Tell us about your first flathead!!!

I got this idea from an old thread of Pug’s I stumbled upon looking through old posts in the Mississippi-Catfish forum (guess that was prior to the separate Catfish-Sturgeon forum…)

Pug’s original thread

So my friend Brent (aka as CATMAN in some of the other forums) was the captain on this trip July 17, 04 piloting his old Smoker Craft (’70s era). After catching some nice bait earlier, I arrived at the launch cranking Born Under A Bad Sign by Cream, ready for some action…

Brent took the lead on the strategy, which was a great move as we caught the fish on the first spot we anchored on. He was also kind enough to give me a good spot in the back of the boat. We set-up just above some bridge structure and started fishing. We fished some bridge footings, where there was some wood cover up against the face. There was a light but steady current moving through. We tried a few of the smaller sunfish below slip floats, but anchoring the baits on the bottom seemed to work best.

Here’s a pic of that first flathead, and the kind of cover we were fishing.

Reposted several times…

Prior to this fish, I thought we were turtle fishing.

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The great catfisher I was with…told me to hold it by the mouth..after dropping it once…I said to self…”this cat guy’s nuts if he thinks I’m going to put anything of mine in it’s mouth!”

Fifteen pounds of future in that fish. Changed my life…(can’t sleep at night during the summer!)

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As we boated through the busiest confluence (boat traffic) in the US at 10 pm on a Friday night, I thought to myself, “Wow there’s nobody out here!”

Oh the fabulous fox river??? My first 12 were 10-15 inches long one right after the other in Monticello, In. One of my last live bait trips in 77 or 78 I think. In 2008 I caught nice ones in semi private western Illinois lake with a Star Warped guy from Elgin, Il. Timmy needs to get back to fishing more.

@BK – thus the monster was born

Yes, that was the Fox river. You’re two-for-two as we were fishing at Elgin as well…

While I’ve fished several different rivers in IL over the years (Kaskaskia, Embarras, Mississippi, Rock, Kankakee, DesPlaines), the only two places I’ve taken flatheads are the Mississippi and the Fox.

Since started targeting flatheads, I’ve put by far the most time in on the Fox, so I guess that makes sense…

Shawn

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I just got the old, “If you only cared about other things as much as you do fishing” line the other day!

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Happy Valentines Honey! Somethings never change!

Here’s my first and my Valentine’s first. She always brings it up when we are talking about me fishing with other people. She talks about her first flathead.

I caught that mid summer. Must be the young of the year, eh BK?

The 1st FLATHEAD i ever meet was BK. ………rrr

Brandy Randy, put down that red solo cup, you’re being called for cleanup on Aisle #3.

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Here’s my first…

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Are you referring to the fish or the woman?

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Here’s my first…

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Are you referring to the fish or the woman?

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Both. My first flathead and my first true love that will last forever.

Aw…..

Oh, I see what I did there.

I wish I had gotten a better picture of my first FLATHEAD. That thing looks like an eel or giant world record stonecat. Something that special should be posed better. I love you first flathead.

I think I got her back in 2004? Wonder how big she would be today?

The story of my first flathead is not that exciting. I was fiahing for whatever on the Mississippi on pool 1. Didn’t really know that flatheads were up this far or that they got big. This guy got me to research it more and the rest is history.

Michelle’s flathead was a little more interesting. We were fishing with my brother and sister-in-law on the Minnesota. She appeared to get a bite and set the hook. She started reeling in the fish when she got hung up on a log. We tightened and let out slack several times to see if that fish was still on, but nothing.

We were pulling anchor in 15 minutes anyway, so we let it sit with the intention of unsnagging it when we were done.

We motored over to the snag and I started unwrapping the line that was wrapped around the hidden log under the water. When it was loose I told her to start reeling, there is a fish on. I felt it after unwrapping the last loop around the log.

She thought she was sooooo cool. She got the only fish that day I believe.

Ahh yes the first flat head! I remember that time oh so long ago.

Prior to catching this flathead I was out fishing for channels with some buddies a week before. We ended up catching about a dozen each! I was hooked so i started to read up on flat heads. A week later, my cousin gets married, I am at the wedding having a good time and my friends say were going catfishing! Dinner was done at the wedding and people were dancing so I decided to leave the wedding to chase the flathead I have been reading up on! (sorry cousin).

Low and behold someones clicker goes off. in comes a nice cheep head, and not 10 seconds after the sheep head hit the shore my line started peeling. Circle hook did the rest! In came a nice 30 lb flat head! Been dreamin cats ever since now!

ps don’t wear a suit to the river…..

I was fishing a wing dam for walleye with live bait. I had the rod leaning on the side of the boat while I set up another rig. Luckily I had my foot on the rod butt because that thing started to go, and go fast. I grabbed the rod and it was game on.

It ended up being about a 5 lb fish, but the anger that fish showed to me stuck with me. At the time I did not even know if it was a flathead or a channel, but I knew it had bad intentions and I liked that.

After that day I started to research catfishing, met the world famous BK for a trip and learned a whole lot, some of it even pertained to fishing, and from there the curse was deep.

It started to sound like a VH1 story from there. The addiction grew, I would get off the sauce for a while, but it always called me back. I am afraid that if I don’t find a support group, I may not be able to make it.

I was a couple of years removed from graduating high school and I decided to head out in pursuit of flatheads on a Friday night in mid May. My first trip targeting flatheads was out to the Geneva Dam on the Fox River. I got there a couple of hours before dusk, managed to catch some bait around the rocks below the dam, and started fishing. Looking back at it now, I didn’t know what I was doing, but I was fortunate. Not half an hour after I had set up for the first time I heard the sound of a clicker going off. I really didn’t know what to do so I picked it up and set the hook. After a good fight I had caught my first Fox River flathead. It weighed in at right around 18 pounds on my spring scale. My clicker went off probably another dozen times that night, mostly because I wasn’t using enough weight to keep my bait anchored in the dam. I did end up catching one more that night and remember driving home with a feeling of being completely content with life, having a feeling of oneness with the world that I had never felt before. It’s hard to explain, but that is when I was bit by the flatheading bug. The rest is history.

wow, you look so young in that picture! What in the heck has happened to us over the years…

That’s was sure a nice starter fish! Very healthy looking, pretty fish. Not a mark on him.

My first flat head is actually the one in my avatar picture, prior to that I’ve only ever caught channels. I dropped my kayak in at Log House landing at about 6pm..paddled up river and plunked out the usual few baitfish to chop.. at a bout sunset I anchored up on one of my usual sandbars and threw out a couple poles into the deep with cutbait.

After about 4 hours of reading with a head lamp, and a few annoying sheephead, the satisfying sound of a ringing bail and line zipping startled me from my book. Picked up the pole from the holder and set the hook…the resistance made me roll my eyes and think “great, another log”.. and as I started reeling in, there was little to no give, and I was pulling my anchor off of the sand bar.. I was just about ready to cut the line when I noticed it was going side to side a bit…so I pulled the anchor in and decided I’d float with it, and then… it became apparent it was a fish of some size, as once I was free from the sandbar and my drag was up a bit, the pole would bob to and fro and I was being drug all over.

After who knows how much time (could have been 2 minutes or 20.. the excitement usually dulls senses of time so I’d be afraid to estimate) I finally got my tow boat to the surface and was like startled to see a flatty instead of a channel (I didnt think flats would bite on cut bait, but I’ve learned different since). After a little struggle to get him in the yak with me, I had already floated past my landing, and was a bit uncomfortable with a big fish with spines sitting in my lap flailing about, so I lashed him up to the boat and yakked up river him fighting every inch of the way.

Once I got him there, filled the cooler and made my way home. Had to get the neighbor take a picture with my crappy phone at the time, and didn’t have a fish scale yet, so I did the bathroom scale, weigh yourself and then pick up the fish and weigh again. He came in at 16 some lbs(for all the accuracy of my method was worth), and made some tasty smoked kitty cat.