05-18-2011, 12:25 PM
I wouldn't expect a whole lot fishing from the bank, in regards to big flatheads and blues. If you've got access to that spot, so does every other redneck with a truck and fishing pole. You need a boat to really be effective, and you need to use live bait or fresh cut bait.
OK, the boat thing........ Big blues and flatheads hold to structure near or on hard or sandy bottom. Both species also migrate and move around frequently. The tactics for targeting either species shifts depending on if you're fishing lakes or rivers. For lakes, we drift fish for them, primarily, but sometimes anchor up depending on the conditions. (like when they are spawning for instance) On the rivers, we always fish stationary. 85% of the time we hook up to an overhanging limb with a limb grabber, and the other percent of the time we anchor up using a break away reef anchor. We fish the deeper holes on the outside bends of the river, that have good structure below them. Log jams are excellent. We've caught fish upstream and downstream of the structure, but usually upstream is better sense catfish use their sense of smell the most when hunting. They have very poor eyesight.
For the rig, we use a carolina style rig, with enough weight to keep it on the bottom. Usually about 4oz or so in a river, and you can get away with much less on a lake. But, we use an entirely different rig when we drift fish. (slinky weight) Our main line is 65-80 lb super braid, heavy rods and reels, and my prefered hook is an 8/0 Gamakatsu. I like a long mono or fluorocarbon leader, and try to match the leader pound test with the main line.
Some of the best baits on the planet for catfish is eel and fresh herring or gizard shad. We keep our baits alive until it's time to cut them up, so that they are the freshest possible. If you're using stink bait, shrimp, chicken livers, or crap like that, the only thing you're going to catch are small channel cats and bullheads. The key to trophy cats is big, fresh bait. I've caught my biggest cats on live crappy and big live eels. Cut eel is also a great bait.
Now, go forth and prosper....... [cool]
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OK, the boat thing........ Big blues and flatheads hold to structure near or on hard or sandy bottom. Both species also migrate and move around frequently. The tactics for targeting either species shifts depending on if you're fishing lakes or rivers. For lakes, we drift fish for them, primarily, but sometimes anchor up depending on the conditions. (like when they are spawning for instance) On the rivers, we always fish stationary. 85% of the time we hook up to an overhanging limb with a limb grabber, and the other percent of the time we anchor up using a break away reef anchor. We fish the deeper holes on the outside bends of the river, that have good structure below them. Log jams are excellent. We've caught fish upstream and downstream of the structure, but usually upstream is better sense catfish use their sense of smell the most when hunting. They have very poor eyesight.
For the rig, we use a carolina style rig, with enough weight to keep it on the bottom. Usually about 4oz or so in a river, and you can get away with much less on a lake. But, we use an entirely different rig when we drift fish. (slinky weight) Our main line is 65-80 lb super braid, heavy rods and reels, and my prefered hook is an 8/0 Gamakatsu. I like a long mono or fluorocarbon leader, and try to match the leader pound test with the main line.
Some of the best baits on the planet for catfish is eel and fresh herring or gizard shad. We keep our baits alive until it's time to cut them up, so that they are the freshest possible. If you're using stink bait, shrimp, chicken livers, or crap like that, the only thing you're going to catch are small channel cats and bullheads. The key to trophy cats is big, fresh bait. I've caught my biggest cats on live crappy and big live eels. Cut eel is also a great bait.
Now, go forth and prosper....... [cool]
[signature]