Thump in the Night?

So a question for all the cat guys, been bugging me for a while. What the heck are the big flat girls doing when you get thumped? I’m not talking the ‘is that my bully?’ jiggle, but those one time feel it in your chest Jurassic Park coffee cup ka-booms that shake your pole down to the boat deck. I may have exaggerated a bit, but you get the idea. What are they doing? I guess I just can’t see those trash can mouths just hitting it with out inhaling it and running. Thoughts?

I think they can suck anything in front of them into their huge mouths and that’s when the whole boat echoes from the hit.

I would really like to capture that on a Marcum!

I wonder if some of them aren’t fish swimming into your line. A big carp or sturgeon could bounce a rod pretty good if they hit the line when spooked.

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I wonder if some of them aren’t fish swimming into your line. A big carp or sturgeon could bounce a rod pretty good if they hit the line when spooked.

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I tend to agree with you Rich , even when using cut bait the FW and I have had this happen some and even noticed the bats would hit the line close to the water level and cause the same thing to happen.

Both suggestions are valid probables tho

I had that happen once, pulled the bullie in and saw it had toothpad abrasions that were 3/4″ wide on each side, and they were symmetrical… flathead, then, I surmised not channel. A channel’s abrasions would be offset because of the channel cat’s overbite.

And I saw the whole thing… BOOM, PULL, leggo… slack. Sad. Poor bully had guts protruding…

Remember, they’re not sight feeders, so they really do taste test, sample, and spit stuff out.

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I wonder if some of them aren’t fish swimming into your line. A big carp or sturgeon could bounce a rod pretty good if they hit the line when spooked.

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Wow. Never even considered that! Wonder if it could be a mixture, seems often runs happen after a few thumps? BK where I fish we’re not going to see much with the camera, but darn that would be very cool! We need one with HID lights and some sort of xray vision, I’m calling Marcum…

Have you ever watched a bait fish get eaten by a predator? They don’t cuddle up to them take a sample before eating. They stalk their prey and when the time is right, inhale the entire bait. This is true for most fish species when they eat. Gills flare and a vacuum is created. The bait is violently moving probably 6-10” in an instant. That is the thump you hear. It happens every time a flat takes your bait, sometimes it’s just louder than others due to a few things, the slack in the line, the way your rod is sitting in the holder (or side of boat) the kind of line you are using, and the size of your bait.

Put the perfect storm together, and the thump is enough to wake the dead

There are also times when a bat will hit your line, but if you are a rod tip watcher like I am, it’s usually pretty easy to tell when that happens. You do get the thump, but it’s a little different and your rod moves sideways.

I’m certain other fish hit the line too, the above plus paddle fish depending on your fishing location.

Generally we can see the bats…at least them flying away and they do hit the line more frequently some nights more than others.

I don’t think ALL flats inhale the bait all the way. We had a hook snag a flat in it’s cheek. The only way that can happen would be the head of the bully was in the flats mouth and the tail (and hook) were still outside. I think the smaller fish just grab and go.

Last year I had a bullhead on video. He was about 3 inches away from the camera. I need to look into this a little more.

Of course there are rare anomalies, but if you are talking about a bone jarring thump, it is no doubt 99% of the time a Flathead inhaling the bait. I’ve also had major league thumpage from channels eating a live bait.

The thump is then almost always followed by your rod loading up or a line out alarm as the fish moves away.

And of course it’s directly related to the size of the fish compared to the size of the bait. I’ve had 9” gills in my aquarium eat a 5” sucker minnow. They try to inhale the whole thing, but there’s an inch or two of tail sticking out. Until they work it down.

The thump is like a Bass eating a worm, just 10x greater.

Being that the bait is stationary with up to 6oz of lead on the line, they aren’t going to be able to inhale it all the way every time IMO, especially if you have no slack.

Perhaps you add to that perfect storm that the flatheads may inhale and crush in an instant. Now if you have tight line, it’s going to act like a string between two cups. I am not saying that is what you are hearing, but maybe it amplifies the sound of the rod slamming in the rod holder and the whole is a loud bang.

I’ve suspected that many times flatheads don’t just grab, but they attempt to inhale, crush and incapacitate prey all in one motion.

Who knows. Who cares as long as they keep thumping!

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The thump is like a Bass eating a worm, just 10x greater.

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Wrong! nothing is greater than a bass grabbing your worm!