[bluebasser86]

Some winters are better than others down there. This one has been pretty good. I target them with lures, they react to them better than live or deadbait there in the winter for some reason. It's a lot of cast, a lot of snags, and a lot of lost lures, but it can payoff if you stick with it. Strictly catch and release, so they're still there for someone else to try to catch.

 

[J. Lewis]

WOW. That second one is a BEAST. What is the water temp where you are fishing?

 

[jumpmaster]

Wow, you are dedicated, and that would be a lot of fun to catch flats that way. I have caught them bass fishing before, but nothing the size you are.

 

[bluebasser86]

WOW. That second one is a BEAST. What is the water temp where you are fishing?

This is a hotwater outlet so the temps are typically in the mid 50's in the winter time.

 

[J. Lewis]

I would kill to be able to catch flatheads all year!! I read an article years ago about winter time flathead fishing and they interviewed a couple guys who targeted them in the wintertime. If memory serves, I think one of the guys was fishing cold cold water (35 deg)

At any rate, I think the one guy was using tiny jigs tipped with a minnow, cant remember the other guys technique, but they were both catching monsters.

Did you weigh that big one? Gotta be pushing 50. Beautiful fish. Thank you for sharing.

 

[bluebasser86]

I would kill to be able to catch flatheads all year!! I read an article years ago about winter time flathead fishing and they interviewed a couple guys who targeted them in the wintertime. If memory serves, I think one of the guys was fishing cold cold water (35 deg)

At any rate, I think the one guy was using tiny jigs tipped with a minnow, cant remember the other guys technique, but they were both catching monsters.

Did you weigh that big one? Gotta be pushing 50. Beautiful fish. Thank you for sharing.

It was 51.5 pounds. The video was great because I was 100% sure I was snagged when I first hooked her and tried real hard to break off twice before it moved and even then I thought I was dragging a snag and just started pulling hard hoping to get my spoon back. It was several seconds into the fight before I realized I was actually hooked up with a fish.

 

[J. Lewis]

Awesome fish man!!! The last big one I caught (#38) was in 60 deg water, I was semi expecting it to be a bit sluggish, but she (he? I didnt check lol) was a BRUTE ,drug me back and forth on the boat a couple times, had my lines a tangled mess, then drenched me with a huge tailslap before I netted her.

Did it give a good fight once it realized it was hooked? I always wonder how a big one would act in colder water. I caught a couple smaller ones late last fall (50 deg water) and they seemed pretty active, hard to tell with the smaller ones though.

Thanks again for sharing, beautiful fish.

 

[bluebasser86]

Awesome fish man!!! The last big one I caught (#38) was in 60 deg water, I was semi expecting it to be a bit sluggish, but she (he? I didnt check lol) was a BRUTE ,drug me back and forth on the boat a couple times, had my lines a tangled mess, then drenched me with a huge tailslap before I netted her.

Did it give a good fight once it realized it was hooked? I always wonder how a big one would act in colder water. I caught a couple smaller ones late last fall (50 deg water) and they seemed pretty active, hard to tell with the smaller ones though.

Thanks again for sharing, beautiful fish.

Once we both realized she was hooked, it was on. I was slow hopping a 3/4oz jigging spoon along the bottom where they like to wait for shad to get washed by the outlet current. Wasn't much of a bite, thought my bait hit a rock and I'd just broke off 2 cast in a row which is why I was so sure I'd just snagged up again and was getting frustrated. I was using one of my heavier bass rods, a 7' 5" heavy rod with 20lb fluorocarbon line and I had to fight it around a floating cable, handing the rod under it midway in the fight. If she hadn't run out of room on her first run, I'm not sure I could have got her stopped with the gear I was using.

 

[J. Lewis]

Thats good stuff, that is a beast of a fish for 20 pound line! I check these post every morning while I'm getting ready for work (having my coffee lol) ,we've been in a deep freeze for a while now but its supposed to get up to 53 today.

I'll be thinking about that fish all day today and daydreaming about the water here hitting that 50 degree mark.

Thanks again for sharing