When do most big cats in general, go to their wintering holes? Ill be rigging some suckers on the river for walleyes but thinking if their is a chance of wrangling with a big flat I might switch up my gear a bit to be fair to the big guys. Don’t want to fight a fish from shore for 2 hours with my 8# line. Fishing the upper, shallow rocky sections of the river. I guess their is always a chance, but maybe less nowadays? Thanks. 
They are in their wintering areas now.
I would down size from the normal summer time sucker. Get it in the right spot with the right fish and you’ll have a sluggish (for a flathead) fight.
They’re still biting on raps I’m told on P4.
There was a 40 and a 46 that went under the knife over the weekend.
They are not something I want to target now, but figured if their was a decent chance of getting one I’d switch it up. Ill try for them next summer again, only one this year was about a 15″er but cool to get that first one out of the way. 
Quote:
There was a 40 and a 46 that went under the knife over the weekend.
Tho I Do NOT fish for cats by choice,I sure hope that was surgical knife 
Sorry if I steal this post…
Do channel cats do the same thing,head for the deepest holes? I fish the Chippewa River and there are about 1 billion and 3 small cats in the river,giver or take 2…I think my muskies feed on them so if I can find the small cats,I might be able to find A muskie…I was also wondering if they stage in the main channel,20′ of water or so??? THANKS for any help!!! These darn muskies have me completely confused,more than usual! 
Paul
I got all the info I need, so steal away. I know during the winter I have an outside bend I can fish from shore that always puts out some cats, mostly little. The front part of the hole at the bend holds smallies, the middle of the hole to the deep edge that goes into 15-20′ holds the cats. If a front is coming through seems it pushes all of them up to the middle of the channel where the current is front part of the hole.
The last 5 flatheads i’ve gotten have all come on cut bait when sturgeon fishing. This one was 11 days ago.
I think they are still chasing shad but once that water temp starts to slip into the 40’s they will look for a place to nap. I may get one more trolling trip in – I’d like to see if they are still active.
I was on the St. Croix last Friday night and caught one channel and one flat. Both in 45 FOW and on crawlers. Water temp was 57.7 degrees. Just south of 94 bridge. I will be going out on the Mississippi on Sunday north of CR dam for the last outing of the year.
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