# Its flathead time!



## ronj18 (Jul 21, 2011)

The rising river is gonna make the flatheads move. Whats everyones favorite rigging for flatheads from the bank? I was thinking slip float and focus on current swirls near the bank or is that wrong? The current is really cooking so i was trying to save money on sinkers


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## C J Hughes (Jan 24, 2006)

You called that right .We caught ours anywhere from 5 ft to 18 ft . Biggest 24 1/2 pd 37 inches long . All on cut skipjack . Lots of fun .


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## ronj18 (Jul 21, 2011)

Thats good to hear. Wish it was a little more forgiving for me. We went to serpentine wall and only caught 1 channel about 3 lbs but lots of larger skippies jumping and caught a few about 8''. Caught one mooneye too.


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## ChrisB (May 13, 2004)

Slipfloats can be can kill them in the right eddies. Lets say I'm bank fishing and the eddie I cast my bait into is 15 feet. I set my stopper at 13-14 feet. The eddie can pull it into a deeper pool or shallower and I can snag. Use lighter leader so you only loose the leader and hook and can salvage the sinker swivel and bobber. I hsve had great sucsess in tailwaters with this techique from a boat, but it can be a pain from the bank. Throw out a couple of slipsinker rigs on the bottom turn on the clikers and experiment with the slip-bobbers. What size of bobbers are you using out of curiosity? I have had some good nights using lowriders so I didn't get tangled. Especially using live bait without a straw which is hard to use on flowing water. Let me know how it turns out. Oh, I started using large nails on a wolf river rig on those snagy bottoms. It' a three way swivel rig. Tie your main line on the swivel. Then tie a dropper line with 4-8 pound mono on the bottom swivel. Tie on some nails to snag on the bottom. I use cheap 8 pound dropper line if I'm at the dam. 4 pound usually works in eddies. Then tie your leader onto the thrird swivel. This setup works wonders in fast moving water as when a fish takes the bait it wont feel the ressistance and worse case scenario you just looose a nail, rock or what ever you want to hold you bait on the bottom. This time of year like spring most fish are feeding heavy on dying baitfish on the bottom. If your not snagging your not were the cats are times than not. They love to follow shad schools and wait for them to die and fall near the bottom then feed. Summer can be a little different. Flatheads and Blues suspend a lot in the dog days of summer thats where the slipfloats come in handy.lok up Wolf river rigs on google. Should give you a good ideal where to start. It always takes me a while to work out the kinks of new setups. Good luck Ron let us know how you do.


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## zooks (Feb 4, 2011)

ronj18 said:


> The current is really cooking so i was trying to save money on sinkers


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Talk about saving money on sinkers ....... many years ago I was fishing below the dam down at Chattanooga. The banks are pretty rocky (about the size of baseballs) along the edges. I was loosing sinkers because they would drift and get hung up in the rocks. One of the locals came over and said try this - everyone uses them around here ............ Instead of lead sinkers, they cut coathangers into about 6-9 inch lengths, turned an eye on one end to connect to their snap swivel. Throw it in the water and it almost always popped loose if it got caught in the rocks. Can't find anyting much cheaper than an old coathanger, or easier to make.


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## ronj18 (Jul 21, 2011)

Wow thanks for both of those tips, I will try them out next time I go out. If they work well for me it will be an economic break through lol. One thing I was wondering is that if you only have a few nails or close hanger piece and your bait tied on, does getting your bait to the bottom and catch on the bottom before flowing way down a problem? I was just curious because last time we went out 4oz flat sinker floated and bounced on down the river like a split shot.


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## zooks (Feb 4, 2011)

We were using the coathangers along the banks - so the water wasn't too deep and the current wasn't too strong. We were pretty much fishing for blue gills hiding in the rocks. They might not work that well in deep, heavy running water out in the middle - can't say - but a coat hanger wouldn't be that heavy. You might try a heavier sinker - maybe one of those with the rubber twists - just below the coat hanger, so the coat hanger sort of pushes out of the way of the snags and the trailers follow through like a weedless sinker.


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## ChrisB (May 13, 2004)

Never use flat sinkers in heavy current. They just flutter down river. Just hit Markland dam from the shore and messed around with a few things. Dams are snag city with the current and rocks everywhere, Never heard of the coat hanger set up, but with some experimenting it worked ok so long as I wasn't casting out far. I've tried bottom bouncers, bottom walkers, re-shaping sinkers. It just doesn't work well unless you in a boat. Fishing from shore makes your weight and line roll down the river at a funky angle. I keep going back to my old set-up. Put a cheap two way or clip on swivel on your mainline and thread a bead on after that then tie on your main swivel and leader-hook. Then tie on cheap light mono about a foot onto the bottom of the cheap swivel. I then bend a huge nail (gutter nail size) in half and tie the knot on the bend. I can hit my spot and puposly snag my line but when the fish picks it up it feels no resistence. When I set the hook or if the fish hooks himself when I use circles it pulls himself free. I also had good luck popping the nail out of the rocks and didn't loose one that day. My vocabulary isn't good enough to explain it but if anyone has every un-snagged a treble hook by keeping the line tight then pulling the line to the left with your thumb and index finger and then quickly letting go thats what I was doing. I'm going to try and find some different coat hangers and try that for a while, it's a good tip Zooks.


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## ronj18 (Jul 21, 2011)

just got back from the river ky side near Cincinnati. First spot, 8:30-11am no cats but a few bass just shy of a foot while trying for bait. 11-2 Second spot a wopping 100 yards up river and 3 channel cats ranging from 20" to 24" within the first 15 min. not far out either on hot dogs or cut bait. Rest of time spent fooling around with little taps out far on the bottom. Large fish were rolling the surface past casting distance and overall was a nice rainy trip.

I tried a coat hanger piece twisted into a small loop with ends sticking out on two sides attached with mono to a barrel swivel that slides freely on main line down to the leader. It worked great, no hook loss, just not very heavy.


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