[TheRegulator]

To this point I have mostly fished lakes. I enjoy fishing for all species of fish and do my fair share of catfishing, just not much experince on the river. I have never caught a Flathead and catching one in the river is one of my goals this year.

Where would you start? I put in at Trixie's Marina in KY on gunpowder creek. I realize live bait is best, but should I fish main river channel? main river closer to shore? main river, look for structure? Tributary creek channel? Mouth of creek? Wooded structure in creek? Head up to the power plant?

Any help is appreciated!

Thanks
Mike

 

[Raven Blayde]

I've caught Flatheads in all of the above. I've never fished in the area you're speaking of, but in the Ohio River and Ky River, they are very common and can be found about anywhere theres water. Matter of fact, I caught a 15lb Flathead yesterday in less than 3ft of water, right on a rock pile. I then caught a 2nd one in about 20ft of water on a sandbar. So, they do tend to be found in a wide range of places. The thing that I've found that has caught me the most Flatheads was bait. I fished for years with livers and never caught my first flathead till I switched to live bluegill. Now, I catch more Flatheads than anything else in the water. Live bluegill work best, but you'll catch them on freshly cut bluegill as well. I was suprised yesterday, because my bluegill died on me overnight. But, I still caught 2 nice Flatheads with them anyway (which was a first with dead bait).

 

[SkiMax]

Right now we are catching alot of flats pretty shallow here on the ohio. Pretty sure the spawn has started to kick in for them, caught some males that are real roughed up from all the rooting and digging nest. We have caught them all of shad, dont mess with getting bluegill too often. Cut shad and live shad have both produced. Hit a 30 pounder the other day on a 6 inch live shad hooked through the eyes. Look from some structure in 3-15 feet of water. If the river channel is close by that makes it even better.

 

[TheRegulator]

Thanks for the replies. I realize time and experience is invaluable on the water. I just would like to cut down the time spending hours setup where the fish aren't!:shock: