when I was in Nebraska there was a few guys who would troll big crankbaits and catch the heck out of big flatheads on them (that is what they were fishing for with them)...dont know much about exactly how they did it though, wondering if anyone here ever heard of or done that?

I'VE HOOKED A FEW CATFISH TROLLING FOR SANDIES AND STRIPERS BUT NEVER JUST TROLLED FOR CATFISH. LET US KNOW IF YOU FIND ANY INFO FROM THE NEBRASKA GUYS ON WHAT AND WHY THEY TROLLED FOR THE MIGHTY FLATHEADS.

There are lots of guys that catch them that way. I know Hubbard and Lavon have people that do this. I wish I knew how. Jerry Hancock knows how and when and where and what bait to use and wont share at all

Cmon Jerry, spill it

heres what one of the guys in Nebraska told me....may give a try soon.

Novato,

As for lures, Rap DT-16, Storm Mag Wart, basically just short bodied DEEP divers.
Haven't seen it done antwhere else, but at BO, we locate the break lines of the channel and mark as many waypoints with GPS along it as possible and troll them, in around 15 fow. Seems they hit best as you're pulling from deep to shallow. a good lure retriever will save you hundreds of $ in lures doing this. The one that has a lead head on a rope and a hook at the end of a small chain works well.
Let me know if I've been of any help, or you have any more ?'s
Roger
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hahaha and here is what another Nebraskan advised:

I give em pizza..Hook fatties evertime

I've got some tips section info on this but it was mainly for bluecat fishin ... I've not written anything in my tips section for quite a while but in-fisherman did a deal on catfish trolling and they copied my tips section exactly on how I did it and I wrote that two years ago ... they called it a new an innovative way of fishing for catfish ... friend of mine that I went fishin with just shortly after that aired said ... did you catch the in-fisherman show the other day ... I said yeah ... he said they copied your fishin method didn't they ... I said yep ... copied it exactly on the use of planer boards ... trollin motor and drift sock for drifting with no wind but they called it trolling for catfish but they were using bait ... my method uses bait on most rods but I normally have two carolina rigged medium dive crankbaits on also tipped with a very small strip of shad fillet or bluegill fillet. I also like using those storm perch (bluegill and crappie) soft baits ... they're pretty deadly on a drop rig where the sinker is on bottom and the storm lure is tied on two feet above the sinker tipped with bluegill strips. I don't think I had the info about the storm lures on there but they look just like the real thing almost and with the strip of bluegill fillet they're even more likely to bust um up.

So the flathead hangs out on the river channel? I drift fish the main lake river channel all year and cant catch a flathead. I do catch a lot of blue cats. I use cut bait so maybe that is the problem.

got these great tips off nebraska forum too...figured Id share. if anyone tries these techniques and they work here in texas, please let me know...might be a while before I try it myself, dont have a good fishfinder right now.


"Don't know if you will get a lot of information. The guys that I know that are doing this are pretty tight-lipped about it. I will tell you what I know. This is a technique that has caught flatheads from a lot more reservoirs than just Branched Oak.

The crankbait trolling technique works during the warm-water months. Once water temps start to slip into the 50's (do they ever slip into the 50's in Texas?) the flatheads start to move into winter habitats where they can be caught with other presentations, but not trolling. Likewise in the spring the water has to warm into the 60's and preferably even higher before the flatties are active enough to start whacking crankbaits.

The key if there is any key to the technique is to be pounding the bottom with the crankbaits. Which brand or style of crankbait is probably not as important as using a crankbait that runs deep enough to stay in contact with the bottom.

This is a day-time presentation. I believe at night the flatties are mobile and cruising shallows looking for something to eat. At night I have caught lots of flats casting crankbaits along shorelines, again usually bumping the bottom with those crankbaits, but the off-shore trolling seems to work best during the day. Therefore, the areas to fish are areas where the flatties will tend to loaf during the day--deeper flats, maybe creek channels. It appears that there are certain spots, probably cover objects, where the flatheads like to rest during the day and if you can identify those spots, keep trolling through them and you might catch a bunch of big flatheads. Flatties love woody cover or perhaps rock for loafing habitat, so if you can find some old stumps or maybe a pile of rip-rap on the bottom that might be a key spot. Yes, you will loose some baits, but that might be what it takes to find the key spots. You might want to invest in some type of lure retriever.

The guys that I know that catch big flatheads consistently do this from late spring until the spawn period when there is a lull in success. After the spawn they start catching fish again and then it usually stays good until mid-fall when the water cools.

Hope that helps. Keep me posted on how it works!

This whole Idea about crankbaiting for big flatties sounds a little far fethced to catch them on a concistent basis.. I was bass fishing one day around some rip rap about 25 years ago and did stick a 20 pound flathead.. I think it was more that I was in the right place at the right time type deal ..I have a hard time believing that you can catch them like you can a LMB..Big flats don't like to chase after their meals tha wanna ambush em sitting in the laydowns and so fourth..If that were the case would'nt we be hearing bass guys talking about catching all them big flatheads all the time? I'm not saying you might not get one once in a blue moon like that , but just can't see it being much more than that.. Hey I am willing to eat my words though if someone can show me a stringer of em that were caught on cranks.. Maybe video evidence would really make believers..

well I dont know how well it will work here in texas, but there were a few guys who cuaght them consistently, and BIG ones, trolling crankbaits in Nebraska..if I can find the pics ive seen of them ill post a link. not saying its the only way or even best way to catch them, but I can say it has worked very well for and is their preferred way to target them.

ive had two landed in my boat back to back trolling dd22's that were bumping the bottom. that wasnt what we were fishing for but they sure bit. it was in the warmer months. they werent big either. maybe 3 or 4 lb fish.

toward the bottom of this thread on nebraska fishing forum is pics of the guy who goes by south of 41...he and the lucky people he takes fishign catch big flatheads trolling cranks regularly.

http://www.nefga.org/forum/nebraska-fishing-forum/801-longest-battle-toughest-fish-2.html

and here is more proof, same guy

http://www.nefga.org/forum/nebraska-fishing-forum/314-time-change.html

I'm just guessing, but I think the reason bass fishermen don't catch a bunch of cats while using crankbaits is that they are not bumping the bottom.

Spend a little time studying flathead patterns and it should not be too hard to figure out I was sworn to secrecy by the person that taught me how to do this so that's all I will share

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