The Best Bait For Flatheads

Flathead catfish are rapidly gaining momentum as one of America’s favorite sport fish–and with good reason. Overlooked for years by millions of American fishermen, and snubbed by the rest, flatheads are now enjoying a renaissance of sorts.

Helping to fuel this resurgence is the flathead’s abundance in many U.S. rivers and reservoirs. Fish in the twenty- to fifty-pound range are numerous, and even larger specimens are appearing with regularity. What other sport fishery can make that boast? Flatheads offer today’s fishermen their best chance to land a true trophy.

Also helping make flatheads popular is their feisty nature. flatheads are true gamefish in every sense of the word. These predatory ictalurids generally decline the malodorous concoctions that tempt channels and blues in favor of live prey. Flats definitely prefer their dinner not only alive, but kicking.

Bait choice for the slope-headed critters has of late been the topic of much discussion around the bait shops as well as on the pages of outdoor magazines. Everybody has a pet theory about the top bait for flathead cats. Without oversimplifying, most of the theories can be sorted into three camps: 1. Stick with one proven bait; 2. Use a secret weapon; and 3. Anything will do.

Old Reliable

Some flathead fishermen believe that there is one–and only one–best bait for flatheads. According to these guys, one particular bait has the right characteristics to attract flatheads consistently, whether it’s sunfish, carp, suckers, or bullheads. This theory can’t be decisively declared wrong; many of one-bait-only flathead fishermen catch a lot of flatheads. But do they catch more than fishermen who experiment or leave their options open?

One particular flathead hunter in Michigan will only use carp. Period. End of discussion. Anything else is a time-waster to him. It’s hard to argue with his success, but being a one-trick pony flies in the face of all we’ve learned about fishing in the past few decades. Maybe there’s something more to learn?

Secret Weapon

The second school of thought relies on some secret weapon, usually an uncommon or unusual bait, such as exotic goldfish, eels, water dogs or the like. The reasoning behind this theory is that bait which flatheads don’t often see offer fewer negative stimuli.

Flatheads are predatory enough to consume many different prey, that’s for certain. But there hasn’t really been any evidence that flatheads grow wary of certain baits, even in heavily-fished waters. Furthermore, weird baits can be hard to find, are illegal in some states, and may just be plain unnecessary.

Whatever . . .

The third theory says it really doesn’t matter what bait you use, as flatheads aren’t really choosy. Adherents of this theory use chubs, bluegills, salamanders, their neighbor’s terrier . . . whatever they can get their hands on. They reason that flatheads are fairly omnivorous and that as long as the bait is fresh and alive, flatheads will eat it if they encounter it while feeding.

I’ve cleaned flatheads who had some pretty weird remains in their stomachs–frogs, salamanders, crayfish. But the overwhelming majority were full of one thing. Fish. A wide variety of fish, but still fish.

So, how to make sense of it all? What’s the answer to selecting bait that will consistently catch flatheads, day in and day out, on any water?

The solution lies in understanding the flathead’s nature and feeding habits in conjunction with the water you’re fishing. Every living thing is a product of its environment, and is programmed to respond in certain ways to certain stimuli and conditions. And since the conditions in different waters vary, so do the fish’s reactions. In other words, what is a sure-fire bait in River A may not be so hot on River B, for one reason, or a whole host of them. Basic stuff, that, but far too many fishermen don’t catch as many flatheads as they could because they oversimplify the equation.

A Tale of Two Rivers: A Case in Point

Flatheads In the Kalamazoo River in southwestern Michigan, for example, feed heavily on carp because the river is chock full of them. I’ve seen flatheads rise from the depths like atomic submarines to snatch surface feeding carp and crunch them like pretzels.

By contrast, less than an hour away, flatheads in the St. Joseph River, near its mouth at Lake Michigan at Benton Harbor prey primarily on green sunfish. They root these thick, meaty sunfish out of the piles of broken rubble that line the bank.

Now both carp and green sunfish are excellent bait, and I’d have confidence using either one anywhere. But if I wanted to improve my odds (and what fisherman doesn’t?) I’d rely on what the fish were used to preying on.

Flatheads grow accustomed to the behavior patterns of the prey they habitually eat, as well as its smell and taste. If a St. Joe flathead chanced upon a carp would he turn his nose up at it? Not by a long shot. But since flatheads there are used to foraging in a manner that flushes out green sunfish, it only makes sense to make fishing methods fit the conditions.

Water condition also has a bearing upon bait choice. For example, big golden shiners work great in lakes and reservoirs because there is little current, and the shiners stay alive just fine. But in a river with some fairly stiff current and lots of timber, shiners don’t fare so well. In rivers it sometimes takes several attempts to get your bait to stick where you want it to without getting hung up. Shiners get their brains knocked out and die in minutes in this environment. Sunfish, on the other hand, really shine in rivers. They’re hardy, and the current doesn’t seem to bother them.

Anyway, you get the point. The flathead fishery is red hot right now, and it offers you your best shot at a real trophy. But don’t oversimplify, and don’t put your brain in neutral. Give it your best shot. You’ll be glad you did.

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