Slow fishing from 1-5 am in Michigan

[jspiel]

this thread refers to the "slow bite times" when night fishing for flatheads.
Almost everything i have read in the journals, heard discussed around catfish campfires, and seen right here on the BOC seem to agree that between 1 and 5 AM the bite really slows down for flatheads. I have been mulling this over in my little pea brain for several months, and have decided that this is neither logical nor should it be accepted as fact. My reasons behind my theory are simple and few:

When we setup for a night of flattie fishing we tend to station ourselves close to their daytime lairs, so we can get them as they first become active. this period of time does not last that long, before they are gone to their hunting grounds. usually by mid-night or 1:00 o'clock. they spend the next few hours stuffing themselves on whatever tasty morsal the choose, then head home for the obligitory after dinner nap, usually some time around 5:00 am.

Could we stretch out the nights success if we concentrated our efforts on the Flathead's hunting grounds?

I feel fairly confident in my saying that on very few occasions do more than one jumbo flattie occupy a single lair. however i am also confident that most, if not all the flatties in a given area will share the hunting grounds during most any given night.

Of course, the trick is to find the prime hunting grounds that will hold the most attraction to the most flatties.


OK guys, i have said my piece, go ahead and tear my theory to shreds. I know i don't have nearly the catfishing experience that 90% of you do, but i do think i could be right.

Let the arguements begin.............LOL

[dreamer34]

man ...i'm not gonna argue with that...if they ain't at home then they must be shopping

[dreamcatcher]

You know Jon, I'm starting to feel that way about channels too. LOL. When I look back at most of my nights where I stayed out from sunset to sunrise, most of the fish I caught were right after sunset or right around sunrise. Often it made me think, "Man, I could have stayed home, or went home and got a few extra winks. That's why it's always good to have some good conversation. You're theory has played out on alot of fishing trips.

On the other hand, you never know for sure but I would like to know...LOL.

[Sparky Larson]

I'm certainly not going to discount your theory Jon, cause I know very little about fishing for Flatheads. I do know that there are a lot of flatties taken in daylight hours. ya, ya, ya, I know catfish are nocternal! Not knowing much about Flatheads, I do know a little about the channel cat. I catch more channels in daylight hours, than I do at night. I will say though, when I fish at night, My best bite is from 9:00pm to midnight and again from 5:00am til 9:00am, so I spend most of my time fishing those hours. When someone says let's pull an all nighter, I don't get real excited cause I know the bulk of the end results. By the time the early morning bite comes,(5;00 to 9:00) I'm one pooped out puppy.
Now, I'm not saying that these fish don't have a night time hunting ground, but whose to say that they are just not taking a nap at the time the bite gets slow. Maybe their bellies are all ready full from an early dinner. Maybe, they are no different than we are, sometimes we eat at 5:00pm and sometimes we eat at 8:00pm or 9:00pm. Being that most of us don't fish 24-7, it would be very hard to make any assumption of what the fish are doing in each fisherman favorite fishing hole. When we go out fishing and have a good night catching fish, we talk about it, and say " Boy the fish were really biting last night" (maybe on the Grand, but not on the Cass River).
The next night, basically the same conditions, no fish at all! What up with that! We've all been there. Good night, Bad night , same conditions same bait.
I believe fishing is a lot like hunting. Being in the right place at the right time, is the first key. Being a bank fisherman, we're at the mercy of that little spot we can prop our poles at.

Is there truly a night time hunting ground, Maybe. Can we find it? I guess that will be up to us fisherman!!!!!!!!!
Sparky

P.S.
Maybe RiverKat can share some light on this subject. He's the real TV catman!!!!! LOL

[hear_kitty]

Jon you have some good points! But lets think of what you said about after dinner nap? Is it the fact they are napping or the fact of how long is it taking them to digest there food? How often do they eat? As far as them haveing a feeding ground im not sure but lets figure it out!

[bwanatony]

Recently published flathead research does show that daytime "bedding areas" tend to be in deep cover, and nightime "feeding areas" tend to be on "the flats". This was done with radio transmitters implanted in flatheads in the St. Joseph River. So, Jon, science supports your post.
Purely for fishing purposes, I'm still going to focus my efforts around cover. Cover is an area I'm sure attracts flats during the times of day & night that I prefer to fish.
According to the study, "The flats" is where I should be fishing during the feeding hours between midnight and dawn.
So "The Flats" is a vast expanse of open area (I guess), and that's where the fish are widely scattered when I prefer to be asleep. Therefore, to me, it is a very scientific "no-brainer". I 'll continue to fish near cover up until midnight and again around dawn.
Good topic.

[meat_hunter]

Fishing The Tailrace At Truman Dam In Mo. Most Of The Fish We Catch Are Right At Dark Up Until Around 11 To Midnight Then It Starts In Again At Aroung 4:30 Then Slacks Off At About 8:00.

[sal_jr]

You know, I would tend to believe that to an extent...

But then again every time I get a larger cat on the mini-maple... lol where we fished, it has been between 2 and 4 am and between 6:30 and 8. I do get em earlier, but not the larger ones over 10 lbs. Perhaps then this is the lesson- that they move into much shallower water when on the feed late at night. Shallower water like I deal with- 2-4 feet with the occasional 6 or 8 foot deep run... lots of cover... etc.

Something to consider! Commando Cats!


Great topic for discussion, jspiel!!
Sal