Hooking More Flatheads

Hello everyone. I was just fishing yesterday at one of my favorite Iowa rivers and I was targeting flatheads. I had two nice runs on bluegills, but both times I missed the fish. I would retrieve my bait to find the bluegill with chewed up fins and scales missing down the sides, but no big flathead. I can catch big ones and have in the past, but there is nothing that quite erks me as much as missing a monster flathead. So, my question to all you flathead die hards, do you have any advise to increase you batting percentage on big kitties? I usually wait till he runs for a while, flip the bait clicker off and wait until I can feel him on the rod, but this seems to be failing me this year. Anyway, some advise would be nice!! Thanks guys!

I switched to circle hooks and have had good success. I still use the clicker but as soon as I hear it I’m on the rod and I just start reeling – no hookset. Works good for me – I know a lot of cat guys don’t like circles for flats but I like them. If you can use multiple rods I would recommend trying circle hooks on one rod to see if you like them.

I used to use circle hooks elusively and have done well but I switched to kahle a couple of seasons ago and have done even better. But as far as advice goes not much to say besides you win some/lose some. Only thing you can do is experiment.

You sure your weren’t missing some aggressive channels? How beat up were the sunfish?

The Great White Cat Hunter with roughly 20 years more experience than myself once said..”If you miss a cat, it’s because the hook isn’t large enough”. I’ve missed plenty on 10/0 Gammies.

What are you using for hooks Steve.

I have yet to try the Double Action hooks by Team Catfish…set the hook like a J or let them hook themselves like a circle…and large enough. But the jury’s still out.

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The Great White Cat Hunter with roughly 20 years more experience than myself once said..”If you miss a cat, it’s because the hook isn’t large enough”. I’ve missed plenty on 10/0 Gammies.

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And people scoffed at the 10/0 King Kahle

Technically speaking Ralph, do you bait your hook on that or spear your bait?

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The Great White Cat Hunter with roughly 20 years more experience than myself once said..”If you miss a cat, it’s because the hook isn’t large enough”. I’ve missed plenty on 10/0 Gammies.

What are you using for hooks Steve.

I have yet to try the Double Action hooks by Team Catfish…set the hook like a J or let them hook themselves like a circle…and large enough. But the jury’s still out.

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Ths size I’m using is 7/0 or 8/0. The style is an octupus hook from gamakatsu. perhaps I do need to put on a bigger hook.

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What are you using for hooks Steve.

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I’m using Gamakatsu 8/0 circle hooks. I’m going to play with a 2 circle hook cat harness a bit and see how that works. I like the idea of having a second stinger hook in the bait just in case that 1st hook doesn’t hookup or should slip off.

My guess is that you got some aggressive channels hitting and running with out taking the bait all the way in.

I started using the team cat fish hooks last year and my hook ups have been better.

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My guess is that you got some aggressive channels hitting and running with out taking the bait all the way in.

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I concur.

When a flathead eats, they got the bait, hit ’em right away. IMO… If you are missing them, probably wasn’t a flathead in the first place.

I’m going to play with a 2 circle hook cat harness a bit and see how that works. I like the idea of having a second stinger hook in the bait just in case that 1st hook doesn’t hookup or should slip off.

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I think that I like that idea as well. Perhaps let it float free from the bait like a stinger on a jig… I think I like that idea.

Chris, I know what you are saying about angling the hook through the bait, but where do you stick it in and where does the point come out? Are you still behind the dorsal fin, or do you start behind and come out in front of the dorsal?

If you watch closely, the bully is hooked diagonally through the back.

One of Mr. Holst’s first thoughts of making a tv show. I’m glad he didn’t get discouraged.

BK’s Catfish Rigging…the CatdadMN way<<<

I think Chris stopped using the swivel now.

Years ago when I lived in DeMoines Iowa those cats were finiky. We would use 3# to 5# suckers it was not unusual to have a big cat just sit and play with that sucker for better then an hour before it would take the bait and move off. At times it never would move, had to just make a guess. These flats up here don`t seem to do that, sit and play with the bait.

Our actual hookups were pretty low down there I would say 50%. Our hook choices back in the early 70`s wasn`t near what we have now. I have used the circle hooks and so far for the catfishing I do do I am pretty impressed with them.
I watched one old fellow who had a cat playing with his bait for almost 2 hours he finally got sick of it set the hook it stuck. Using 50# line he could not budge that cat, finally started snappng the line side ways like trying to get out of a snag. Finally pissed of the cat enough it came up off the bottom and swam down river so slow you could see the tail move from side to side on his line and rod, and swam down river, and swam down river. He finally was running out of line so he cranked the drag down…goodby kitty. Pretty amazing and fun to watch. I wonder how big that cat was?

Beat up bluegills = gar or channels.

If it keeps happening, check if the spine is crushed – that’s the mark of a channel cat. Flatheads eat by inhaling, all their power is in opening the mouth. Channels eat by crushing – all their power is in closing the mouth. On most flathead misses, the bluegill will be mostly unharmed. They don’t (except during the spawn) ever hold their food with their jaws – it goes all the way in the mouth. If you’re missing fish and getting unharmed bluegills back, your hooks aren’t exposed enough and you might want to move up a size or two.

But as for oversized (10/0) hooks, you don’t need them ever for using bluegills. I use 7/0 kahles and they handle even the biggest gills with hook to spare to find jaw.

Listen to Matt. His advice is always good.

Tom, I like Des Moines stories!

Being I’m in Iowa too, I’ll confirm yet again that the channels are on a bender for the last week or two. They really have the feed bag on. They’re mostly taking cut bait(or anything) but last friday I had a couple of them hit live gills. The first clue it’s a channel is some pecks. They can’t get the darned thing in their mouth. They can’t see so they gotta check for size. Then they’ll rip some drag but not much. 6′ or 2′ but they often don’t go far. It won’t be long and the big boys will be more active. I haven’t seen many pictures on here yet. When you do, that’s when it has turned on for me in the past.

We’ve been doing really well on the channels over here. A bunch of fish in the 10lb range. Biggest one I’ve seen is 25lbs! That is a brute for the MN river.

Strong 7-9lb year class. Every time out its 3-4 fish in the 26-27” range.

I find it very hard to believe that a flathead is “playing” with its bait for 1-3 hours. How do you know this? A 3-5# sucker isn’t going to go down easy, I’m sure it’s trying its best to elude the big fish and then finally tires out and that is when the flatty strikes. Speaking of which, how on Earth do you keep a #5 sucker on the bottom, downrigger balls?

I’ve switched to Kahle hooks this year and have seen enough already to know that I’ll never use anything smaller than a 7/0 for channels and 8/0 for flats.

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Speaking of which, how on Earth do you keep a #5 sucker on the bottom, downrigger balls?

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Your not to far off. I found a couple of old timers that poured there own sinkers and yea they would pour up to three pounders.

At that time they were just finishing up the dam on the DeMoine river just north of the city and had not started to fill the lake. The flats and channels could not move up river anymore and it held them there for awhile. It was awesome fishing that spring.

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I’m sure it’s trying its best to elude the big fish and then finally tires out and that is when the flatty strikes.

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That could be a very good posibilty since our hookups were low. Never really thought about it that way. Good Point