Don’t really know what I’m doing but giving it a shot. My boat is in 24 feet of water and it get shallower behind the boat where there is a big log jam. Is this too deep? Not really sure what to look for.
DT
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Just noticed the second pic. Not sure how to take that off.
DT
Haha pretty sure most the cat guys know where you are from the first pic anyway.
Huck it at the wood and your alright.
Find half that much wood that is submerged and you’ll have a better shot, imo.
Moved to a different spot that had a lot of underwater wood but no flow what so ever. I’m assuming you want some current?
DT
I’m on the river 2 nights a week for the last 7 years and feel I know less now than I did the night I landed my first flat. This time of year I don’t fish the snags, I fish the deep holes adjacent to fast current. Just me though like I said they have only made me dumber over the years.
I’m assuming these are bite marks? Maybe too big of a bait? I’m getting just a little line pulled out very slowly then nothing.
DT
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Sorry…napping. 
Either a gar or a turtle.
I always thought it was small channel cats that did that. I’d think a turtle or gar with its teeth would do more damage. Then again, I assume even a small channel has powerful enough jaws tear up a sucker.
Bait too big?
25″ flatheads will munch down 10″ suckers anyday of the week!
47″ flatheads could munch down a 25″ flathead!
Be nice Fish, he’s a walleye guy.
Pug, after looking at the marks a little close I’m going with a gar.
Frequently they will grab a bait and make your line out alarm take of only to have them dropped when the hook is set. That picture is exactly what a sucker looks like when hit by a gar.
Snappers will (normally) take a bite out and softshells like to slowly swim away before eating your bait.
Switching to faster moving water or to bullheads will solve this problem.
Be nice Fish, he’s a walleye guy.
Pug, after looking at the marks a little close I’m going with a gar.
Frequently they will grab a bait and make your line out alarm take of only to have them dropped when the hook is set. That picture is exactly what a sucker looks like when hit by a gar.Snappers will (normally) take a bite out and softshells like to slowly swim away before eating your bait.
Switching to faster moving water or to bullheads will solve this problem.
HMmm, I get these short bite/chew marks here on the cedar a lot. No gar here and I think a turtle will eat the fins off rather than just chew it up like that. I’ve always thought that to be a flat head just chewing on the bait. I’ll agree that a flat head, just about any size, will easily eat a 6″ blue gill or 10″ sucker, but as I have said, I have a lot of these short bites. I’m sticking with mouthing flat heads.
I’m working on a solution…a quick strike rig of my own design. I plan to test it out this weekend so hopefull I will have an answer. Nothing will short bite this rig.
L8R…Ken
i think alot of different fish/turtles can makes those bite marks.
heck, dem pesky walleyes will do that lol.
for some reason, i think ive caught more walleyes this yr then flats. earlier this yr we kept missing bites with marks just like that and then we caught 4 wallys over 26″….We moved spots lol
one good way to tell if its a flat is the initial thump of the rod, esp if its a big flat. the thump is when a flats is inhaled about 5gals of water along with ur bait.
I think you would be shocked at the size of bait that a flathead will hit in relation to the size of the flathead itself. That being said, even the biggest flathead don’t always entirely inhale large baits. I have fought big flats on more than one occasion for several minutes and lost only to see crush marks on my bait up to the gills. What I do now on baits larger than 9″ is Snell the hook through the head and run a stinger hook to the tail. Both 8/0 circles rod locked down in the holder and wait until the rod has a steady load on it before touching the rod.
I get them too ken, especially fishing deep water. Sometimes they hit and mouth the whole thing and run and sometimes they aren’t that hungry or feel the hook and drop it. Even a semi tight line and sometimes they drop it. What I would do Deertracker is fish right by the logjam but next to shore, most anything running the shoreline is feeding. It doesn’t take 12′ of water to hold a 40lber, they eat right along shore too in a few feet of water, that’s why I run dittypoles on logjams right next to shore, that’s because that’s where theres a good food supply.
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