# For Mastercatman



## katfish (Apr 7, 2004)

> Robby, I have to say that you are putting my year to shame....again! You have definitely inspired me over the years to put in more time and try new techniques. Though I have not posted during the past couple of years, I have been watching you! It is guys like you that this sport needs more of! Through you and others advice over the years, it has helped me put more cats on the bank and I offer a formal thank you to you and others who have shared good information on techniques. This year has been difficult at best for me and many of you out there! It begs the question...What's the program? Are you fishing lakes or rivers? Are you using cut bait for most of these guys still or is another bait option been the ticket? There is a local paylake (catfish island) which I fear has possibly cleaned out a lot of big cats over the years. I worry that their efforts have at least slightly if not more, diminished the number of available flatheads where I fish. Please post or PM me what techniques have been putting the fish in your pictures! BTW congratulations on all of the nice fish you have caught and released this year! It has many of us envious! Will post results and pics of anything that comes out of this year! Sorry for the long reply!


I wanted to send you a reply with PM but could not.

I pretty much fish lakes these days unless unusual circumstances require me
to fish rivers.

I am paying more attention to baits this year as I study a theory. I 
almost never use cut baits because there are so many channel cats 
where I fish that it would interrupt my flathead fishing.










Ducky caught lots of flathead early on live shad. When it quit flooding
it soon became to hot for shad to stay alive and he changed to bluegill.
About that time I started getting flathead.
Now my gills are not living through the night and I am mixing
in goldfish and small carp or rebaiting with fresh gills throughout the night.

I am fishing the brushpiles I built in winter to see if the extra 
structure attracts flathead or not. 

Brock and Chad have both explored new areas and both had success.

There are so many different variables that it is difficult to pin down 
patterns that are reliable. We do change locations based on 
water temperature hoping the flathead migrate deeper or shallower.
Right now we are concentrating on spawning habitat trying to 
intercept the prespawn males as the look for suitable nest sites 
and fight for dominance and look for mates.

The weather is still so unstable that we often don't know how it
will be till after we get baits in the water.

You can depend on some of the variables to repeat year after 
year but many others change on a daily basis. All we can do 
is hope to observe who catches flathead and hope to correctly
understand why they were where they were caught and change 
tactics and baits and locations.

Try some live baits and see if your catch rate improves.


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## bigcatjoe (Sep 6, 2006)

Your right, its been a weird year weather wise. The water temps are rising but still a bit behind. Most of the larger fish we've had so far this year are females full of eggs. In one lake every fish has come on suspended baits in the heart of the river channel. In another lake we fish, every one of them so far has been in less than 5 feet of water. As you said, there are a ton of variables, and more so during a strange year like this one. Should be a good fall bite though


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## mastercatman (Jan 30, 2005)

Thank you for the reply guys, and more info is always helpful! This year has been a hard one to pin things down! Last year I had 10 fish over 20#, 5-6 over 30#, and 1 over 40# along with plenty smaller by this time already! So far this year, I have not even broken 15#! It is enough to give me a complex...almost!
Things that have changed: Only fished 3/4 the amount I did last year, fishing a local lake more than the river I was fishing, less desirable baits (IMO,small shad, gills), a LOT more water (reason for fishing lake!), and fewer "late" nights out. Either way, the lake thing has always seemed a little more complex for me. Some of you seem to have the lakes figured out about as well as I would ever hope to! I primarily use live baits and shy from cut baits for the same reasons (avoiding small channels). My recent trips I have focused on main lake points and shallow flats adjacent to them. I am fishing 3-5 fow using cigar floats to keep a 3-way rig upright (floats not freely moving) keeping baits just off the bottom. I have been using live shad almost exclusively which worked fine last year. As you have stated though, there are MANY variables! 

So, during prespawn and spawn on the lakes, what would be the max depth you would consider sending a presentation to?
The lake I fish has lots of rock faces and boulders falling from them although, no spot offers enough to hold more than a couple fish in my opinion. Some of these rock faces drop straight into 15-25fow, is this something that could produce a pattern this time of year?
Also do you find that downed timber along deep or shallow shorelines seems to be good and how much is enough to interest them when you have a lake full of diverse structure? Biggest structure adjacent to deep water or biggest structure on relatively shallower areas?
Big Cat: When suspending your baits in the channels, what depth ranges seem to work? I feel like I cut my odds greatly when fishing open water this way, but, I know those big fish are cruising open water too!
Lots of ?'s I know but, all relevant!
Sorry for all the questions guys, I am not a newbie at catfishing by any means but, I have put in a ton of time with less to show for it than usual! Darn lake fish! Can you smell the desperation! LOL Thanks again guys!


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## katfish (Apr 7, 2004)

Flatheads stay in their security cover 90% of the time. When they do feed
you have to be in the right spot to have a bait along their route.

By now they have usually moved close to their spawning cover. So far we haven't found any concentrated in spawn areas but they may all crowd in at once.

Sometimes all we can do is wait. Keep after them.


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## ducky152000 (Jul 20, 2005)

i use floats a good bit but only in a few spots, the spots i use floats at are usualy in channels that are 8 to 11 foot deep With main water depth at 3 to 5 feet. and i set my stopper at 3 feet so yes its suspended a good bit. but in those spots it seems like the flathead are higher in the water colum, i been thinking about this alot over the last 2 years and believe the reason why these fish suspend that high is due to all the crappie in the area. crappie suspend high also. but that is just another flathead theroy we may never no.


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