i hear it's good to find good holes when you are fishing in general in the summer for flatheads, my question is, lets say i'm fishing from the bank more often than not, is there any good tactics or methods to determine where the drop offs are in the river?
Thats a really good question Monster. I have been studying the difference in the water surfaces here where I usually bank fish. It's kind of tricky though. Some places where i thought that the water was pretty deep turned out to be only 5 to 6ft at most. I'll pay close attention to this thread to learn something too!
Look for riffles.Usually there is a deep hole that is scoured out.Also look for outside bends in the river as it deep there.With a little practice you can tell by draggung you sinker across the bottom(not recommended if there are a lot of snags).
He said it all. Holes are good, but look for secondary holes and hidden structure as well. When you see a smooth surface and then a disturbance, there is something making that disturbance, which can be a bonanza.
Good question .... In most cases ... But not all cases .... a river will have a riffle (which can be a few inches or a couple of feet) This riffle is caused by either a hard rock bottom or gravel or rocky area. Since the shallowness of the riffle can cause the water to speed up it can cause a scour hole to form. If the river runs straight for a long distance at the foot of the riffle you will usually have a intermidiate or secondary hole, ranging from several feet to 6 to 8 feet deep. When the river comes to a bend, you will almost 100% of the time have a deep hole on the outside of the turn. The general rule is the sharper the turn the deeper the hole will be. After the turn has straightened you will usually find ( depending on the bottom) either a sand bar, or a shallow area someplace in that stretch of water. You can usually observe where the shallow area will be by watching where the water flow goes after it hits the wall of the outside turn. The water slows down and deposits some of the setiment it has scoured out of the hole. If there happens to be a rocky area or bedrock bottom at this place you will have another riffle. If you can cast to the areas you are talking about below the riffles, you can usually use a slip bobber set at different depths to judge how deep the water is in those areas. Also remember some of the big cats will come to the foot of those riffles at night to feed. So whether 4 feet deep or 10 feet, at the base of those riffles can be good fishing. Good luck ... I hope this has helped ........ Garry- :cool2:
Monster, another good thing to remember is that if the river is wider then normal, its shallower, what you are looking for is a narrow spot which acts like a funnel bringing food and current ( which go hand in hand) I might add that a sharp turn is just that, a really narrow spot. Look on the web for aerials and that alone will show you the turns and where most of the holes are. To find depth, use a sinker and count while its falling to get an idea of howdeep it is. or the slip bobber method, going in 1 foot intervals until you figur eit out, a lot of this will happen with experience where you will be able to look at aspot and determine where the deep holes are. Most river based on size, watershed, elevation drop and sediment load will have a consistant depth for the mjority of the deep spots. On the GMR from south Dayton to Middletown is about 18-20 feet. If you fish the GMR above Dayton you are looking at about 10-12 feet deep as the deepest spots in the stretch. its all reletive to the water you are fishing. I suggest a lot of time on the water to figure out where the channel runs and follow it from bank to bank seeking the deepest spots within the channel. This is one of those things that only years of experience can teach you vs just having someone explain it to you Salmonid
The main thing when flathead fishing is STRUCTURE wood or rock. Don't worry about deep water. Find places with logs and limbs, and piles of wood to fish after dark. If you find such places there will be flatheads coming by eventually. Don't cast out into the middle either, When I bank fish I won't put a bait more than 25 or 30 ft off the bank. Put one right on the bank in a foot or two of water. Then fan the area leaving like 10 or so feet of space between baits to hold down on tangles if you hook one. You will have to watch any lines casted upstream along the bank more closley cause 9 outta 10 times when a fish takes the bait they will move downstream with it. So if the current is strong enough, you might not get to hear a click on your reel before the fish is already past you.
most of my bank fishing is at creek mouths. make sure you plop one bait just about two ft. from shore. i have caught loads of flats running the banks especially at night. also put a bait up in the creek itself if its deep enough. when the water is high bait will hold in there out of the main current and so do the flats. good answers all!
likesaid, surface disturbance is a good way to know, that there is something causing it, whether it be a rock pile or a sunken log. another thing, is a step cutbank. alot of straight up and down cuts are created on outside bends where high water on the channel side scours the bank away. this usually scours a hole as well. esp. if you can find a sharp drop with an eddy area associated with it. these big cutbanks with root systems and obvious holes in them are a great place to target esp. around spawning season.. :wink: rollo
In streams in summertime flatheads generally lay in holes under old trees and brushpiles and come out just before dark to feed. If you look at bank when water is low every tree of any size has a hole under it. Flatheads will move out of an area if disturbed ( lights seem to scare them channel cat like lights and are drawn to them or more accurately the baitfish ). Best time to catch flat heads and catfish in general is during a warm summer rain when water is rising after dark.
