Cut and Run Flathead Fishing

Now this is what I am talking about. In this month’s In-Fishermen they cover using cutbait for daylight flatheads. I’ve seen some of the shows where they talked about it, but in the article they cover it all.

I am a guy who has little patience and staying up to the wee hours on the water isn’t exactly my cup of tea. Away from catting, I prefer fishing with lures because I am always moving and casting; Always doing something. Those who have fished with me for cats know that when I get restless, I will probably annoy the heck out of you by chattering the whole time either recounting previous trips or babbling on about where the fish should be and why. That is why this tactic is so appealing. Patience is not required and I can enjoy it during the day with the glorious sun shining. Running and ‘gunning’ during the day for napping flatheads.

For those who don’t have the magazine and/or are wondering the details, I will briefly summarize. Did I just say briefly?

You may have seen the show where Doug Stange was fishing for flatheads with cut sucker. What he was doing covered the presentation. We know that flatheads like to bury themselves in log jams during the day and become basically dormant. But as Stange was showing, even napping flatheads could be coaxed into biting if they catch the scent of an easy meal. This article takes it further saying to move the bait often giving the bait as little as 5 minutes where it is placed. Of course, always try to place the bait as close as possible to, if not in, the wood. You want to hit the entire upstream edge of the log pile by moving the bait a little bit at a time until you have worked it completely. If nothing happens, it is time to move. Also if you catch smaller channels, that is not a good sign either and you might want to move on right away.

The type of cover and structure that is optimal are woodpiles with a moderately deep hole under it with little current going through it. Yes, I said little and I think that is probably a big key.

That’s a brief summary, you can check out the rest for yourselves. I am not going to regurgitate everything. I mean, I just realized that my ADD has caused me to completely skip the final page of the article. I always assume in fishing magazines that if the page is mostly text, sans pictures or diagrams, it is the last one.

I haven’t done so well with cut bait for flatheads in these parts, but on some waters (Mississippi) guys have.

I think most guys who do well fishing daytime for flats are placing baits right on/in/around some type of prominent cover. In general, I think the closer in to cover you can place your bait the quicker you will get hit by a flathead defending its territroy.

I’ve had mixed experiences trying to run and gun (that’s a tired cliche these days) for flatheads, but sometimes like to fish that way with live baits fished on the bottom, or below a slip float. When I’m into moving around, I usually don’t sit more than 30-40 minutes on a spot with no action. Of course, if it’s a proven spot and I think some fish are there I’ll hang out longer.

And, you can poke and prod a live bait near cover similar to what they described for cut-baits. Sometimes, I’ll lift the bait a touch and set it back down, or move it back a bit, then drop it. Usually, I’ll try this on a “good” spot when it seems like the baits are being ignored. I learned that from guide Denny Halgren who likes to work the baits in that manner before reeling in the recast or rebait. He used to call it “jigging” the bait back to the boat.

I remember In-Fisherman did some article a while back talking about Dennis Steele and daytime flathead fishing. Definitely, you can target flatheads at home during the day. Daylight/dusk is my favorite time on the water, especially early in the season and in the fall.

Shawn

Sadly, running an gunning does not utilize the clonk to its fullest capabilities.

Read it on the way to Florida. It was a good read with a few things to try. It was nice to see some info from the Jordan, MN guys!

Recycled material???
http://www.in-fisherman.com/magazine/exclusives/if0703_BreakRules/index.html

Probably 5 or 6 years old

Dean Opatz is a great catfisherman and has been part of the Cat League I fish in every year out of Belle Plaine. The cut and run no doubt works and can put a ton of fish in the boat. You need to work hard at it and plan on losing a ton of gear.

Trust me, you don’t want to be the anchor man using this tactic

I haven’t read this month’s In-Fish but I’ve got Opie’s article from years ago tucked away.

I think the problem most of us have with this technique is we don’t understand how close is too close. I don’t think you can get too close, and I’m afraid close isn’t close enough, being “IN” the snag is the trick.

Guys like Opie who have it figured out know the sweetspot, the rest of us will suffer a major trial & error period to dial it in unless we hire Opie for a day.

Guess I still prefer the them come to us approach vs us go to them.

North American Fisherman and In-Fisherman have both done some features on daytime flatheading in their mags. If you’re so inclined to look up back issues within the past 4-5 years you may get some more info. The Wassink brothers from Iowa and a guy that fishes the MN somewhere were featured – I think.

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Recycled material???

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The problem with writing articles about catfish, in particular, is that it’s difficult to continue coming up with new material to write about. The trap good writers have to avoid is “manufacturing” new catfish patterns, which leads to articles like “Frosty Flatheads.”

That explains the numerous articles about clicker reels, longer rods, circle hooks, cut-bait, hooks, lines, sinkers…I’m still waiting for the great article about using sonar/electronics for catfish. Some guys like Jeff from Team Catfish really put those gadgets to good use, but I don’t recall a feature length article really getting into it.

Shawn

I was just wondering if it was the same article altogether. I haven’t read it yet.

Is it the same article that I posted?

It isn’t exactly the same article, but they do cover pretty much the same points.

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North American Fisherman and In-Fisherman have both done some features on daytime flatheading in their mags. If you’re so inclined to look up back issues within the past 4-5 years you may get some more info. The Wassink brothers from Iowa and a guy that fishes the MN somewhere were featured – I think.

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I talked to one of the guys from one of those articles in a chat room once and he explained it like you had to wait for just the right weather and maybe the time of year, too. It was a long time ago and he wasn’t real talkative. It would make more sense if they said it worked real good the day before the storm comes in, in early June.

And yeah, I think you have to really get in that snag more than one would first think. Articles about catfishing are all hashing old things and trying to make the sport seem like it takes no patience. Put your three nuts in a row and they just jump in the boat every time. It’s all so situational. You guys on the big water can do in a week what I can in a year. One lake up there has huge channels. And they eat stinkbait? I shouldn’t mention it because sometime this summer there will be an article “Stinkbait=Trophy Channel Cat Candy.”

Josh, it doesn’t say in your profile were you’re from…and I forgot.

Last fall, I was told by a walleye guy that I took out catfishing…”you only have ONE presentation??” This guy goes out fishing alone with 6 rods and we generally have one. He was amazed.

Talking flats, there has to be more than one way to target them…well, two ways…live and cut bait.

Well, I think in terms of bait, presentation, and bait placement.

For example anchored baits, float presentations, carolina rig, “old school” rig (split shot instead of swivel), jig presentation…

In cover, near cover, off cover, neckdown, sandbar, mud flat, cut bank…

And of course, live bait, dead bait, stink bait…

“That’s about how many ways there is to catch catfish.” Forrest Gump

And of course, the other important factors are season and time of day. Take every possible combination of the above factors, and you have 90% of catfishing articles ever written.

Shawn

I think the main reason I brought this up is that I don’t know anyone here who has tried this or at least done day fishing on a consistent basis. I know the answer to that already, your time is limited and you want to optimize your time on the water and fish when the odds are in your favor. That’d be the time of day, or should I say night, when they are moving and most active.

I thought the main reason you brought it up was to show off your new personal best in your avatar?

I jabber on here enough to where I don’t need a new thread for my PB avatar. That may have been my PB depth I caught a cat.

What has worked for me in the past fishing snags in the daytime is use a plane weedless jig tipped with your favorite bait leeches for me in the summer. Tie the boat right in the snag and drop my jig right down through it. Loose a bunch of fish but allso get a few in. Don`t beleive I could ever get a fifty out of a snag like this but pulled numbers of 20 to 30 lb fish. In my experience if they are there they will bite right now.

It’s been years and I didn’t realize I was homeless on here. I fish mostly on the Des Moines river. It’s about the size of the Minnesota, roughly. Maybe a little smaller, but it’s filled with rednecks and hooks tied to trees.

Back to the original subject, I also think it is a trolling motor stealth approach. I don’t know if that’s mentioned very often.

Sounds like the river I got my start on… lined with bankpoles. Come to think of it, those were ours!

That was a long time ago, I certainly am a big supporter of selective harvest/CPR these days