I was spoiled for awhile. Now with several slow nights of fishing in the last week got me thinking about what conditions will make the fish turn back on. Do you guys see the flathead bite typically slow down towards the end of the summer? The river is low but the same level it was a couple weeks ago when I was doing well. The weather has been a bit cooler but nothing drastic. Normally I don't pay too much attention to moon phases but these slow times got me looking back at a moon phase calendar and the last time I caught 4 in one night was on a full moon. On the last new moon I did very well 3 nights in a row. Looks like the next new moon is this Monday so will be interesting to see if the fishing picks up here again. Also have rain in the forecast 3 times before then so hoping the river comes up a bit. With as much as I've been out the last couple months I really wish I would have kept a journal to see if I noticed any patterns.
What ideal conditions do you guys look for to expect increased fish activity?
Ideal conditions...stable or slowly rising water. I like late summer into fall, they just seem more predictable. I tend to pay more attention to moon rise/set than phases. My favorite time to fish for flathead is just before the leaves fall off the trees, I fish bridges and wintering holes during the day, actively repositioning baits. I love night fishing but daytime fishing for flathead late in the year can be just as productive if not more so. I've also noticed that during the day they tend to eat the bait and lay, rather than run.
Would love to head down south by the Missouri, but not an option for me with limited time. Right now with the water being low and another dam to the south of me less than a mile away so the fish I had been catching earlier couldn't have migrated too far. Just tough getting access to find another place to fish from shore.
I caught a tagged flatty that migrated 57 miles from where it was tagged...The upper Jim is a spring time stretch for bigs....You will be hard pressed to find many fish over 20 that far up in the system for the remainder of the season.....
Flats push up river to spawn. They will not stay up river the entire summer. Most of your big fish will migrate back down river....Bigger fish are further south in the river system right now and as the season grows old, less an less fish will be caught up river....
Yeah I understand they move up river to spawn and then move back down. But don't you think they can get trapped further north if the river is low? Or do you think they are jumping over low head dams to move south?
I think to a flathead going down a low head dam is like going down a slide. Theyre used to passing fast water with rocks and rapids and so i think a low head is a breeze. Unfortanely making their way back up one is probably best left for salmon.
Yup, they will migrate down river and remain in lower reaches till spring. Will some big cats hang around in upper reaches? Absolutely, But odds of them finding your bait is far less. Low head dams are best during prespawn runs....
Lower Jim, I expect a 20 lber every trip and a 30 lber every week.....The record will fall this year or next and that fish will not come from above the Cove.
Diversion dam north of Huron had 0 flow going over it for most of June and July. Now that we've been getting some decent rain in August it started flowing again 2 or 3 weeks ago.
I wasn't trying to say they wouldn't go over a low head dam was just wondering peoples opinion on if they though its the norm.
I was just curious if the middle reaches of the Jim were that low.
I was simply offering my opinion. The majority of big flatheads have moved out of the middle and upper reaches of the river.
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