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The last 4 weeks have been good to me!

Nontypcl1

Nontypcl1

Member
The last month of catfishing has been pretty good to me. After catching numerous small cats on the bigger rivers I decided it was time to leave the boat at home and do some bank walking at my old stomping grounds

It seems to have paid off!

Here's the first... 19.5lbs:)
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About a week later I landed this hawg 24.5lbs

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This little guy had a lot of fight for 12.5lbs

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The next night I hooked into this 26lber, which scared the heck out of my brittany:grin:

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The next trip proved to be the best 2 hours I've ever had on the river with first this 27lber and then....

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this 29lb 6oz fatty

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Then this past weekend I managed to get covered in poison ivy climbing down bank to pull in this flatty who weighed in at 22lbs

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Shortly after I landed the one above I hooked into on of the biggest fish I've ever had on the line. It burned the line off my reel before it ended up snapping my 40lb test Trilene big cat line.:( Oh well, looks like I'll be headn back to see if I can hook into another good one after doin some plot work:grin:
 
That looks like a blast!! We are heading out this weekend to try to tie into some cats and flats!! I have never actually landed a flathead but had them on the line many times!! I guess I need a bigger set up. Congrats!! What's the best kind of bait for the big flats!!
 
Wow! You've had a great year! AWESOME flatheads! Give us your secrets on how to catch them!
 
Saaaaweeeeeet! Nice work man!!! You got into some tanks! Wading and catching them....doesn't get much better. Congrats dude....now give up your secrets. :D
 
Shoot2Kill said:
Saaaaweeeeeet! Nice work man!!! You got into some tanks! Wading and catching them....doesn't get much better. Congrats dude....now give up your secrets. :D
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No real secrets just some very lively sunfish a sturdy rod and a lot of patience:)

I figured after striking out on the des moines river for big fish I thought I would just try my luck in one of its tributaries a hope to hook into some hawgs that were preparing to spawn. Well it worked!:grin:

What's the best kind of bait for the big flats!!
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In my opinion sunfish are probably the best option for flathead and the old saying big bait equals big fish can definitely hold true. However, I've caught 20lb flats on a 3-4" sunfish before and a couple nights ago my buddy caught a 5lber on a pan-sized bluegill that was only lodged in its mouth, he never actually hooked it.

All I can say is the bite will probably still be hot on the smaller rivers until water levels really start to drop or high temps make those big cats uncomfortable Then it will be time to head out and find some deeper cooler water in the bigger rivers.

Get out there while the rivers are coming up after a rain and find a channel or funnel where they have to move through or an undercut bank or fallen tree just out of the current and you should be able to hook into a good one:way:
 
Nontypcl1,
Im a pretty avid channel cat fisherman. i have always wanted to try for big flats but never really new how to get after them. i have caught a few over the years on ditty poles. Anyway this post got me fired up to try it. Last friday i took a trip to a stretch of the raccoon river with some live 4 to 5 inch sunfish and started hunting for log jams. Started off pretty slow on my flat head line but i did catch a pile of nice channel cats on dead chubs. finally the pole bent over and i hooked my first flat head. i fought him for a couple minutes before he took the line into a tree in the water and wrapped me up. he did surface tho. based on your pics i would say he was 15+. sure wish i would have landed him. anyway thanks for the post, i do believe im hooked on big flats.

by the way. after i lost that one i had 2 more decent hits without a hook set and my sunfish were killed kind of squeezed in half. but the hole fish was still on hook. my question is, do they usaully hit hard or will the mess with it a little like channels? thanks
Drew
 
drewbe said:
finally the pole bent over and i hooked my first flat head. i fought him for a couple minutes before he took the line into a tree in the water and wrapped me up. he did surface tho. based on your pics i would say he was 15+. sure wish i would have landed him. anyway thanks for the post, i do believe im hooked on big flats.

by the way. after i lost that one i had 2 more decent hits without a hook set and my sunfish were killed kind of squeezed in half. but the hole fish was still on hook. my question is, do they usaully hit hard or will the mess with it a little like channels? thanks
Drew
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Getting wrapped in logs can be a common problem when fishing the snags for flathead. Thats why I like to probe an area by casting a sinker with no hook and find what the bottom is like then cast in an area that is somewhat open where I might have a chance at getting that big one out and onto shore. Akso the flat, shallower areas just outside the log jams can also be great at night for flatheads cruising for a meal.

And to answer your question...Flatheads tend to hit a bait and take it, they generally don't peck at it or mouth it very long like a channel cat will. But they will sometimes come up and crush your bait with a hard strike and then drop it and come back later to finish it off. This happens most often with bullheads in my experience.
 
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