Wintering Flats~Do They Bite? Part II

cool

One of the coolest video’s yet

Can’t wait to see more

Were any fish snagged during the filming of this video?
Let them poor fish rest.

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Were any fish snagged during the filming of this video?

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No, I assure you that NO fish were snagged in the making of this video BUT it sure looks to be don’t it

It’s funny the sucker played possum when he was down by the fish but when he was reeled up and unhooked he swam away under his own power, very fast. The things you learn from BK’s video’s are truly amazing

Way a head of you Catdad! I told Jesse “just wait someone won’t like the color of the jig”.

We’re having a bullhead color BFishN Tackle jig flown in for this weekends fishing. (5 different sizes)

Jesse and I will be out after Comedy Nite at Gopher Hills…you can join us if you like.

Thats a cool video

Do you think the light from the camera effects them at all?

It might annoy them some.

Here’s the cut bait video from last year…no lights.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jm35fIjJBzY

We had the live bait down without the camera for some time…nothing.

I don’t think they saw the bait.

Very cool Brain, nice job.

UNREAL video guys!! That is really cool. I think I’ve fished for walleyes with similiar activity levels

Truly awesome………..BTW I think you’ve found them!! There were some pig sitting down there.

Anyone want to guess the size of the largest flat in the video?

Since we didn’t snag it, there’s no way to know for sure.

BrianK,

I can’t believe you were teasing the $h!t out of those poor cats like that. Just dangling some food right in front of their faces. They aren’t gonna bit on that blue jig come summer time. They will remember.

Great video!

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Way a head of you Catdad! I told Jesse “just wait someone won’t like the color of the jig”.

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Funny, because I was going to say something until I saw catdad already did.

Those things are just dead to the world. The whiskers aren’t even flickering to investigate the commotion with the minnow.

That is “F-in” Cool

Make me want to break out my snaggin rod and treble hooks

I would be concerned Brent, but you don’t know where P4 is.

Nope, I don’t buy it. As you’ve read in other cold water Flat catches in past years and even one just recently. The fish “hammered the bait” or “just smacked the bait” or “it was pounded”. Heck even In-Fishermen tried to tell us this, are you going to argue with them?

Those that have jig fished a lot or threw crankbaits have NEVER experienced a bone jarring hit from a stationary rock either.

I’m going with 50 lbs on the biggest. Unknown big fish always end up to be 50lbs. Not sure why, but 50 is the magic number. No doubt about it. 50lbs on the biggest one down there.

Another well done video. Being able to hold the boat & lure in place while getting it on camera takes alot of practice & patience. Having everything lined up so we can all enjoy it here. In your time spent researching these creatures of the dark,have you been able to determine a temperature range or triggering,such as spring runoff or flows,when they might start becoming more active or moving from or about their wintering areas? We notice a few anglers every year catching them early in the season.

Exactly!

Although I will argue with In-Fisherman…it’s the WI DNR that knows more than any of us.

Correction. It’s a WI DNR Supervisor that knows more than anyone. No need to drag good employees into this.

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I would be concerned Brent, but you don’t know where P4 is.

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Did you know that everytime you poke a hole in my love bucket, it continues to drain and it can’t be patched

Does your candle burn brighter when you blow out mine

To play a bit of devil’s advocate.

Just because you have found a population of inactive cats doesn’t meant that there are no active flatheads out there. I’m not saying that there are definitely active ones swimming around, just saying that it’s within the realm of possibility. Certainly, your videos show a good population of “dormant” flatheads, but if you consider the sample size (i.e. one specific area of one river), one should be careful of drawing wide-sweeping conclusions.

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To play a bit of devil’s advocate.

Just because you have found a population of inactive cats doesn’t meant that there are no active flatheads out there. I’m not saying that there are definitely active ones swimming around, just saying that it’s within the realm of possibility. Certainly, your videos show a good population of “dormant” flatheads, but if you consider the sample size (i.e. one specific area of one river), one should be careful of drawing wide-sweeping conclusions.

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Seeing is believing, and you never say never, but until I see a video that contradicts this one. I’ve made up my mind.

Nice job guys, sure do miss those adventures

I hear what your saying Ryan…

I cut out 7 minutes of video because I felt 17 minutes was to long. Had I left it in, you would have seen no less than 200 flatheads on the bottom. No I didn’t count but I did cut back my guess from 300.

The other piece to consider is that this is only a snapshot in time. Who’s to say that they (or at least some) didn’t feed yesterday or last week?

My from what we’ve seen over the winters of watching, my gut tells me they aren’t feeding.

This leads to the question, does their metabolism slow down so much that they don’t lose any noticeable weight over winter?

The only activity Jesse and I have seen are a few fish moving to get into a better position(?). Generally from the back of the pile towards the front and on an edge of the pile.

I too will stick to the “not feeding” until I’ve seen otherwise.

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In your time spent researching these creatures of the dark,have you been able to determine a temperature range or triggering,such as spring runoff or flows,when they might start becoming more active or moving from or about their wintering areas? We notice a few anglers every year catching them early in the season.

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Great question however once the snow melts and runs off into the river 2 things happen:

1 is a lot of flow so much that ….
2 the water is too dirty to see anything on camera

I can tell you this. I know a guy that has a few channel cats in captivity and they have been fed once since about Nov, and that was only a handful of fatheads. I do think it’s entirely possible that they do not eat for months at a time. Even the big mamas.

It sure would explain why they go on a rampage in May/June.

The amount of silt on them (most all of them) tells me they ain’t moving that much. I vote they be sleeping for the winter. Good point though Ryan, maybe just this hole?

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This leads to the question, does their metabolism slow down so much that they don’t lose any noticeable weight over winter?

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I’d say so. All fish being cold blooded slow down in the winter. Seems to me that flatheads actually go into something that resembles hibernation. Hibernating bears move a little. These fish aren’t even using their whiskers to “smell” the water.

That being said, I could see them biting near warm water discharges. Water temperature can be considered an extension of a fish’s physiological system and their physiology.

My understanding is that you’re advocating for a closed season in the winter. I’ve had one flat in my boat in the winter, caught on a 5″ grub and hooked inside the mouth. There was a big cat posted here the other day that hit a rattle bait … I assume it ate it, but who knows. My only point is that you’re going to find exceptions to the rule you’re trying to prove. You just can’t prove conclusively that cats don’t eat in the winter, no matter how many videos you make.

My question is, what is the threat to wintering cats? Are people actually going out and trying to snag them?

Snagging is illegal no matter when you do it. What is the negative impact of the current regulations/open winter season? Would a C&R season on flatheads solve the problem? Just reduce the limit to zero fish from December through March? Or April? Of course, they’ll eat in April but again I don’t think that’s the point because I think it’s obvious that they’ll eat in the winter, even if it’s on very, very rare occasions (say once every month or two).

Maybe efforts would be better spent pushing for restrictive limits? One fish over 45″, or something to that effect? Not that I’d like 45″ cats to be kept, it just seems like a slot limit might not work well with flatheads (I believe strongly that all the big ones should go back, and that rule applies to pretty much every type of fish). I’d rather see maximum length limits, say one flathead less than 30″. Not just in the winter — year round!!!

P.S. I think the videos are very cool. Thanks for posting them!

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My question is, what is the threat to wintering cats? Are people actually going out and trying to snag them?

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I don’t think that anyone has a problem with people catching an incidental winter flathead, but yes, people do target them. There are catalogs and websites that sell weighted treble ‘snaggin’ hooks. I don’t think much argument can be made that the fish in BK’s video are not susceptible to something like that.

There was a thread some years back discussing what some people witnessed in the winter, with people dragging huge jigs across known wintering holes snagging fish.