# Flathead Wisdom?



## BuckeyeCatDaddy (Sep 10, 2013)

Greetings All!

Wanted to absorb some of the wisdom of others in landing a nice flathead. My son and I are pretty well adept at grabbing the big blues and channels, but our unicorn is a big flathead. We have a small 12ft flat-bottom john boat with a trolling motor, so we stick to the reservoirs like Hoover, Alum (Howard Rd area) etc. Willing to even drive out a bit (Rush Creek, Knox, Hargus, etc.). We are fine on catching small bluegills as bait.

Thank you!!


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## fool4fish (Mar 21, 2014)

I dont know about wisdom but offer my opinion they are kinda a unicorn to myself as well. So my first tip is dont target them n they will find you just kidding it seens that way sometimes but my brother told me a 40 got caught below deer creek this week and i know they got a few there.n my best tip is if your fishing man made below spillways is first place to look if your in a boat on a resivior look for some nice deep troughs anchor above and be precise with your offering place it at the head or beginning of the pool time and time again the biggest cats lay at the front of the pool they are dominant and claim thier place there to maintain a diet that supports thiwr size i believe them to be river oriented fish n this holds true for me on rivers. second tip target sheer number game scioto river griggs n oshey i catch smalls on crappie gear regularly n everyone knows it holds plenty if i were hunting them personally id start there.last tip dont just fish gills i only have 3 big natural shovels to my credit n all 3 were caught on dead monster size creek chubs they love big white suckers and hog suckers as well hope this helps ya out


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## Saugeyefisher (Jul 19, 2010)

I second Griggs an osheay for pure numbers close to Columbus. 
So your self a huge favor and read any article/post/write up you can find that Robby Robinson out out there. He was a long time member here an the master at catching flathead catfish from the muskingum watershed lakes. 
And if your willing to travel a bit. That is where is go,lakes like peidmont,saltfork,tappen,and clendening.... There all within 2 hours of Columbus and hold flatheads....


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## jray (Jan 20, 2006)

There's a small ramp north of home road on oshay. That would be right up your alley in that boat.


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## Fisherman 3234 (Sep 8, 2008)

Get ready to do a lot of fishing...don't forget fishing the rivers!!!


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## acklac7 (May 31, 2004)

Define "Big"? 30lb+ is going to be a chore for around here. Maybe put your time (years) in on Hoover...

Anything under 25lb? Biggest Bluegill you can find below any Spillway on the Scioto, especially during high water. Leave the boat at home.

Smaller Gills are for Channels.


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## Dana.Birrell (Apr 23, 2012)

acklac7 said:


> Anything under 25lb? Biggest Bluegill you can find below any Spillway on the Scioto, especially during high water. Leave the boat at home.
> 
> Smaller Gills are for Channels.


Just remember that he's more than right, catfish will eat ANYTHING they can fit in their mouths... Anything.


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## acklac7 (May 31, 2004)

Dana.Birrell said:


> Just remember that he's more than right, catfish will eat ANYTHING they can fit in their mouths... Anything.


Not denying that in the least.

Just saying, if you want to catch Flatheads and Flatheads only use the largest live gills you can find. Even the biggest, most monstrous of Channels will have a damn-near impossible time chowing-down on a 9" Bluegill.


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## Dana.Birrell (Apr 23, 2012)

Another thing you can use IF you can find them are 1-2 lb carp


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## Fisherman 3234 (Sep 8, 2008)

My new personal best bit a fresh 14" shad with the tail cut off this spring. If your hunting big Flatheads, big bait is a must, but also try to bring a variety, they can be very, very picky. Make sure your geared up correctly too...


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## MDBuckeye (Sep 29, 2009)

acklac7 said:


> Not denying that in the least.
> 
> Just saying, if you want to catch Flatheads and Flatheads only use the largest live gills you can find. Even the biggest, most monstrous of Channels will have a damn-near impossible time chowing-down on a 9" Bluegill.


Sounds like you would fish for them same as the giant sharks down in FLA. Go big or go home!


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## M.Magis (Apr 5, 2004)

Bigger baits don't always equal bigger flatheads. In the last 20 years fishing for big flatheads, we've had more turtle and channel cat trouble when using huge baits than we've caught flatheads on them. A nice *lively* bait 4"-7" long has proven to be the most consistent. When lake fishing this time of year, using bluegill will typically result in a dead bait within the hour and more channel cat problems. Small carp or goldfish can survive the warm water and become the go-to bait. Find a nice semi-shallow bay, set out some lively baits, and wait. This time of year it wouldn't be uncommon for Robby and I to fish all weekend, every weekend, for weeks at a time, and not catch a decent flathead. It takes patience.

Edit: I should note that the bulk of my last 20 years of flathead fishing has been in lakes. There tend to be some differences when river fishing, such as bait, location, and timing.


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## acklac7 (May 31, 2004)




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## Deazl666 (Mar 30, 2012)

Heavy line, and lots of it. I hooked into one a couple months ago while bass fishing a creek - it hit a Rapala Shadow Rap Shad - and it went, and went, and went...until my spool was nearly empty. 

The one I hooked into last year I - again while bass fishing - I fought for 10 minutes and did everything right until the last few seconds when it retreated into a laydown. 

My point is that with BIG flatheads you gotta be properly outfitted and not make mistakes.


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## geoffoquinn (Oct 2, 2011)

Timing and location. I'm a week or so away from going after any myself. Fish rivers, they hold more flatheads. Cut bait is effective. There are places that you will catch more flatheads than channel cats at certain times. You just have to find that place. The live bait lake guys have the patience of a Bonzai tree. River spots are harder to locate though due to private property . You'll spend so much time finding it that once you get there you won't believe how easy it is to catch them.The time spent finding the spot will definitely give you a much deeper appreciation for why people are so tight lipped about location. Hoover is a tough place to target flatheads.


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## Addam38257 (May 29, 2010)

I agree with geoffoquinn. The rivers are where you're going to find them, and the big ones aren't usually where the public can access. The flattie bite is about to turn on, and if you can find the spots not accessible by many, it becomes a matter of how big, not how many.


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## jetcatter (Mar 21, 2015)

I do alright on the sciota for 6to 25lbs flats with plenty of channel cat action. I'm little farther South north of Chillicothe, but action should be the same. Just find log jam or deep hole.


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## 9Left (Jun 23, 2012)

Agree with the river bite! with the way that rivers have been this summer, (up and muddy most of the time), I have switched gears in the last couple of months to fishing River cats . been averaging between 7and 10 fish on each trip ,( both flatheads and channels)....Flatheads heads are just now getting ready to come off the Spawn in the next week or so...at least in the rivers around here in Southwest Ohio anyway . Even during the Flathead spawn, we've been catching small ones (under 5 pounds) using 4 to 6 inch live 'gills.... Best bait for channels was cut 'gills


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## Catstalker1956 (Feb 25, 2013)

Here is what worked for me. It’s been 8 years since I targeted flatheads. I would put my boat in at the canoe livery on 665 (Scioto River). The guy would let me park there for $5.00.

Float down past the pipe on the left side of the river then start fishing the holes from there to as far as you can go. There are two spots that have cover and some depth right before the power plant. Our bait in this order worked for us:
· Hog nose suckers
· Red horse suckers
· Warmouth’s
· Gold Fish
· Blue Gils
At that time we were catching flatheads from 5 to 30 pounds with a few around 40 pounds.

There were guys catching flathead and selling them to the pay lake on 23 so the size was slowly getting smaller. We had guys that told us they would buy anything we caught. This reduced the quality of the fish and we have not been back since.

I would say you could still catch nice flatheads in this area.
We also put in at the Chillicothe ramp and would travel up stream. There is a bridge that has a deep hole. We caught nice fish there and a couple hundred yards upstream from the bridge.
My advice would be to fish the river.


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## Fisherman 3234 (Sep 8, 2008)

Big Cat Paylakes have definitely put the hurt on trophy Flatheads statewide. Why do you think so many catfisherman are so tight lipped? It takes 15-25 years for these fish to truly reach trophy size.


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## Catstalker1956 (Feb 25, 2013)

Somebody said something about Robby Robinson. He had a website with a lot of good information. Also, there was a guy who put out a tape called Muddy Bottom Monsters. Someone from Piedmont Lake taught him how to catch them in Lakes.


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## Saugeyefisher (Jul 19, 2010)

I agree here locally the rivers are your best bet. But like I said. If your willing to travel a couple hours the muskingum watershed lakes have some true monsters in them....


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## Cajunsaugeye (Apr 9, 2013)

Hopefully i'll show some pics next weekend of some of those muskingum watershed lake monsters! (Clendening)


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## tk1fisherman (Aug 16, 2012)

acklac7 said:


> Not denying that in the least.
> 
> Just saying, if you want to catch Flatheads and Flatheads only use the largest live gills you can find. Even the biggest, most monstrous of Channels will have a damn-near impossible time chowing-down on a 9" Bluegill.


 I caught 20 flats this year on cut bait.


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## M.Magis (Apr 5, 2004)

That's one of those lake/river cat differences. River flatheads readily eat fresh cut bait, and it's often the best choice. Using cut bait in lakes normally just results in constant channel cat frustration.


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## tk1fisherman (Aug 16, 2012)

M.Magis said:


> That's one of those lake/river cat differences. River flatheads readily eat fresh cut bait, and it's often the best choice. Using cut bait in lakes normally just results in constant channel cat frustration.


 I agree.. But there are times of the year when I feel like cut works better and times when live is the only way to get a bite. Just wanted to give him more options to hook up with 1.


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