[ahotka007]

Hello everyone,
I currently fish a highly developed reservoir in Indiana. This lake is probally around 95% developed with all homes.It's average depth is around 10 feet and pushing 30 by the dam. None the less it is a great channel cat spot. I fish from a boat (anchored, trolling, drifting)usually catching nice channels on cut bait around 6 to 10 lbs.
As far as flatheads go it seems that they do not reproduce due to there small numbers in this reservoir, so the ones that are in there are all big. I only caught one last year just above 22lbs on a bluegill head. I talked to two other anglers that boated them. One angler got a 60 and a 40. The other got a 20. The bottom of this lake seems to hold no brushpiles with an all mud bottom. We pulled our flathead out from underneathe the marina docks being one of the only places with structure. My question is being that the lake's deepest spot is only thirty feet is it likely that the flatheads are in that deep section (the dam) with no cover other than a river channel. Or on the other hand since it is a shallow lake would they adjust and live with the shallower water with a 10 to 15 foot depth. I am just having trouble locating them and I would like some info for anyone that has been in situations like this. I tried to be thorough in my description of the environment to help, but any info, ideas, or even thoughts are welcome. If I am asking the wrong questions then feel free to tell me something I don't know.
Thanks

 

[ahotka007]

The reservoir I'm refering to is geist. There are alot of straw grass areas that may have some pontential cover but they are all around 2-4 feet deep. When I fish these spots I catch channels all day long. The problem I seem to be having may just be solved by patience, but at the same time there has to be something to help. I am a college student and I have no job so I literally spend 4 days a week fishing. It has just been terribly hard to boat one, even with the endless time spent on the reservoir. I haven't been fishing because of the weather but with the warm season coming I figure I should get a start early. Geist has a good fish population and large channels are always constant but nothing beats a flathead. When you say I shouldn't worry about depth do you mean I should avoid the deeper strutureless areas and solely look for structure and baitfish. Also some more information on how they use the channels for highways would be great info. How far they travel, how often, what there using them for, what time, or just any good experience in channel travel patterns would be awesome. Thanks for the replies it was some good stuff. Thanks