Hello Arizona! Hey guys thought I would drop some input on this thread from a place where it gets rough finding wintertime cats.
Up here in Nebraska alot of guys don't bother to expend the energy to catch wintertime cats,but a few of us do,alot of the time when the lakes are froze over we can ice fish them and do pretty well. Channel cats will bite all the time in the winter,just have to find where they are holding and target them,super oily cutbaits work best in the real cold water as the scent is more powerful,leave the dip,dough,and other stinkbaits at home they won't do you any good. Fish deep and right on the bottom,bites are going to be light,and use baits that are about half of what you would use in the summer,with a slowed metabolism the fish don't like big meals as they take too much energy to break down.
As far as flatheads,we just caught some the other day at a river and the water temp was right at 50 degrees,they were caught on live chubs and were fished for on typical summertime spots and tactics, BUT much colder than that and you will need to put the bait right in their face,I've pulled flatheads through the ice,but I got lucky and dropped my bait right in their wintering hole,once again big baits are not what you want,save them for highly aggessive fish in the summer,think smaller when the water is cold. I usually quit on the flatheads after the water drops below 50,there's just no percentage in it,but it can be done.
Theres probably no better eating catfish than ones taken from cold water,I'm so spoiled by eating winter cats I just release most of the summertime hot water cats. Theres a huge taste difference in a cat that was caught from 30 degree water and one that was caught from 85 degree water.
Oh yeah if you've never been ice fishing you need to try it someday,it's a blast. It usually scares the crap out of newbies the first few times,but after that they love it. Walking to a spot and drilling though the ice that is 8 inches thick with 30 foot of water under your feet and fishing through a little hole with tiny gear can be a blast.