Flathead Bait – The Cornerstone of Flathead Fishing

…and it’s getting harder and harder to get.

Maybe that’s part of flathead fishing. Investing the time into catching your own bait.

Personally I hate going out with a hook and line catching 50 bullheads for two nights of fishing. I hate it more if I run out while fishing or even run low where I have to save a less then jiggly bully just because I’m getting low.

I guess there are alternatives. If I fish on the WI side of the Mississippi I could be using bluegills. Seems like a bite of a waste as I would rather be eating them as to letting a big ol’ cat eat them.

Suckers are a good bait. Two to 4 dollars a piece. I would pay it, but finding a reliable source is difficult. Over the years many bait shops have told me it’s not going to be a problem supplying suckers. Then when I arrive on the agreed on day, their supplier didn’t come through and I sit with an empty bait tank.

I think it’s time to pull out the old seine and fill up the freezer converted to a bait tank again.

288 bullys under 7″ and 100 more between 7 to 10″. One MN limit.

This is true here in Minnesota with all of the AIS regulations. Obviously, we do not want to aid in the spreading of these diseases but this has been terrible for our business. For those who do not understand what is happening: The MN DNR increases the number of infected waters every year. If the waters you typically get bait from are listed on the AIS list you can no longer remove bait from that said water whether you are doing so for yourself or to attempt to sell them in your bait shop. Between the laws and the creek / river conditions this year specialty bait has been a real struggle. Creek chubs, willowcats, rosies are almost impossible to acquire legally in mn. Wisocnsin has a little loser laws and a few bait farms that are raising chubs and willowcats but we are not allowed to transport them from Wisconsin to Minnesota commercially.

I do not know of anyway to solve these problems short of building a pond and raising our own AIS free bait, trust me I have been looking into it.

Hopefully somehow we will crack the code on where to get clean bait in an economical manner soon,

Chris Winchester

I consider the whole bait thing just part of the hunt. If you are going to be a serious flathead hunter it does take some work.

Having my own bait tank is peace of mind. I always know I have bait on hand. Just got back from a bullhead run. Picked up 23 nice bullheads – jig & worm. It was actually a lot of fun. The bullheads require some effort to catch and then some work to maintain the bait tank but it is worth it. I keep my small bullheads too when I’m after bullies. They make good cut bait – snip off the head and tail and you’ve got a perfect bloody hunk of cut bait.

I got a full bucket of bullheads in the truck waiting to go. Tonight’s weather looks good. I’m after them tonight. Good Fishing!

I suspect soon enough all the waters of Mn will be infected with this. Then maybe they will relax a bit.

Good luck Steve!

I’m hoping it’s sooner then that Koots.

SKUNKED. Beautiful night but this cool front has everything messed up. I needed a jacket tonight – kind of cold for 15 July. River is coming down slowly but still out of its banks. River elevation today is 681.2′ and 675.5′ is normal summer stable pool elevation. Still almost 6’too high. I’ve got all kinds of excuses for the skunk. Well you can’t catch fish if your hooks aren’t in the water. After them again tomorrow night – great looking forecast.

Average temp for this time of year is in the 80’s. This morning predicted low? 52.

What an amazing year…so far. Hopefully the All Star game was good.

Brian Klawitter wrote:

Hopefully the All Star game was good.

It was good, but this guy was still thinking 1.8 miles away was where I caught my first flat, and there’s a big momma waiting somewhere, that’s like a 15min walk?!

Been a long time since I’ve posted here, glad to see a public fishing forum putting forth effort towards being mobile friendly. I’ll just share something I posted elsewhere about this issue because it is easily THE biggest threat to the future of catfishing.

Look, I will step forward and say my intentions are totally selfish here. AIS laws have stymied catfishermen into being petty criminals. We don’t waltz into a bait store and walk out with a shiny new crankbait or a 3 dollar box of leeches. Bait is our lifeblood and THE most important tool in our box, take it away and well….quite frankly we either quit or we break laws and because of the danged winter we had this year and the lakes taking a hit, this year is especially bad.

Now understand there are ways around it. I can purchase $5/each suckers at the bait store (if I can find one that carries them) and hope that I don’t cast a few off or get em snagged in a tree or they go belly up, and best case scenario I’m out a minimum of $50 a trip just for bait.

I can usually supplement my bullheads with creek chubs. Always have had very good luck with that…not this year. You can only imagine what the creeks have looked like this year.

Bullheads are easy to get you say? Sure, but from uninfested waters that didn’t winterkill this year? Good Luck not having to drive all over the metro looking for legal bait and when they are gone after a trip or two, you get to do it all over again.

Now lets say there was a small lake nearby that was full of bullheads or suckers or chubs or whatever legal species but Classified as infested, you can understand how tempting it would be to fill up a 5gal bucket with clean tap water, catch the bait with a net or hook/line and transport them in that fresh water to our fishing location and perhaps you can also understand that when you have a large cooler full of this prized bait that you have babied with cool water, and added oxygen all night and its 1am why you might be tempted to just leave them in that big cooler of water for the trip home. Guess what though…. that would be Illegal frown

I will say the MNDNR has worked with us and continues to work with us, we have made some good headway, but we have a ways to go. Until then common sense practices among us will prevail.

^ A post right to the heart of the problem.

Brian Klawitter wrote:

^ A post right to the heart of the problem.

Amen. Might I add suckers do work as bait but have never been even close to effective as others. It’s like fishing for panfish with leaches instead of wax worms.

Good luck fishing to everyone, the past week I have had a Flat or a run every night. Best fishing I’ve had this year..

So… all of you MN bait experts. I have an Iowa resident license a non-res MN license and fish on the Mississippi a lot I put in at a landing in Iowa. I would like to try flathead fishing. I was thinking of camping by a good spot rather than fishing overnight in the boat… mainly because I want to bring my kids along and I doubt they would sleep in the boat. So… My question is, the spot that I want to actually camp is on the MN side of the channel (I fish Pool 9 right by the borders of 3 states so… woot woot). So… IF I camp at said spot… I need to follow MN regs for livebait correct? Having said that, I realize that all gamefish are off the table… Can I use creek chubs because they are loaded in the creeks by my house? (Are they even good bait?) Other option would be bullheads right? I know a marsh I can catch bullheads at… but its in Iowa…… (WOW… as I’m typing this, I think its probably easier to just find a place to camp in Iowa, which is probably what your answers would have said)…

So lots of questions there… feel free to direct me to other threads because I know this has been addressed many times before. I looked through some other threads but couldn’t find the exact answer I was looking for.

Thanks in advance!

I’m not a CO or an expert on IA/MN border water rules, but I think you answered your own question if you want to stay with in the law.

Personally I would make sure whatever bait I’m using did not come from a water that’s infested with something other then what the Mississippi already has. VHS for example. It’s the right thing to do rather then the law.

I need to follow MN regs for livebait correct? Having said that, I realize that all gamefish are off the table… Can I use creek chubs because they are loaded in the creeks by my house? (Are they even good bait?) Other option would be bullheads right? I know a marsh I can catch bullheads at… but its in Iowa……

Creek Chubs are awesome bait!
No game fish on the MN side.
Bullheads are fine, but I would go for creek chubs over bullheads this time of year.

My cover my butt statement.

As long as your bait is legally obtained and legal to use in MN/IA they can be used from train track to train track.