I know that the fish follow the bait during different times of year. What are their general movements in the spring, summer and fall. I am fairly new to the sport and actually caught my second flathead two week ago in about 12 of water adjacent to a deeper channel. I am fishing in High Rock lake a river feed body of water. What end of the lake should I be heading to. The north end of lake is called the mud flats this is where the river enters the body of water; it has variable depths due to siltation bust most of it is less than 15. Should I run up the river and try to find holes with structure or what? Help from any one that fishes the lake or knows anything fishing flatheads would be appreciated. DL
Hey Drew welcome to the BOC its good to have you aboard one thing that I have noticed about catching flatheads most of them are caught in warmer water, and sometimes there in some deep wholes around structure and other things, if I was you I would find a deep whole of water and put a small blue gill on your hook and fish on bottom, because most of the flatties stay on the bottom feeding, and blue gill seems to be one of there favorite things to eat, I hope this has helped you keep us posted and let us know how you do and good luck and I hope you catch you a nice fish.
Drew, welcome to the B.O.C., best catfishing community on the planet. This time of year I usually have the best luck in shallow water at night. Flatheads will be invading crappie beds in lakes and creeks. Live baitfish usually works the best this time of year.
i would definitely head up the river and look for structure and holes! small live carp and bullheads are the ticket. welcome to the boc!
i totally agree and believe your ticket to a big flatie is patience and learning where to find them look for log jams and rocks and things thatgive them somewhere to get out of the current
I caught several this weekend(forgot my camera, will have pics tomorrow) in anywhere from 3ft. to 27ft of water this weekend the main channel area of the lake.
Welcome to the BOC. Ideally, find deep water with structure adjacent to shallow water. You will have all options available to you. Place a few baits shallow and some deep. Focus on the deeper water during the day and for sure fish the shallows at night. Live bait is the best, although most of my early Flatheads are caught on cutbait. Good luck!
Welcome to the forum Drew. James How many is several? Would a good nights fishing be like a limit or more? How long is a normal fishing trip and how do you rate a good catch verses time ratio?
Brad, a good night of fish is when we catch fish. JK I took my father in law out on this fishing trip and he is still learning how to catch these big catfish. We put 4 (7 to 22lb) cats on the dock(CPR), 3 small cats in the cooler(total of about 4lbs), 9 Crappie in the cooler(total about 20lbs), 3 yellow bass(total of about 3.5lbs). My father in law missed 5 big hits and I missed 1 so we had a good night of fishing for sitting on a dock. I try to make a fishing trip at least 12 hours, sometimes it's longer and sometimes it's shorter but average is about 12 hours. Now we caught about 25 bream just passing the time and keeping bait(bream) fresh but what we didn't use we released. My kids caught most of the bream. My 5yr old daughter and 3yr old son kept the bream comin.
I would fish were the river comes in with a live carp. I would setup bout sunset and fish for a few hours right on the current seam is. If i had no luck there i would run up the river and try to find cover like a log jam that has acess to deep water i would throw one or two rods close to the channel and one or two up tight to the cover. Dont forget to check your local laws bout fishin with multiple rods. Dont want to get a ticket. Here in utah you have to buy a second pole permit in order to use two rods. other places you can use bout as many as you care to watch. hope this helps :wink:
