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big flathead tips

8K views 40 replies 22 participants last post by  QuailRidge 
#1 ·
I am getting the itch for a big fatty flatty...rod and reel... I live in mt ida, and fish the rivers here. I cought a 32" girl years ago, on a big bream, but want to be able to do it more consistently. I am even thinking of trying behind a dam sometime. question is: where should I focus my efforts?

I have considered just below nimrod dam, and I may make a trip to there soon just to try it. But, mostly I want to fish the ouachita river, not the lake so much... I thought about going to the pettit jean river, as well...

what are yalls thoughts?
 
#3 ·
A guy I talked to who fished lake Conway (said his biggest flathead was around 60 lbs) gave me some advice once and said this time of year look for brim beds. He said you need to consider the brim beds an "all you can eat buffet" to a big flathead. He was running trotlines and said you want to place your lines between the brim beds and deep water. The deep water is where the big flatheads will hold up during the day and they will move up on the flats at night to feed. I figured pole fishing would be about the same thing: fish the deep water near the beds or set up where you think they will move up from. Something to try.
 
#4 ·
Yeah, I like that info, Badger... when I caught the big one I mentioned, she came from (i think) the deep water just down stream from where we were set up. caught her in about 5-6 ft of water, semi swift current, right at dark, with the biggest bream I had... it was great and I want to recreate that:)
 
#5 ·
I like big live bait for them. Baby carp, baby drum, the biggest bluegill I can use, skipjack, and big shad. However I have caught lots on big chunks of cut bait as well so don’t rule that out. Look for structure as well. Sunken logs, rocks, ledges, etc. It all sounds pretty obvious and elementary but sometimes those things are overlooked. Another thing is try using a pegged float between your weight and your bait to help suspend it off the bottom.
 
#7 ·
I know Little River down here in SW AR is different than the Ouachita where you want to fish, but I have talked to a couple pole fishermen down here who like to set up just upstream of a drift pile in the river but out of the main current. They catch plenty on a bream, but prefer a 6” bullhead. They let the bait back so it is a few feet above the cover. Stout tackle so you can pull them out of the cover
 
#24 ·
Good advice here,but flatheadin with rod and reel is slow,at least for me.I’m all limblines and only wanna catch flatheads.Live bait and cover is the right ideas.I catch several with the bank poles in the small eddys on white river.The Ark river is great but the treetops seem to be the best place to drop your bait here.
 
#26 ·
slow is what my experience is, I just want to tackle a truly large fish on rod and reel... last time was the striper run spring before last on the ouachita river... it was great... somehow I missed it this year, I kept trying but never seemed to connect with one...
 
#29 ·
I use to work with a guy the fishes for big cats all the time. Not sure if he caught many spotted cat, but he always caught some monster blues on the red river. He would fish with bream or goldfish. He always would get around deep water off the ends of the rock jetties. He said a lot of bait fish would come through there always in the current around the jetties.
 
#30 ·
If I'm targeting flatheads I fish structure, timber or rocks. If its adjacent to deep water all the better. Fresh cut or live bait is key. Preferably bait that lives in the water your fishing. Heavy line for pulling a big boy out of the cover before he tangles you up. Flathead fishing is slow compared blues. Don't expect to catch very many a day on rod and reel.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Arkansas Hunting mobile app
 
#33 ·
I do alot of spearfishing and flatheads is one of the target species I look for.

Flatheads are the squirrels of the underwater world. They will be inside hollow stumps, under stumps, laying vertical on brush pile limbs, ive seen them 20' suspendened in a fork of a standing piece of timber in 60' foot of water. They really like rock piles, and will back into creases and crevices of rocks, as well as be hiding under them.

Long and short..if there isn't considerable rock or wood..there won't be flatheads.

I've shot 90% or more in and under stumps. The rest would be mixed between brush piles and large rocks.
 
#34 ·
so... in update, we caught flatheads on the trotline where there was timber in the water, or where there was a bluff bank with chunk rock bottom and possibly shelves of rock on the bluff... caught them in the same spots on the trotline multiple nights, so all the above info is absolute... channels and blues everywhere else on the line...
 
#35 ·
I have caught several over years off the bank on Arkansas River always caught them on cut bait. If you want learn something about big cats go to you tub and look up Steve Douglas The Catfish Dude he one heck of a catfisherman sort a legend when it come to catfishing...
 
#40 ·
Archery,is those 4 shark colored catfish called Mississippi Highfins. Do they have flesh similar to flatheads? The reason I'm asking is I catch quite a few in the Ouachita River,they have mussels in them the size of quartersand never any eggs. I heard they might be some kind of hybrid and don't reproduce. Just wondering.
 
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