Flatheads on the cedar

Well its been along time since i’ve been flathead fishing and every since i seen a 20 pounder being cleaned in my front yard a week ago thats kept my interist up. My future son in law caught a 20 pounder a week ago and called me up and told me he’ed be right over. He showed it to me and i said what are you going to do with it, he said clean it for the table, so he did.

Well the last few nights he and my daughter have been fishing the local dam here in downtown Cedar rapids and have been hooking some decent ones and coming back with stories of very nice flatheads being caught there. So having nothing to do last night i dug out the heavier rod and went with them.

We stopped down at the local baitshop by the river and got about a pound of 1 0z. sinkers and some 4ot. Gamagatsu hooks and then went baitfishing at the local power generating cooling pond for bluegills, we got big bluegills here. I’ve got an old 42 quart cooler i use to use for bait when i used to run trotlines at night on the Iowa river and got about a dozen 4″ to 5″ bluegills plus some smaller pumpkin seeds, turned the aireator on and went to the dam.

We got there and i looked at the water coming through the gates and found a calmer spot between the boils, baited up with a bluegill and 2 oz. of lead. The first thing i did when i threw out is found 2 0z. wasen’t close to enough for weight and put on another 2 1/2 oz. and this time it kept in contact with the bottom atleast part of the time in between the more powerful full boils.

I got my lawnchair out for a nights fishing and threw out down from the dam about 100′ and waited. After about an hour and no bites i brought it in thinking that if they weren’t in the slower water they might be in the faster water right in front of me feeding.

I rebaited with another 4″ bluegill, threw in and in about 1/2 an hour had a hit that bounced my pole 4″ off the handrail it hit so hard. I jumped on the pole, freed the bail and nothing. I picked the rod tip up and reeled in to try to see if there was anything on and it was gone. I reeled the bluegill in and when i looked at it both eyes were popped out of it head and there was a big crease on both sides of the bluegill where it had grabbed hold and to kill it. I had a feeling the bite might be on for the night.

I rebaited and threw out in the same spot again and about a hour later i was talking to the guy on the bridge next too me about 30 ft’ away and looked over with my son in law yelling YOUR POLE! Here it was being pulled over the handrails and the only thing that stopped it was the last eye next to the reel to keep it from going over in a hurry, now i was getting excited to say the least.

I picked up the pole felt the weight of the fish and let him run or i guess the better statement was he was going to run anyway and all i could do was hope he was taking the bait. I gave him about 15 seconds and pulled back 3 times to set the hook deep and he decided he wanted to go twards the first ave. bridge about 300 yrds downriver right in the main boils and all i could do was hold on with the drag screaming and pole bent double.

He decided to come back up river so i reeled in as he came back up and then he decided to go east, so he did, this fish was going anywhere he wanted too. I had about 75 yrds of line out and a full bent pole and then it all went slack. Needless to say it was pretty verbal then.

We got a couple more hookups then decided to go home and were going back tonight. I talked to John the owner of five season bait and he said this year is outstanding and a whole lot better then last year. The flatheads are feeding big time here right now and im again hooked on flats heads, WOW can they fight!

Great story!!!
Lucky break saving the pole from being kidnapped. Though its tough to get that much adrenalin going and then to come up empty handed.
Something to consider…. You mentioned 4/0 circle. You might want to upgrade to an 8/0 or 10/0 I know it sounds big but it usually helps when your going after bigger fish and using decent sized bait.
Keep working it and you should get one soon. Make sure to carry a camera when you bag a big one.
Oh last note… Get a length and girth measurement also. Lots of us are compiling stats in comparison to weight.
Good luck

Sounds like you had a blast! Nothing like getting into a good bite for an evening.

I dont want to sound like a know it all… and that not the way this is coming out…

Might I suggest the next time a fish has your rod doubled over, rather than give it line, just set the hook? Flatheads generally just inhale the smaller baits like you are using. Quite often, catfish will drop a bait when we release tension off the line. In your case, obviously that didnt happen, but the fish got a head start on you when it probably already had the hook inbedded in its jaw from bending the rod over.

I think Brian K once told me something with relavence… fish dont have hands

Couldn’t have been me Dave…sounds to intelligent.

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I had about 75 yrds of line out and a full bent pole and then it all went slack.

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So what was it Mossy…a walleye?

Ya Brian it was a walleye, not real sure but I think it was. All stories aside theres nothing like hooking into a passing freight train doing 70. What a gas when they hit and hammer the bait and they hit hard last night. They’ve been getting some real brutes i guess too, a guy on the bridge last night caught one that went over 30 pounds just after i left and Quetien said he was longer than usual. I’ll take the camera tonight and get some pictures if i can of the ones being caught by any other guys plus if we get into one or two i’ll get pics of those too and measurements.

I know what you guys are saying about hooking them right away, im used to letting channels run befor setting the hook while pole fishing and i guess its habit. Just came back from the river just now because its slow and to eat dinner and i switched to 1 ot. treble hooks with one in the front of the eye sockets and one behind the dorsal fin. I don’t know if you guys up there hook your baitfish through the very front of the eye sockets but they will stay alive all night because of no blood loss. I know that flatheads are use to just inhaling the water to suck in the bait they want but im going too stick too a hook around the size im use too useing, call it stuck in the mud or old habits but if i don’t start hooking them i’ll change too a bigger hook.

I was talking to the guys at the east end of the bridge last night and they have been fishing in the slower water there catching smaller flatheads, under 15 pounds and they say in the last week they’ve landed a couple dozen fish with an occasional 20 in there too and all they use is nightcrawlers. The guy next to me that i was talking to when my pole hit the rail last night was useing an 8″ bullhead last night and it took about an hour too loose that one, then i told him too help himself to the bluegills we had because he ran out of bait, ya kinda feel sorry for a guy with a catfish rig, fish are biting and hes outta bait. The fish gods were probably looking at me anyway so maybe tonights the night.

I remember alot of nights when trot lineing and hooking decent fish they would sound and go down 16 or so feet and just about take your fingers as the stagings passed by your fingers with the line, it was the same with the flatheads they just hit it and left the county. I’ll stay with the hook setups i know and use right now but if i loose any tonight its too the baitshop for bigger ones. Went and got a pack of emery boards to put an ultra sharp point on the trebles and the gamies we already have. I’ll post how we do or how the bridge does if i see anything tonight. Thanks for the advice too!

Hey if you guys like hot wings you have to try this Recipe, 20 sections or pieces of wings, roll in flour and fry until crisp. Add 1/2 cup of sorguhm mollasses, lousiana hotsauce to the heat you like, garlic powder and 1/4 cup of water and 1/2 cup of your favorite bar-b-que sauce. Mix all the ingrediants in with the fried wings and let it cook down until it become realitively thick. After you get them on your plate the sauce candies from cooling down some and they are knock out good! you gotta try em’ to believe em’

Wish there were flatheads in the cedar up around waverly i would be all over that.

We fished for 4 hours last night and had only 2 bites. My daughter was there on the bridge with us and its good she was. Quentien had gone back to the van and got the chairs for her and him and also brought back my lawn tractor battery and his 800,000 candle power spotlight. We were all setup and had our poles in the water and he was talking to a guy down the bridge and his pole bent over and stayed there.

I grabbed the pole and lifted up while standing up from the chair at the same time and yep fish on! Jennah seen that there was a fish on his pole and both her and i yelled to him and he came flying and grabbed his pole. He asked how big i though he was and i said around 10 to 15 pounds i thought.

The water has been coming up a little each day and has risen about 6 inches in the last few so the currents stronger but turning the flatheads on. My daughter Jennah got the spotlight and had it on the line, down too the water surface and kept it on the fish and the water until we got it on the bridge. The fish worked back and forth for 1/2 an hour and then came up right below us and got into the back wash from the fast current going through the gates and it took him another 15 minutes to find the right boil and pulled up hard and got to the fish to the surface or the boil and it rode the top of the boils back out below the bridge.

We had our hoop net that we lowered made from a bicycle rim, net and 50′ of 3/8ths nylon rope with a knot tied every 12″ too keep the rope from sliping through your hands. Quentien handed me the pole and i worked the flathead back up river ontop of the boils and Quentiens genious at working the net at water level then dropping it in front of the fish gave him the chance to pull up on it when i drug the flat over the hoopnet, it worked!!

We got it on the bridge and it measured 29″, had an 18 1/2 girth and when we weighed it it weighed in at 10 1/2 pounds and it looked as fat as a watermelon.

We fished another hour and i had my pole in right in front of me right in the boils and all of a sudden i had the hardest hit yet and it bent my pole over and the back was coming up faster then night befor last when i almost lost it from going over the handrails and i grabbed it, stood up, pulled back and he put the afterburners on. I had him for about 3 to 4 seconds and crack the line broke. Allof us just looked at eachother an said nothing. Quentien said how big and i said a real nice one. We fished for about another hour and left for home.

I talked with an old boy that has been fishing there since the water has been warming up and he said a couple younger guys a little while ago got ahold of one and was using 80 pound test and they both worked at getting him in for an hour and a half and then i guess the fish got tired of being hooked, took off down river and broke the 80 pound test. He said both guys were handing the pole back and fourth for the hour and a half and were worn out when the fish broke the line, i believe it. Ive always heard theres some real big flatheads in the rivers around here. Were going back tonight. Oh forgot to mention those 1 ot. trebles are giving us instant hookups, i hope the gullets in them hold. Good luck guys!