I have seen a few articles and fishing shows on jigging for Flats in late fall early winter. It seemed to me that the fish, although lathargic, still struck the jig with some authority when placed within his strike zone.
How many of you out there have tried jigging for Flats in late fall early winter? What are some of your thoughts on this technique?
There is a high probability that these fish are being snagged. Though none would ever admit because its illegal. I’m skeptical, having never heard any first hand info of flats being targeted and caught with any regularity on water temps under 55 F. The ones that are caught I’m guessing would come up like a heavy rag.
Do a google search and you will find a few articles an winter flathead fishing. You may have already found some of the articles.
thanks
Larry
My answer… dont do it.
This topic has been a heated topic in the past. Snagging is a problem in the cold water months in some areas.
When do you know when to stop fishing for flats? At what water temp do they usually go to their wintering holes? Of course Im speaking of the upper Miss, st. croix and minnesota rivers.
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There is a high probability that these fish are being snagged. Though none would ever admit because its illegal. I’m skeptical, having never heard any first hand info of flats being targeted and caught with any regularity on water temps under 55 F. The ones that are caught I’m guessing would come up like a heavy rag.
Do a google search and you will find a few articles an winter flathead fishing. You may have already found some of the articles.
thanks
Larry
I am not sure I totally agree with that. I know there are people that intentionally snag flats in the winter but once the water temp. hit above 40 degrees we get some hellacious fights from flatheads while jigging for walleyes. These are not the deep water lethargic cats. Most of them hit in less than 12 feet of water and absolutely slam the jig.
I would assume fall is the same way.
This is on upper pool #4. I am of the opinion, right or wrong, that the warm water discharge from the nuke plant here changes the wintering habits of flatheads considerable.
My two cents.
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I am of the opinion, right or wrong, that the warm water discharge from the nuke plant here changes the wintering habits of flatheads considerable.
My two cents.
Gator Hunter
You bring up an interesting point. I would be inclined to agree with you on the wintering patterns of Flats that have access to a warm water discharge. I do think that this is a very rare exception IMO and not the norm of the vast majority of Flats in cold winter climates. I have had no experinece of catching Flats any earlier than mid to late april. I’ve tried as early as Mid Feb, mostly targeting channels though.
thanks
Larry
What is suspicious about the technique is that it is always “jigging” that gets flats at this time of year. I fish flats until they don’t hit anymore – usually until the water temp is in the low 50s. If they are feeding aggressively enough to slam jigs, it would make sense that they’re also feeding aggressively enough to hit live bait rigged the usual way, but they don’t. And it isn’t because I’m not getting it into the strike zone, because I move the bait around constantly when they’re not hitting. In my experience they just shut down completely after a point and it’s pretty easy to tell when that point is.
One statement from Mr Jet Cat will always be in my mind…not an exact quote….
“a person that targets wintering flatheads can not call themselves a catfisherman”….and I’ll add “a sportsman”.
Link to high profile cat guys and their thoughts on wintering Flats.
What I got out of that article is that we should not harvest flats during this time as their would be potential to do some major damage to the fishery. What is the difference of targeting flatheads or say walleyes or northerns or channels or blues for that matter? Does catching flats during the cold months kill flats? I wonder if there has been any studies on how fishing flats during this time can harm them? Do flats react differently to being caught then other fish. They seem to me to be a very resilant [sp] fish and seem to me to be able to handle being caught during cold water times.
Kind of interesting I think…
I agree it does not sound too sporting. I am really just interested in how catching flats in cold weather affects them. I would never harvest a flat even if I was starving!! They are an awesome fish arnt they!!
Marc,
basically Flats go into hibernation/dormancy during cold spells, Its not that you hurt or kill them when you snag them. they just stack up in large groups and dont move. To the point that when divers stumble on them they will find the fish covered with silt and debris because they are in a comatose state. Not a sporting way to get these fish.
Flathead WI said it very well. IF the fish are hitting jigs “Aggressivly” why are they not hitting other baits like they normally would.
I got a couple books that might help you out if your interested.
thanks
Larry
First of all I’d like to say that I do not target catfish during cold water periods. I know that people “fish” for them by aggressively jigging and snagging them up from their wintering hole and I agree that this is not in the sporting manner of fishing.
That being said, I still disagree with many of the statements about cold water catfish.
First of all jigging, if you read the reports about wintering catfish most of them state that almost without exception when wintering catfish are encountered they are laying just downstream of large rocks. Pure hydrodynamics would suggest that with anything other than the heaviest of jigs the current of the river flowing around the rock would drift the jig away from cat’s head leading to most snagging to be in the body of the cat not in the mouth. I would say if someone catches, say eight out of ten catfish in the mouth in this circumstance they were eating the bait, not being snagged.
secondly, the catfish that I accidentally cat early in the season are not all on jigs. I start three waying cranks when the water hits about 40 degrees. I have caught plenty of cats three waying both straight raps and live bait. since I three way upstream at a very slow speed (0.5-0.7 MPH) and most fish lie upstream in the river the chances of snagging a fish in the mouth with this technique seems very slim.
Lastly, most catfish I have seen in the early months of the year (March-May) are very healthy and dare I say fat. They do not look like fish that have lain on the bottom of the river dormant and not eating for several months. during the summer months a flathead can eat up to 1/3 of its body weight in a single day just to maintain it’s mass. I realize that, being cold blooded, all fish need to eat far less when the water is cold but they still need to eat.
I am not trying to start an argument here. Nor am I trying to contradict anything you guys are saying. It just seems to me that people are much too willing to read something and take what it says for law without thinking for themselves and formulating his/her own opinion. I’m just adding a little food for thought.
My two cents.
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What is suspicious about the technique is that it is always “jigging” that gets flats at this time of year. I fish flats until they don’t hit anymore – usually until the water temp is in the low 50s. If they are feeding aggressively enough to slam jigs, it would make sense that they’re also feeding aggressively enough to hit live bait rigged the usual way, but they don’t. And it isn’t because I’m not getting it into the strike zone, because I move the bait around constantly when they’re not hitting. In my experience they just shut down completely after a point and it’s pretty easy to tell when that point is.
The first large flathead I saw this spring was caught up by the dam in about 16-18 feet of water by two guys who were anchored and bottom fishing with shiners. I can’t remember exactly when it was but I would say it was March or very early in April. Water temp was below 40 degrees for sure.
It is possible that you are not using small enough bait when the water temp drops below 55.
Fill me in here… Is there something wrong with targeting cats in cold water???
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Fill me in here… Is there something wrong with targeting cats in cold water???
Targeting flathead catfish, in their wintering holes, by rip jigging large bladebaits with multiple hooks, in cold water is wrong.
The In-Fish episode “Frosty Flatheads” (or something like that) clearly stated that sometimes, they snag more fish than legally hook in the mouth using that technique. And somedays, they catch more fish legally hooked in the mouth than snagged. The fact of the matter is, a good percentage of fish are unlawfully snagged using those techniques.
Close the season in the winter! Please!
Large numbers of large flathead catfish are concentrated into small areas making them vulnerable to anglers. Vulnerable meaning it is still legal to keep 1 flathead over 24″ per day. A bunch of boats on the right pattern with bad ethics could do some damage in a hurry.
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I still disagree with many of the statements about cold water catfish.
I’m with Gator. Mid-winter I rarely catch or snag flatheads. I stay out of the deep water for my walleyes so I just don’t spend any time in the wintering holes. However I do catch a fair number of BIG flatties in the late fall and early spring jigging and upstream dragging of plastics.
These fish HIT. Often they hit hard. I usually start running into these FEEDING fish when the water temps get above 40 degrees in the spring so figure right around late march. I usually catch these fish mid-day when the walleyes have pulled out of the super shallow water with most fish caught in 12 – 15 feet.
Saying that a species of fish is not feeding because they won’t hit on the baits you like to offer leaves me scratching my head. As a walleye angler I know that most of the time if I’m catching quality fish on bait, they won’t (and I mean WILL NOT) hit cranks. Or when they’re on a crank bite you’d fish all day and go home empty handed if you insist on fishing bait.
Anyone of the flat guys around here ever try SIGNIFICANTLY down-sizing their baits as the water temps fall to see if that will make a difference. I do know that one of the more experienced flat guys that visits this board, name withheld intentionally unless he decides to speak up on his own accord, starts fishing more plastics for flatties the further into the fall he gets. And he does VERY well.
These fish feed much later into the fall / early winter and earlier in the spring than most here are giving them credit for.
However, that whole ripping big blade baits through the schools of flatties in deep water to snag fish is nothing short of repulsive to me. Those guys need to be heavily fined.
However # 2 – I’m seen guy anchored slightly above these same areas fishing light pike suckers and fair hooking fish. How do you guys feel about the guys fishing with livebait that are actually catching fish during the same time of year that guys are targeting them with the snagging gear? Are they doing anything wrong? To me, they’re not doing ANYTHING wrong unless the fish are somehow being injured or killed by the stress of being caught and released.
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This topic has been a heated topic in the past.
Sounds to me that the walleye guys are catching some cats that are actively feeding on smaller bait. The people actually targeting them with “aggressive” jigging I bet are snagging a bigger number than 25%. You can’t convince me that a flathead is going to hit anything that is darting aggressively. What may be happening is with tightly packed flats who have underbites and flat bodies, one of the best places to snag them would be the mouth.
I’d like to see a closed season for flatheads simply because I would assume any flathead caught would be foul hooked. It is also a species that I think deserves some protection, especially because the fish is being targeted by more and more people.
I dont know which way to go with this. The problem is there are too many people that will take advantage of a situation and really stretch the boudaries of sportsmanship. Is it wrong to accidently catch a flathead while walleye fishing.. no, and the statements are correct that these fish will take a bait occasionaly… I am sure its a blast on walleye gear even in ice cold water.
Just because these fish open their mouth to feed doesnt mean they are actively feeding.. but they do have to survive. Spending a minimal amount of energy to grab a steak squirming by seems more like a neccessity of survival, not driven by an instinct to hunt.
I catch lots of channel cats extremely early in the year.. its fun, on heavy walleye gear. The fight is always exactly the same.. they *coast* in a direction after hooked, then as soon as they try to fight(panic), they spin all the way in like a bullhead. Catch that same fish when the water warms up it will try to rip the rod out of your hands and fight for its life.
If a person were to target these flats with live or cut bait(still fishing), it would be more sportsman like to an extent.. at least the snagging principal is out of the equasion for the most part.. but is it really sportsman like to be catching these monsters when they can not put up a fight?
That is the question you need to answer for yourself, and we all have our own opinions on it.. I dont think its very sporting myself.
As for any *jigging* for flatheads.. unless its warm water season and theres a 8″ plastic lure or big live bait on it.. I would recommend to anyone not to do it because of my own opinion.. I think its unsportsman-like to be fishing any tecnique that a considerable amount of fish are snagged.
The above statement is my opinion.
For those that dont feel they go dormant for the most part.. put a few bullheads in your refridgerator, when they start turning on their side and upside down.. take the water temperature. Then let the water warm up and see when they start swimming upright and become active… take the temperature again…
Catfish species have an entirely different activity range in various water temps than other fish. Channel catfish seem to be the most resiliant(sp?). Most of the scaled species of fish can thrive in the cold water, catfish dont.. they just do what they have to do until the water warms to survive.
Im going to ask a question that may end up in a firefight, however I think I have a point. Why should snagging be illegal??? and in follow up… Why is spearing legal?? Just a lil sumthin to ponder.
P.S. I dont take fish by snagging
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Why should snagging be illegal
Our sport is based on the concept of “fair chase.”
When an angler uses a rod and reel the fish does not have to strike his or her lure / bait. I’m not going to say the fish has a “choice” as that implies a thought process but certainly the outcome is yet to be determined when a fish first comes within feeding distance of one of our offerings.
By properly mimicking prefered food sources and developing an understanding of fish habits and habitat anglers begin to have a higher and higher pecentage of these encounters turn out in their favor.
When a person snags fish all fair chase is removed from the equation. A fish is caught, landed and harvested for simply occupying a space that it was unfortunate enough to share with a big set o’ hooks.
And where’s the sport in that?
And why is spearing legal?
I haven’t a clue. All I know about spearing is that when spearers don’t mark their spearing holes with brush I fall into them and get very cold, very wet and VERY angry.
Its happened to me twice in my life… but that’s off topic.
…and the above is what a “sport angler” is and the “fill your freezer angler” isn’t.
I’ve found one truth from my couple of times fishing this year.
Bigger and more flats have come from what I would call the smaller bullheads…and customers will always bait up with the bigger bullheads.
RE: Water temp.
I wonder how much of a factor the power plant discharge has to play in this? Cold water sinks…but what about moving trubulent water?
Since I’ve been spending some time on the ‘sippi lately, I’ve been fortunate enough to talk with some very experianced fisherman.
One was telling me about a group of boats in the winter ripping hooks through the cat holes pulling in cat after cat (WI boarder water limit is 25, no lenght requirement) and taking the fish to the Lake City fish market for cash.
No sport here…fishing for money…and with them holed up..easy pick’ens.
This reminds me of walleye’s on spawn. I was talking with a ND fisheries manager last winter and he was explaining to me that fishing for eye’s in the shallow water…were you can sight fish for them, will not hurt the fishery. His reasoning was that very few with actally take a bait at that time. Where the problem comes in (for the fishery) is when “anglers” use dipnets to scoop up their trophys. I believe a fella from NE was telling me a similar theory.
One other piece of info I’ve been picking up is that bullheads might not be the bait of choice (or even blue gills) all year.
When all of us are struggleing to find a flat (not counting the guys on the MN river) and the walleye fishing family are pulling out eye’s on #5 shad raps regularly…and I’ve see way too many pictures of flats recently caught on three crawlers strung on a #2 hook…that weighed into the mid twenty’s…well, I think it might be time to start listening to the toothy fisherman.
But then I’m concidering using chicken liver too…. 
With spearing…the fish still has to be “lured” into the spear hole. Speaking form experiance…when a spear is thrown..(I) don’t hit a northern everytime.
Personally, I think spearing will be outlawed someday…or at least used as a management tool.
I’m willing to bet my shiny quarter that spearing will be banned before we have a closed season on flatheads.
PS…Sorry James…I’ll do a better job of marking them in the future. 
From the Pool 4 telemetry study…
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I wonder how much of a factor the power plant discharge has to play in this? Cold water sinks…but what about moving trubulent water?
I doubt the flatties are relating to the areas at the north end of pool 4 due to the miniscle temperate increase caused by the power plant.
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Even though we demonstrated that PINGP effects the temperature of the water entering Lake Pepin, we could find no evidence that Lake Pepin resident walleye and sauger directly responded to it. We found no significant correlation between water temperature at the downstream thermograph sites, and walleye and sauger position in the lake. Moreover, walleye and sauger position did not significantly differ among months during winter, or between no-effects and effect periods. If a strong and significant behavioral response to an altered thermal environment occurred, we would expect a far greater proportion of winter telemetry observations to come from the warmest reaches of the pool, namely the upper river and specifically, the tailrace below Lock and Dam 3. No such behavior was observed.
Thanks James.
Thanks everyone for some great info. I also hope one day to have a closed season on all Flatheads in MN. 
How would we start to lobby for something like this?
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How would we start to lobby for something like this?
Working on it man! E-mail me if you wish. I’m in the early stages of “rallying the troops” so to speak. There is a choir of us singing at FishingMinnesota about the flathead catfish “contests” on the Minnesota River that were just held Fri. night- the Bobber Shop Tourney in Mankato and the Belle Plaine contest.
If you want to make yourself sick, Kevin (DARK30) shot some awesome video from the 2 contest weigh-ins. 51lb Flat was the big one at Belle Plaine and you get to watch it getting weighed and put in a very small stock tank with other big flats, one of which is a 44 pounder that is floating sideways and upside down. Its dead. There were 5 or 6 fish over 40lbs in that tank which were all caught sometime during the night and brought into the weigh-in in the morning.
I think there are some bigger issues to work on before getting a closed flathead season, and one is protecting these trophy class flatheads from getting killed to win $1,000 in a contest.
That just made me totally sick! Who the H*#$ was in charge of that contest? Talk about hurting a fishery…that contest probably did some major damage.
Ill be in contact Hanson.
Several years ago, I saw a 39″ flathead taken on a live chub and tip-up through the ice on Lake Macbride (southern Iowa). I helped the guy who caught it bring it through the hole, and I can say with certainty that it was a flathead, and it was hooked in the mouth. That flathead was pretty clearly actively feeding in mid-winter.
On the other hand, that is the only flathead I have seen taken in cold water that was feeding. The others were snagged, not hooked in the mouth, while vertical jigging for walleye.
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