Any preference? Starting to get into flatheads. I hear some say jigs,shad, mud cats and spoons. What are you all using? CPR here.

Flathead hit live bait, yes you and many others may say I caught one on XXXX and indeed they may have. Day in and day out or maybe I should say night in and night out. Live bait is the key, the skeleton key and the only key or so what I have experienced in my short life.

Jack knows best.I have had good luck with big shad ,bream and cut carp. feed them what their are used to.

^^^ this, and fresh lively bait makes a huge difference, sunfish, bullheads, and carp are all good choices

Goggle Eye

Thanks guys!




Not much to go off of here using eye balls as bait? Government conspiracy? Lol

Perch (yes- Goggle Eyed) & Super Shiners (Shiners on steroids, not really, just look like it).

Thanks for clearing that up.

Favorite Flathead bait in order : Live perch, live Goldfish. After that, cut carp or cut perch, I never target them with cut bait, but have caught them before on cut fresh bait while trying to catch blues.

I have caught two on jigs bass fishing and one on a crankbait. A BIG one. BUT I have caught 3 fishing live gills for bass.

And I have spent a lot more time fishing jigs and cranks than live gills so... whats that tell you? Live bait

Fresh it is then. So the bite is better at night till sunrise?

Most of the flatheads I've caught were on slab jigs or sassy shad type lures. BUT, those were all incidental catches while I was targeting striped fish.

If I'm specifically targeting flatheads, then live sunfish is the go-to bait. I scale them just a bit before pinning them on the hook.

On the Tennessee River, I catch small perch and bait 4 rods. Two with live, two with cut. I let the flatheads decide which one they prefer. They seem to pick live more often than not. But if the dam is releasing a bunch of water, they will go to cut bait over live.

Just caught one good one on a cut shad.

Go to baits for flathead fishermen is large live bait that stays lively on the hook a long time. Shad are good for example but die faster than sunfish on the hook. Best options are sunfish (green sunfish is best but any really), bullheads, and your rough fish (suckers, buffalo/carp up to 1 or 2 pounds, etc). Bait taken from same body of water is most preferable for some reason except for bullheads, that doesn't seem to matter.

Eric

I love flatheads but man are they hard to find and catch in my lake. An elderly gentleman that constantly fishes for them says big shad are the best bait. He jug fishes for them. I would think if you are casting a rod out you would want a harder fish such as goldfish or perch so they have a better chance of staying on the hook. If you can gently place the bait out with your cast or juglines, shad probably is the best option..... just my two cents.

Live sunfish. Bluegill etc!

Live bait. Spring time when they're wakin up, they'll eat FRESH cut bait. Big slabs of shad have worked for me. If i'm targeting them, I'll have one or two with that presentation out there. Big Shad, and Green Sunfish are my go-to's. Below that is kind of wash of whatever you catch in your net. Bluegills are good but don't live as long as the greenies for some reason. Flatheads just like them better. Idk why, I'm not a biologist. I've caught them on small buffalo and Drum also. I've heard that they really like Yellow Bass too. I wouldn't know personally because that's a no no. This is all river fishing. I don't really try to target them in lakes other than tossin a couple LB's out while catchin blues.

A while back I caught a green sunfish and I thought it was a crappie. Do the two resemble each other? Had vertical stripes on it. Catching sunfish won't be hard this time of year as they are on the banks. Are you guys using circle hooks under the top fin? Any weight?

Green Sunfish are sleaker than a blugill, with a bigger mouth. My fav Flathead hooks hands down are- Gamakatsu Oct Cirlce in 8/0 and Team Catfish Mighty Wide in 9/0. Shad through the nose and everything else in the back 2/3ish toward the tail.

Thanks!