good size live bluegill for flathead?

Hey guys,

I've never done cat fishing before. but would like give a try one of those nights and find myself some peaceful time. I just spent an hour catching some bluegills in my community pond and they were bigggg.

Probably good 7 to 9 inches and fat. If i want to target flatheads from banks, what would be an ideal size for live bait, i am not targeting monsters. And any tips on how to go about getting them? I live in mckinney so, i can go either lavon, lewisllvile, or texoma.

thanks

I caught a 35 pound flathead on a 4-6 inch bluegill and a 24 pound flathead on an 8 inch gizzard shad. They can fit quite a bit in their mouths so I wouldn't be to concerned about any of the baits being to big.

You may also catch a big blue on those gills. Bluegill is what I mostly use for blue cats. Gills are easier for me to catch than big shad and live longer.

How long do you have to wait to catch these monsters on bluegill. I've done it before and it takes a loooooong time.

A big bluegill will work fine, but the concern is its hard to cast a big bait like that. I prefer a 4-6" bluegill, but a 10-15 lb flathead could easily eat a 7-9" gill. And if you don't mind driving to hubbard, I think that's going to be your best bet in DFW for flatties.

Thanks for the info guys! I can drive to hubbard depends on the location. can you give me some pin point? i've never fish there before. Otherwise, i'll just try lavon 380 or lewisville broken dam. I am only gonna target flathead as i heard it fights hard and arguably tastes the best.

I had catfish poboy two days ago at a cajun restaurant, and it was good!

Four to six inch Bluegill have worked good for me on Flatheads.

Flathead do taste the best. Size shouldn't matter that much except for how effectively you could cast. If you can still sling a 9"blue gill where you need it, it should work fine. Big bait doesn't always mean big fish as well.

Again, i appreciate your wisdom guys!!! Thanks. this is one of the big ones i caught. it actually is bigger than it seems in the photo and fat and my hand was about 12 inch apart from the fish.. Fish had some stripes though like crappie... hard to imagine 20lber and under can actually swallow it,but i dunno nothing about cat fishing, So, you guys words are golden.

I have never caught a Flatty so I am writing out of Book and Video Knowledge.
Dudes up north Catch Flatty's with 12-16 inch bait [Chub's, Skippy's, Carp, Buffalo] and other forage and these Fish are in the lower 40 lb. range. Imagine what a 100 lb. class Fish could swallow?

I don't think they make bluegills big enough!
No need to really cast baits a country mile flathead fishing from the bank. 30-40 yards works.
Throw the biggest bluegills you can catch out there .

You will be surprised what a catfish can swallow. I catch 2 pound blues on 3" to 4" gills and an 8/0 octopus hook. Blew my mind the little eaters would attack a bait that big let alone get caught.

You can't fish with a gill that is too big. I have "caught " a ten pound flatty on a set line that had a two pound channel lodged in it's mouth, not even hooked! I prefer war mouth perch as big as I can get, carp are great bait, as well as drum.

The bigger the better...

Check out Lavon below the dam. Catch flathead coming upstream from Hubbard. You could make good use of a surf rod.
I am pretty sure they are releasing water from the gates of the dam.

Whatever size you catch in the net.

Goggle eyed perch is what you want to use.....not a single bait shop around there sells them.

i was on my way to hubbard on Friday only to find out the storm was ahead of my way. I made u-turn
Anyway, I may go this coming Friday or a week after. seems a little off season, but who knows. Thanks MCC for showing some light for noob.

i think bluegill is just fine. at this point I think locating flats is the key. I don't think they are at shallow this time of the year and it's too hot. But, what the hack.

while doing some research, came across this video clip...

https://youtu.be/12TqEEGInhg