to experiment with them. I have a hard enough time keeping a 10/0 Gammi out of the trees.

Is there a “real world” flathead application for these, I’m sure there is.

I think the key element to the whole thing is the jig is covering ground when a live bait is relatively stationary.

It goes against my own beliefs and comments.. I have always said “flatheads like a lively bait, but that doesnt mean they want to chase it”.. but the fish I have been hitting on jigs early this year, and probably every flathead out there accidently caught on jigs goes against that theory.

In warm water, I use a very short leader to restrict bait movement. I simply catch more fish on a short leader vs a long leader. In the early season, flatheads are occasionaly hooked when fishing jigs, but very rarely hooked on live bait presentations of any type… does this suggest that flatheads are more prone to chase when the water gets just warm enough to get the metabolism going, or is it just simply coincidence tat smaller bait is ending up in the right place at the right time more often because it is moving?

The 1st flathead I caught this year hit the jig as quickly as it hit the bottom in 45′ of water on pool 4. When the line stopped and I closed the bail, it was there… The big fish on the minnesota river took my spinner type jig on a pretty rapid retrieve at mid cast and I suspect the jig was at least a few feet off the bottom.

Those look awesome Hanson!

I dont think I will ever own one.. A bullhead stuck to a giant jighead would be much cheaper to lose

Hmm, those pictures make me think of these


I suppose I could do an experiment with these because I have a couple. Dave, you test the jigging and I’ll test the cranks. Needless to say, I’ll be working mine on sandy areas upstream from dense cover. I don’t know what difference having a lure look like a bully would make, unless I was doing a stop and go presentation.

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Hey Dark!
Have you tried any big flourescent chartreuse or similiarly colored cranks on the MN?

dd

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I have not myself….I almost always go with more natural looking ones. I was with a buddy one time who used a fire tiger colored crank bait to catch three nice sized mudeyes in just a little while. He was casting off the deep end of a sand bar and I was fishing shallower near a creek mouth for walleyes.

I think it was two years ago? the Minnestoa was at very low levels during May. I was casting a 2″ silver/black shad rap along some rip rap. I got a 7# walleye…20 minutes later I got a 32# mudeye off the same spot.

So are you thinking like me that the weird glowing color would not trip the trigger of a flathead? I am of the opinion that a little glow or super bright goes a long way.
For example I have caught numerous walleyes and a few channels on firetiger cranks; but I don’t think I have ever caught any on a completely chartreuse or glow crank.

dd

I caught a 40# flat on a illuminescent sucker minnow… I have no doubt a flat would take a glow lure.

Would you please explain how the sucker was illuminated as graphically as possible? Or am I thinking of a different sucker minnow?

dd