Vertical Presentation?

Does anyone fish Flatheads with a VERTICAL presentation? Meaning directly under the boat? I remember doing it last year one time on P2….I dropped my Bullhead straight under the boat, and had a fish in the boat in less than 5 min.

A couple reasons I think I am going to do this more often are……less chance of casting into a snag, better sesitivity when it comes to feeling the fish (having less line in the water, and no bow in your line) and being able to pull the fish directly UP and out of cover vs. having to pull the fish through cover!

Anyone else try this?

I’ve done it. Mostly when I can’t cast with one rod because of a snag or too close to shore.

When we do have a line straight down, I make sure to tell everyone in the boat to watch that line. Too many times the line just starts moving up stream…and for a person that doesn’t catfish much a vertical hook set could be down right dangerous!

On the other hand it does work very well.

No wind tonight. Unfortunately the 55 water temps and 40+ air temps made the SnoSuit feel pretty good on the way home.

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No wind tonight. Unfortunately the 55 water temps and 40+ air temps made the SnoSuit feel pretty good on the way home.

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SnoSuit??? yesterday was a sweatshirt and long pants day…

brian, i was doing some rough fishing yesterday morning, and did some scouting around too. I noticed that one of the spots you and i both fish is inaccessible this year. i was thinking 10 gallons of gas and a match to clear it out some…or some dynamite…

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inaccessible

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??

Hmm…never noticed.

Some holes are meant to be drifted with a nice big jig vertically presented with live bait. Works well below dams and barge scour holes. There are a couple edges of bends I used to fish that you could hit in 15 minutes. a blue gill or small bully lip hooked on an esox jig as heavy as it needs to be.

I’ve used a vertical presentation for years on the tri-county canal here in south-central Nebraska. I’m fishing VERY tight to some thick, nasty cover and it’s the only way to present the live bait on THE spot without gettin’ hung up. I’m fishing within 10′ of the bank, usually less than 6′ of water. I try to suspend the bait within 2′ of the surface, sometimes less depending on the water depth directly beneath the bait. I’m going with 150# Power Pro this year, having used Cabela Tuff Line 130# in the past. Hope this might add a little “food for thought”.

Browsing around and saw this. I use vertical almost exclusively because I use treble hooks. I anchor right over a steep slope and drop the rods down to the bottom. I lift the weight off the bottom a few inches and let the bait “dance”. I think I am going to modify my rigging, though. I get many rods bending deep, but when I set the hook, I pull the bait out of their mouth. I think they are grabbing and going. They haven’t really taken the bait in yet, so my hooksets aren’t happening like they should. I use a three-way swivel and if my leader is too long to the treble, it can be prone to tangling. Thought about free spooling; don’t have bait clickers, just large, open faced spinning reels.

What method do you use?