# Flathead question



## wshniwasfshn (Oct 14, 2010)

So april will be here before we know it and it will be time for some trotlines in the rivers, and flatheads. I know that their preferred bait is live perch, but what about frozen/thawed? I have never done that before and im not sure if it would work. The farm pond is filling back up and i plan on catching about 25-30 of them. i have no place to store them other than the freezer. what do you guys think about that??


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## obiewan57 (Sep 14, 2005)

I have not trot lined in several years, you get older and the trot lines seem to get longer, kind of like the songs...To me, it cost a good bit of money to go to the river and spend your time setting trot lines. If I cannot catch live perch, I am spending a little extra money and buying them. I would not go hunting for big game with bird feed for ammunition, if you get my drift.


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## BrandonH (Oct 15, 2006)

We fish the Brazos a lot and very rarely catch a flat head on anything other than live bait. We normally use green sunfish and occasionally small carp.

Brandon


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## KILT610 (Feb 24, 2006)

I've been fishing for flatheads many years and I think you're wasting your time with dead bait....They simply prefer live bait over anything else...You will however, catch channels and blues on cut perch...If you're pressed for time, live goldfish is always an option and they do work on flatheads.


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## jdot7749 (Dec 1, 2008)

Green sunfish, small carp, goldfish, or very large shiners. Must be alive unless you get lucky and catch a small fish on cut bait and a flathead eats that. My son caught a 22 lb flat on a chicken liver but I'm convinced there was a small channel nibbling when the flat showed up. I fished the Red River south of Coushatta for several years and never caught a flat on anything other than live perch or goldfish. 

P.S. - bream or bluegills won't live long enough with a hook in them. Green sunfish or goggleye or possibly red perch if you can catch them.


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

Trot lines are hard work, but a great way to catch a flathead. Live bait, green sunfish gets the nod like the man said.
If the current is fair hook them up close just behind the head and before the dorsal fin, they will swim down and not drown. In slack water you can hook towards the tail. The flat heads travel a trail on the lake bottom, like a dove/duck flyway, and when you find one you can usually get a fish or 2 every couple of days or so when they are on a bite.


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## Whitebassfisher (May 4, 2007)

I have always heard that live bait is needed for flat heads, and have seen very good results with goldfish.


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## BURTONboy (Feb 23, 2010)

Ive caught flatheads on live crawfish, live perch, cut perch and chicken hearts all on the Brazos. The biggest flathead being around 25 lbs was on chicken hearts. Maybe we just have good luck or good spots, but chicken hearts produce well for us. Of course, we aint just targetting yellows either... But we do catch our fair share of them.


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## Sunbeam (Feb 24, 2009)

As SS said trot lining is a lot of work. Setting and running the lines are the easy part. hustling live bait every day is the work part.
If you have a pond with perch it is easier the start feeding them small cat food pellets until they get accustom to eating at the same place.
Then feed them and when they are swarming throw the cast net over them. Have three or four feeding station so you can rotate every few days.
Or just go to Oakhurst Bait on 190 west of Point Blank and buy all sorts of big live baits in O2 bags.


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## SSST (Jun 9, 2011)

I river fish alot, usually starting in mid Feb and quitting in April, we catch our fair share of good flatheads, we call them yellowcats around here, the only bait we use is live perch, and we're picky on those. Either Rio Grande or Goggle Eyed perch because they stay alive. Of course we have a couple of tanks stocked full of them so we throw our traps out and we'll have 300 perch in 2 days. To answer your question, over my lifetime and probably hundreds of fishing trips, i may remember 2-3 times we KNOW we caught one on dead bait, and that was on a rising river when they are in a feeding frenzy. I don't fish trotlines, i fish with throwlines either tied to limbs or i drive a pole into the bank, just too much work messing with a trotline in a river's current. Goldfish and carp just won't catch near as many fish, but still way better than dead bait. Now on the other hand, a bluecat loves the dead stuff.


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## KILT610 (Feb 24, 2006)

The best yellow cat fisherman I knew lived on the Brazos River, near Chappell Hill....The only live bait he used was live bullheads or mud cats...He would set traps in stock tanks that held a good poulation of them and kept them in live boxes in the river....I've also had good luck with them.


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## Under The Gun (Jan 27, 2012)

As someone else earlier I believe said, mabey look into buying some golfish just prior to your trip. All my experience live is best for flats / yellows. Still gonna catch with dead / cut, but its gonna be blues and channels.


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

If you want to target only very big flat heads gather up a lot of small drum about a 1 pound or 2 and if they are got on a hook quick they will live a long time and only catch big flat heads.


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## OxbowOutfitters (Feb 17, 2006)

Ive caught several Big Flatheads,But never on dead bait or cut..Perch are the must have bait to sucessfully get ya 1..I like the top end of a deep hole on the rise..That has been the place to set up in the rivers n creeks a 3- 12+ ft drop produces more often than not at dark..
The Big Cats move shallow to feed at dusk


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## Kody Emmert (Oct 5, 2007)

I have fished for flatheads running lines my entire life on the highland lake chain i.e. above Lake Buchanan and Lake Travis before moving down to the Houston area. I have caught them on cut gizzard shad, but only in swift muddy water, but I think it was mostly mistaken identity or the flathead couldn't differentiate whether or not the freshly cut shad was alive or not.... I used to run trotlines alot, but have switched over to free-floating juglines especially when fishing in the river (it covers much more water). Most of the baits I catch for the big cats are at least 5 inches long or better and range from suckers,perch,shad,bullheads. My all-time favorite bait for big Flatheads is a big live Gizzard shad about 10-14 in. long nose hooked with a 14/0 circle hook. Nose hooked, the shad will stay alive on the hook for up to 24 hrs. if a big flathead or blue hasn't eaten it. The majority of people I know use baits too small to target big fish specifically. We cast net our big baits out of the lake against bulkheads or in creek mouthes in the river and use a large 35gallon livewell with a recirculation pump to keep the big shad and perch alive. If at all possible when targeting flatheads, use live bait. Another word of advice, use stout hooks, you never know what may want to straighten your hook.....:texasflag

The Big Girl bit a 12in. live gizzard shad on a rod and reel


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## SSST (Jun 9, 2011)

Here's one from this past March out of the Guadalupe River, he went close to 45, he had the tail of about a 3lb. channel cat hanging out of his mouth, lol.


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## wshniwasfshn (Oct 14, 2010)

I really appreciate everyones input on this. It has really helped alot in figuring some things out. Those are some great looking cats, and I know the feeling (from when I was little) of having a big one on the end of your line or the feeling when pulling a trotline with one of those on a hook. Again thanks to all, I really appreciate it. Hopefully in a month I will have some more postive posts from the river.


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## 2catsfishin (Jun 27, 2010)

here my boy with one.


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## myleskubi (Sep 23, 2010)

looks lime im gon set lines in the brazos monday in richmond or simonton under that full moon with mud cats and goggleye. river should be rollin pretty good. we'll see what happens


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## KIKO (Oct 24, 2006)

Any type of perch will work. I've also caught some on live nightcrawlers.


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## Dgeddings (Sep 16, 2010)

perch and mudcat is the trick here in OK, I've caught them on rod and reel with live shad while hybrid fishing also, I catch my perch around boat docks with a 2wt fly rod and a floating ant fly, it's just as fun as catching the big uglies


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## Blastn & Castn (Mar 11, 2010)

goodle eye perch or warmouth perch. If ya can get a channel cat to bite on the line watch out , have caught some big yellows w/the tail of a channel cat sticking out of it's throat. Even have had them eat a 4# yellow cat that was caught on a perch then papa comes by & swallows it.


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