How to Catch Flathead Catfish
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 18 ก.ย. 2024
- Flatheads are some very impressive fish. When you hook in to a good one you're in for an awesome fight. But they're not like blues or channels where you can find a decent spot and catch a handful. You have to actively seek out their hiding spots and tempt them in to taking your bait. Learn what to look for and when to look there in this video, along with the best bait and how I like to hook them.
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Green sunfish, big hook through the tail! 8/0-12/0 depending on where I’m fishing. Can’t wait for the season!!
Finally someone saying don’t yank it like a bass my friends lost some big fish bc of that
In PA, cutbait is just as successfull as live bait if not better than live bait most of the time, esp pre spawn. But even post spawn when i start throwing out giant live baits, i still always have more rods out with cut bait on them then live bait. Ill take a scent trail in current any day over the vibration of a live bait
Iowa guy here. Grew up on the Mississippi River but live in Central Iowa now. Cut bait works for flatheads as well in both of these areas. That being said, live bullheads are definitely my favorite baits though.
Where do you fish in PA?
Favorite bait? Bluegill heads. Hooked though the eyes above the actual eyeball. Hard as hell to pull off. Usually only have to switch bait because it's not juicy and it's been bit and is waterlogged.
I actually bumped into a guy that blobbed about 6 worms on a circle hook and caught a 70lb flathead at the biggest spillway Iowa, he realsed it because it had about 10 lbs of eggs in it.
I like to use threadfin shad I usually hook them by the dorsal fin if I'm fishing his late if I'm fishing a river through the nose
The only Flathead I've caught was in about three feet of water during the summer in the middle of the day.
Love fishing for flatheads on the banks of the Ohio river! I catch a lot of flatheads on cut bluegill, especially the head, thanks for the video, very helpful and I will use more live bluegill
They'll hit whatever, I think; I've caught them on cut bait, a bunch of nightcrawlers, crayfish, and once on a lure. But they hunt by vibration maybe. Live bait is best where I fished for sure. A lot of old-timers told me it was best to fish for them during the new moon in total darkness. I always set one rod out with cut bait (bream), to draw activity from downstream, and another two with live bait. I used Penn 209's with the clickers set, and you could usually hear the clicker pop a time or two before it started singing. I always assumed that was either the flatty mouthing my bait, or the bait going nuts reacting to the flatty.
He's telling the truth about trying to pull you in. I caught about a 30lb on that made a hard at the same time I was stepping down to get closer to the water and it almost pulled me in
Dad was fishing for channel cats from the bank one day when I was VERY small. He was using chicken liver and 6lb test. He pulled in a 52lb flathead. Made the newspaper. He's caught two more with bass lures since I've been an adult. One was 72lbs, and one was 43. Fishing strictly for bass in local tournaments.
Meanwhile, I'm sitting here after several seasons with hundreds of dollars of gear and dozens of hours of videos watched/articles read, and I haven't even caught a baby flathead.
I can catch channels all day. I can catch blues in the right lake with the right bait. I can't catch flatheads. And they're the only ones I want to catch. How poetic.
I'd have a taxidermy company make a fiberglass replica of a 2lb flathead, if only I could catch one.
My Dads buddy Ernie has caught ALL of his large flatheads on Cut Shad.
My other buddy Austin also caught a 45LB flathead couple months ago on a cut shad head as well. Just wanted to throw that out there since you said you don't typically catch large flathead on cut bait.
Caught a 25pounder off half a garlic salted bluegill I had in the freezer lol.
Live bait is great when it will stay alive! Here in the rivers I fish In NC the Channel cats seem to kill any live bait that hits the bottom, don’t eat it half the time but just crush it and spit it back out so most of my flats have been on cut bluegill
Great tips. Most of my bigger flattys have come on live blue gill. If I'm suspending them, I hookem through the top of the back, or if I'm free lining or weighted to the bottom I use Carolina rig hooked thru the tail close to the anal fin. I also cut most the fan part off the tail fin. It causes them to swim a little erratic and bring more attention to themselves. Just some things that have helped me. Thanks for the content
Thanks for commenting!
My family and I have recently found a spot near a bridge and we’ve gone twice so far and there have been plenty of bowfin and gar in that one spot, but I caught about three 7 inch flatheads within about 10 minutes at the same spot, one with a tiny chunk of cut bait and the other two with chicken livers. If I were to use live bait could I possibly catch a larger flathead in the same spot?
Great information, thanks for taking the time to make this. Flatheads here I come
So far large suckers hooked through the nose here in Minnesota has been my favorite bait to use. 7-10 inch suckers. Larger if you can find them.
I like bluegill hook right behind the dorsal fin and I cut the tail off and I've got a couple 30 Pounders and lots of smaller ones
What does cutting the tail do?
@@InformedOutdoors when you cut the tail off he's not as mobile as he kind of vibrates around in an erratic movement and it attracts their attention plus they can't get away as easy
Hey man I can't disagree more about not catching more big fish in one area
Big Green sunfish work best for me .
For my channel cat I use a Carolina rig and run a smaller circle hook through the back of a Shad or all thread worms on it
Yup
I caught a 42 yesterday on a brem hook and nightcrawler 17 pound test and a medium bass spinning rod … fluke and fight of my life
When there spawning on a small river do you fish structure at night
In my experience green sunfish are like candy to Flathead
One time I was fishing with my brother for the first time ever since we were kids and we were using bluegill for bait we waited hours and hours for a bite and nothing was happening my brother fell asleep in the s.u.v as I kept on fishing for some reason I decided to mess around with my cast net to see if I could get anything other than bluegill and I caught my first red horse sucker about 15 inches long I decided to cut it into big chunks and rebait my lines well let me tell you not even 15 minutes after casting I got my first 30lb flathead then a few minutes after that I caught a second one back to back it was awesome my brother was amazed by the size of the fish I've been fishing with red horse suckers as bait ever since and that does the job most of the time only thing is they are mutch harder to catch than bluegill but who knows it might just be a Texas thing because I see so many TH-cam videos of people catching catfish with bluegill!!!!
8/0 to 10/0 team catfish circle hooks. Live bluegill through the eyes. I mainly catch blues though
You catch mostly blues with live bluegill?
Informed Outdoors yes over 50lbers love them
My experience when fishing a big hook some of the brands have a thick wire this can be hard on the bait. They make a thin wire that will hold up and hold big blues and flatheads.
Right now I prefer to use mustad demon circles for this very reason. Thanks for commenting!
New to your channel very well put info. Thank you.
Thanks for watching!
@@InformedOutdoorsgood information.thank you.findly cought a 40+ lastnight
Good info. Thanks
No problem!
SPOONS FLOODER SPOONS LET IT DROP SLOW THEN PULL IT OFF THE BOTTOM REEL THEN BAM OOOH YAH SPOONS CATCH HUGE FLATHEAD CATFISH LAKE CONROE TX. 5 big flathead catfish in 2hrs 26# up to 54lbs# all on fire tiger Green orange n crome slowly drops to the bottom in about 20ft of water then reel SLOW it will happen also big huge bass love these spoons also fish on lake conroe TX
My bluecats I use float rigs with shrimp or shad
I’ve caught 1 flathead that was like less than a pound
I fish the Neuse River in NC and love to fish for flatties. The sizeable flathead i catch never nibble or play with a bait tho. They slam it and then slowly start moving off. My biggest is 47 inches.
I fish Smithfield up thru knightdale I running a long tail Jon boat u around there?
@@rodneymatthews3944 No I'm around fort Barnwell area. Maple cypress to Cowpen.
If you're fishing larger rivers, Ohio river, Tennessee river chain, Mississippi river, cut bait is king for big flatheads. Live bait seems to actually catch smaller than average flatheads in bigger rivers in my experience. All of my flatheads over 40 lbs. has come on cut bait. It just depends on where you live. Nothing is absolute in the flatheads world.
Up here in central Ohio, I fish a river that stretches from one reservoir to another and for some reason I can't get even a small flathead to taste cut bait and I wish I could bc it's gets to be a pain getting and keeping live bait good in my kayak
Bullheads r-rating grade for bait a live to
Great video!
Glad you enjoyed it
Big flatheads love small channel cats
What size and kind of circle hooks do you like for Blues and Flattys, I'm switching from the Catt Maxx hooks, and looking for a good replacement that I can buy in bulk, at least packs of 25 for reasonable money.
I like 8/0 Gamakatsu's. Check bottom dwellers tackle. They've got a great selection, and pretty good prices.
8 is good but 6 holds on cutbait baetter
I agree with most of the video. Except for the fact that I have caught my largest and more large flatheads "shovelheads in ohio" using cut carp. Now I'm not saying live bait isn't the way to go. I'm only saying that where I have fished in ohio I have caught more and my PB using cut carp. And no I do not fish pay lakes. The great Miami River in Southern ohio.
I like cut green sunfish
Big warmouth on a 8/0 king kahle hooked through the nose here in northwest Florida
What’s a war mouth?
@@InformedOutdoors Google it for a picture but its kind of like a green sunfish or rock bass basically it by far the flatheads favorite pan fish in the yellow river
Learn something new every day lol! That would be good bait
Love kale hooks best live bait hook out there
Hook the blue gill. Under the top fin
Gold fish
I've caught over a 100 over 20# on fresh cut bait
Keyword for flatheads is fresh
Ive been catfishing for most of my life and I still haven't caught a blue or flathead
Where abouts are you in Missouri?
Cental
@@InformedOutdoors right on I’m down southwest closer to Springfield.
I caught a 37lb fatty flatty on nightcrawler rod and real 5/2021
Live fish bait is the best but is not needed for fatty flatties
While I bass fish or fish for just any thing
I got a giant flat on a earth worm. I didn’t get a weight. Line broke at the bank.
That's always how it works. At least you got to see him!
Squid bits it takes time put every Time I put my ropeLine with a Gatorade bottle as a bober down with A piece of squid
The largest 3 flatheads I've ever caught. All 30 to 35 lbs. 2 of them were on cutbait. Dislike for stating unequivocally that you cant catch a big flathead with out live bait. I've heard other anglers that dont believe the live bait tall tale say that it's a seasonal thing. That part of the time you will do better with cutbait. And the other times live bait is better. I don't know if that's true or not. Could be just another fishing tall tale. But what I do know is you can catch large flathead on cutbait. I realize 30-35 lbs arent absolute giants. But they ain't babies. And I am fairly new to trying to specifically target flatheads. And I'm fairly certain i hooked into one on cut that was much larger that i never saw because i forgot to adjust my drag after pulling out of a snag 🤦♂️
I’ve got a 56 on cut blue gill 🤷🏼♂️
Would chicken livers work?
I haven’t had luck catching flatheads on liver, but others have. If that’s all you can get ahold of then don’t let it stop you.
It’s the worst when water is low they don’t bite
We did better recently when the water was low 👍🎣
Tigermuskienm you probably live on a big river I live on a tiny river right now the river is around 5 feet to 6 feet high and that’s on a good spot
Tigermuskienm where are you fishing for flatheads at night near structure or what
Live tilapia cut off all fins and tail
Where do you get live tilapia?
@@InformedOutdoors catch them with a throw net in my local pond on the salt river in phx az
it don't need to be alive most of my biggest fish come off of sucked heads
GO CHIEFS!!!
Pre spawn and in the fall they absolutely bunch up and have caught more than one big fish in the same hole within minutes.