Got the boy hooked on catfishing!

drs1961 · 05-24-2007, 05:43 PM

My wife and I have started taking a friend's 12 year old son fishing/camping. After catching smaller blues and flatheads the first two trips and really getting excited about them, he landed this 36 lb flathead after a 20 - 25 minute fight! I believe we got the boy hooked!

m.t.hands · 05-24-2007, 05:53 PM

man that is awesome, looks like you got you a lifetime fishin buddy

Knightia · 05-24-2007, 06:12 PM

Very nice-( sounds like some fight)tell him congrats on thegreat cat.

mauser06 · 05-24-2007, 07:27 PM

awesome!! thats a nice flathead...well...to me in the north! you southern guys call that a baby! lol. id be bouncing off the wall if i caught one that big!! what do you guys use for bait?? congrats!

Oneshot7 · 05-25-2007, 01:55 PM

mauser there is only two baits down here.....A whole bluegill or a cut up shad. I love to carry people that have never seen over a 20 lb catfish and pull up a 50 to 70 lber that almost go out the boat. That is a nice cat there i am sure he will be hooked for life.

sandilands · 05-25-2007, 03:55 PM

Awesome fish........ wish I had flatheads or Blues up here.

mauser06 · 05-25-2007, 09:41 PM

oneshot...figured it was 1 of the 2. i am going to try the live bluegills this year...creek chubs been working well for me and are simple for me to get...but everyone swears by live bluegills for flatheads...even though until a few years ago there werent hardly any bluegills in our rivers...i get probably an average of 4-6 hits a night fishing 3 or 4hrs...so that aint bad...atleast i dont think so...i figure theres alot more giant 4-6 inch minnows and creek chubs in the river than bluegills...kinda matching the hatch of catfishing! lol

drs1961 · 05-26-2007, 05:29 AM

Quote:

ORIGINAL: mauser06

oneshot...figured it was 1 of the 2. i am going to try the live bluegills this year...creek chubs been working well for me and are simple for me to get...but everyone swears by live bluegills for flatheads...even though until a few years ago there werent hardly any bluegills in our rivers...i get probably an average of 4-6 hits a night fishing 3 or 4hrs...so that aint bad...atleast i dont think so...i figure theres alot more giant 4-6 inch minnows and creek chubs in the river than bluegills...kinda matching the hatch of catfishing! lol

The bigger the bream (bluegill), the better. Even people down here have a hard time putting a 1/2 to 3/4 lb. bream on for bait. Flatheads also like other cats. One 15 lb.er last week had three 6 in. blues in it's belly and a 35 lb.er a couple of years back hit a 6 lb.! blue that was being reeled in. The blue opened it's fins and had the flathead stuck until they were both in the net and then pulled out of the flathead's mouth! What a catch! I guess if a flathead can getsomething in it's big old mouth, it can crush it and swallow it.

Oneshot7 · 05-26-2007, 08:16 PM

mauser I would find a local stocked pond and use the bream outta there also any bream will do i just usually use bluegill but 4 to 6 hits every 3-4 hrs isnt that good

mauser06 · 05-26-2007, 09:41 PM

oneshot...keep in mind in clear up here in PA. flathead catfish are relatively new for us! i guess in my areas they been around for a decint while in the Ohio river..but were at their northen limits...i definently dont have the population or size that you southern boys got. and last year was the first year i started fishing live baits going after bigger cats. i still dont know where to find them and dont have a boat. the ohio river is only about 200-300yds wide up here lol... thats another thing i wanna learn about this summer is locating flathead holes....im sure 4-6hits a night isnt good even for PA...but for my first season i feel it was pretty decint....