I have come to a conclusion……The smaller the fish, the more agressive the run. I had a run on saturday night that peeled line off of my reel like a bonefish! Before I got the rod out of the holder, I bet it ran 40yds, it weighed in at 13lbs. It seems the larger fish DO NOT run like this.
Agree? Disagree?
In general, I would agree with you Doc…but two words that are never used on the river are “never” and “always”. 
Read the second to last paragraph in this old Cat fishing report.
In my opinion most fish, especially when they are smaller, like to hit a bait and run. It is because of competition. Until the prey is in the belly they lose it to another fish. If a fish grabs something to eat and doesn’t get out quick, the other fish will prod it and attack it in an attempt to get it to give up the food.
Now I know that flatheads don’t school, but if another flathead is near, they will sense the kill. I think it is just instinct.
So bigger flatheads may not “have” to hit and run. And maybe when they do they know that there is another big boy near. Or maybe some just get lazy, while others retain that instinct.
Or maybe I am completely off base. I only drink like a fish. And sometimes when I am lucky, I smell like one too.
My 2 best fish acted quite differently from each other. My 2nd largest was well over 60lbs and just ate the bait and casually swam upstream with it. The only reason I noticed I had a bite was because I had an eye on my line.
My pb was a considerably larger 50×36 and hit like my bait had insulted it’s momma. I actually slid about a foot when it took off after seeing the boat.
I will agree that lots of smaller fish hit like a ton of bricks though!
I can agree with this. My first 2 flatheads this year (5 and 16 lbs) nailed 9″ live suckers and blew outta there like the devil was on their tail. My 43×27, however, never even set the clicker off… she just rolled off the ledge into the main channel and sat there bumping the line.
The place this doesn’t apply is channels. I had gotten so used to that gradual nibble-nibble-nibble-nibble-nibble-nibble-nibble-nibble-nibble-nibble-nibble-
nibble-nibble-nibble-tug-nibble-nibble-nibble-nibble-nibble-nibble-bite action from channels that when I hooked into my 3 PB channels this year (10#, 8.75# and 7.5#) they almost ripped the rod out of my hands when they CRUSHED a chunk of cut sucker and then seemed to want to leave, real fast.
Rude, they are, what with the “eat and run” mentality they have. Flatheads are much more polite. 
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Flatheads are much more polite.
I gather you haven’t been pooped on yet.
My 43×27 dumped a load of stinky fish-butt gel all over my hands and the deck of the pontoon.
I wasn’t referring to how they behave once you get them OUT of the water. 
I think the subject line is right on the mark – “types of runs.” In my relatively limited experiences, a lot of different things can happen: baits get blasted, thumped followed by the rod loading-up (common), thumped with very little load-up, load-up with undetectable hit, and totally undetected fish that moves towards you with the bait resulting in slack line.
As BK stated, never say always or never. Or as I like to say “Never say always or never, except you can always say “never say always or never!”” 
The thump or “thunk” followed bv some type of load-up is the classic flathead hit. Sometimes, live baits get obliterated by the fish and it ends up being a 4# channel cat. That can be fun too! 
My general experience with channel cats has been the bigger ones are a little slower on the take than the small to medium sized ones…
Shawn
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My general experience with channel cats has been the bigger ones are a little slower on the take than the small to medium sized ones…
Shawn
Good observations in your post, dude… but you should have been with us a few weeks ago on P2. The big channels were outright murdering our baits and trying to pull rods right out of the boat! We almost lost 3 rods that night (fortunately we didn’t lose any). The little ones were tug-tug-tuging but the big ones were hitting like spawning bass… angry, devastating strikes with immediate hooksets.
My biggest channel, 9.9#, was on a 9″ live sucker in one of my favorite flathead holes. She nailed it and took off like a bat out of a very dark, scary, hot place. I was sure it was a huge flattie… but nope. Just a much-better-than-average channel with a serious attitude.
Funny how everyone has different experience, eh?
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angry, devastating strikes with immediate hooksets.
Man I love those! 
Back to…
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“Never say always or never, except you can always say “never say always or never!””
It’s the best time of year for that kind of bite. It seems to happen more the less flow you’re fishing too.
Big fish don’t get to be big by wasting energy. 
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