First Try at a Flat

Yesterday I actually tried to catch a flathead. I have caught many inadvertently over the years but nothing over a couple pounds. I really wanted to see what a big one was like.

So we fished panfish most of the day to catch some big gills and crappies. Kept about 8 gills for a meal, released everything else. Caught quite a few nice crappies actually… well anyway back to the cats. Decided it was time to go try to catch one. Kept a few small gills for bait, didn’t want to waste too many so we only kept 6. I had done some reading on how to catch the buggers during the day… so we had some places in mind. First spot… nothing. Second spot was a picture perfect snag that had been there so long it had 4 foot high weeds growing on it. So we put 3 lines with gills down on the front of this snag. I was using the only tackle I deemed heavy enough to even try to wrassle one out of a snag… my musky gear. We had 4 oz sinkers with 4/0 circle hooks. I knew that with circle hooks that you have to let the fish take the bait, (ideally) turn and swim away), then just start reeling and NOT set the hook. I had also heard that flatheads are not the subtle when they strike. Now keep in mind that my entire fishing life has been spent setting the hook when a fish hits… and so my senses have been honed to detect the slightest whisper so I can drive the hook home. So of course… I’m holding the rod that gets hit…. A far cry from the bluegill peck peck, or the crappie slurps that I had been feeling for all day. All I can say is WOW… felt like someone hit my line with a baseball bat then attached it to a moving vehicle. Naturally I handled the situation cooly and calmly letting the fish hook himself and then eased him out of the wood and into the net… OH WAIT,… actually, I panicked… jerked back as hard as I could, had the fish on for long enough to feel some real power… then he opened his mouth.

Whew… gotta try that again sometime. I know… disappointing… no fish landed. BUT it was fun! There might be something to these big ol flats after all

welcome to the darkside, now you spend countless sleepless nights .
sounds like you did a lot of research and had a successful outing. heck there are many many outings that i dont even get a bite but just like muskie fishing all it takes is that one biggun to make it better =D

one thing i would suggest is goin with a bigger hook. most of us chasing flats will run an 8/0 circle or 10/0 j-hook. even tho u can catch them on a 4/0 but the bigger hook will have a wider gap to hook into that big ole wide mouth of theres.

^ What Mr. Special said for hooks.

The only reason a fish isn’t hooked is because the hook is too small (or the flats mouth is too big )

I know there are people that use circles with great success, but it sure seems to me the bait does/could get in the way of a good hook catch. Just one persons opinion.

Congrats on getting out there and having a hit and during the day!

I’m guessing you were on the Mississippi?

Yup on the Mississippi. As far as hooks go… I bought them a few years ago when I didn’t know anything. Everything I read supports what you guys are saying… bigger hooks and less circly. When I try for them again, I think the biggest reason for not using circle hooks for me would be… setting the hook is about my favorite part of fishing. So I hate losing that part of it. Do you guys prefer Kahle hooks?

Also, it seemed relatively common to target them in the daytime if you drop the bait in their faces. So thats what we were trying to do… find a likely snag, drop the gills right in their house so they would eat it out of hunger or because they were annoyed. Have you guys tried this much before?

Like I said… I’m a complete newbie so… I don’t know much. Just going off of what I’ve read.

Its definitely something I want to do again.

That’s technique is called snag hopin can be very productive but also expensive aswell. Lol
I usually snag hop in the mornings but cn wrk anytime of the day. When I’m snag hopin I usually do a milk run of spots

Myself and lot of others I know use big kahle hooks. 7/0-10 or big octopus 9/0-12/0
Flats being predator sumtimes will ran at you which is not the best with a circle.

But w that said I’ve been starting to use more big circle hooks for flats cz I sux at setting the hook lol