Only times I've ever caught a flathead, I've been crappie fishing.4 times, all on minnows. Biggest was about 6 lbs.

Might try targeting them this year, saw a couple spots on the Brazos, that look promising, and know of two areas that do attract them on Eagle Mountain. (which one of them, is where I caught my last one while crappie fishing) Always have access to bluegills for bait.

Gotta love it when one grabs hold! Feels like you hooked a swimming movie chair!

Haven't fished for flatheads in many years. It was a personal quest of mine when I was younger to catch big ones but I never kept them. When I first started fishing for them I didn't know whether I was gonna keep them or not but just one look at it when I finally caught one and I knew this old man would live to fight another day. My buddy fishing with me thought I was crazy when I let him go. I just never could bring myself to kill such an old majestic creature. It was just the challenge of catching them I was after. If I want to eat catfish I'll catch a few eating size channels or blues. The flatheads have a special place in my heart. Ans El-Gato your right... There's not a better feeling in the world than letting one go....

Ordered these yesterday and they arrived on my doorstep this morning...Gotta love Amazon Prime!

i'm diggin this thread. Excited to follow what happens.

Thanks Lynn

We know what to expect as we catch our fair share of big fish. Jaxon always leaves the rod in the rod holder on bigger fish. I let him tangle with the last Flathead we caught in March and he couldn’t budge it. He can get a 20-25 lb blue in if it cooperates but we are in open water free of snags but it smokes him and he’s done the rest of the trip. I figure he can handle about a 12 lb Flathead if we catch it on a flat then I will let him fight it. Anything bigger and I will be the one trying to keep it’s from lodging itself under a log. Same with fishing around the log jams. I will be the one yanking em out of there as there is no way my son can control fish and keep one from burying itself in structure.

Yes Sir that boy of yours is READY! Looking forward to seeing some of those BIG FLATHEADS that he catches. Keep making those PRICELESS MEMORIES.

Very Good! I remember either the last (in June 2011) or the previous Kid's Catfish Tourney at Lake Limestone there at Running Branch Marina & Campgrounds. Nick Goodman had a bunch of kids in his "aluminum barge "flat bottom boat jhe had custom made. The sides were very high, which was very helpful. Why? One kid latched onto a monster (probably a big Yellow). It took him from the front of the boat & almost out of the back of the boat in just a few split seconds. When Nick realized it, he was scrambling to catch the kid before going overboard. Luckily the back end was higher than the "norm". I forget if the R-n-R was snatched or it snapped the line. But the point is, it happened all in a few split seconds.

I myself was in a 1962 Elgin 12 foot flat bottom with a 15 HP Sea King (by Chrysler), boat was a sturdy one rated for 7.5 HP. I had it braced for torque so it would not rip out the keel. My first father-in-law Jimmy went with me that very foggy August 1983 morning on the Trinity River below TX21 bridge. He had access to the "Park" some 25 or so bends down below the bridge. with 2 or 3 in that boat, it takes about 20 to 30 minutes to get down that far. However, at the park camped out, we were about 2 to 3 bends below. We came up to one of my 5 hook throwlines tied to a super huge stump that just cleared the water about 5 to 10' out from the bank. It was 15 to 20' deep there, probably 18'. Jimmy was up or moved up to the front seat. He reached out and put his hand under the line (which was about 6" under the surface). He raised it up just enough for me to grab it from the left side of the back seat. i was sitting about in the middle. Naturally, I had observed nothing had jerked while he lifted it, nor as a I grabbed it. So I was figuring nothing was on it. Caution had been thrown to the wind. I sadly let my guard down. I had 4/0 SS Eagle Claw hooks on, I had never needed any larger. As I was heading down the line with one hand (the left) to the 3rd (they were 3' apart), she woke up. She dove hard down under the water. Never saw it. It jerked me over to the edge of the rim on the boat in the blink of an eye, my left hand now headed down into the water. Trying to rectify the situation, grabbing something with my right hand, my left hand was almost to the shoulder in the water. Thank goodness the rim edge of the boat was slightly higher (the Elgin model had a deeper hull) than others, and was much stabler in the water. I am sure Jimmy instinctively threw his weight over diagonal from me to counterbalance the situation at hand. In the flood of 100 thoughts, was one that left me with two choices, let go & fight when better prepared, or head out into the water fighting it on its own turf & also getting hung up in the line. So I let go, just before I went over the edge. But had to be careful I did not turn us over in my spring action back up in the boat. After we regained our composure, this time I went up to the stump & very carefully & fully braced for another dive, we found she had gotten off, but straightening out the 4/0 hook.

Needless to say, I try to keep my guard up in cae I encounter that again. Two years later in July 1985, I finally caught "Big'Un". It was weighed at a meat locker plant in Madisonville 24 hours later. Its tail drug the slide scales showing 59#. The guy with his experience said it should easily go 65#. But I decided to even it out at 60#, even thiough she was larger.

And I wear my lifejacket, not knowing when something like that can take you overboard without time to grab it on the way down. And like the bass fisherman found out, better to wear it all the time, since he was in a bass tournament on Lake Livingston. Lightning struck him & blew him out of the boat & into the water unconscious. His fishing buddy did not even realize what had happened until he tuned around & saw that his partner was nowhere in the boat.

When big Yellows (mainly 30+ pounders) realize something is not right, they instincitively dive down. There are two options they are trying for. IOne is to get under a log, perhaps as some leverage point, or as some sort of protection. The other is to go burrow in the mud at the bottom, in order to become like a suction cup. This is the reason that sometimes a Yellow is also referred to as a "MudCat".

Great thread! Got to love the big flathead stories! My personal best rod and reel cat was 38 lbs. caught and released in the Trinity river.

And I don’t take any big ones any more either. I did harvest a huge 67 that we caught way back then. I still to this day wish we would have just snapped a pic and let her go. Oh well. We had a huge fish fry and I learned from it.

Enjoying this thread, as it is bringing back some good memories.
I grew up in Alabama and then moved to Kansas with my family when I was 15. Stayed there through college. Ended up spoiled with all the excellent hunting and fishing in Kansas... we had several spots on the Kansas River that we had access to. Typical larger mid-west river, lot of sand bars, lot of shallow areas and big rains would move stuff around... but was always a channel and always some big holes. Often would get log jams in the bends and holes, etc. Was great duck hunting and cat fishing river. Lot of big flatheads. We would run lines and rod/reel fish it. Live bluegill were always the best bait for the flatheads. Had a few40's and a couple of 50's over the years there.
Moved to North Carolina with work a year after college. Bought some land on the Cape Fear river. Another good catfishing river. I had a gravel bar that ran off my land when water level was normal, and channel ran from far side of river across and cut past the end of the gravel bar... had a big rock shelf where it crossed. Caught a lot of fish there. Had good sized rods due to big fish, and will never forget one I lost... hooked it, and when it figured out it was hooked, it decided to go down river. Had already caught a 20 that night, and this was completely different! Big spinning rod with probably 30 lb test or so, and it was taking drag like it was not even there. I was about out of line and decided I had to do something, cranked drag down some, and set back on it. Sounded like a rifle going off when it broke the line. Never turned that fish... That was one that I wont forget and would really have liked to at least see it!

Keep us the stories all!

Ken

That was probably a 100+ Yellow.

Things are looking good, as I hope to finally hit the water once again in June. I will be trying to shoot for the 2nd & 3rd weekends. I'm shooting for finally catching "The Giant". I was hoping to get back after him in 2019, after losing him once again on May 5, 2018 the day I was pulling my lines. Then the old heart came back with a vengence around May 2019. I finally went to the hospital in December 2019 & was in for 9 days. Heart was down to pumping 10 to 15%. Had a defibrillator put in as AFIB was wilder than a bucking bronc. Looks like I have a computer mouse just under my skin on my upper left chest. Anyways, I am ready to go for him once again. The Giant was first estimated by me to be around 100 to 115# Op even though I have never seen it, but have tangoed with it over the years. Along with my Uncle James (JW), and my two prize Calendar & YC students- Jeff & James S.(JS). Sadly, Jeff & his 2nd wife were brutally murdered in Mart in September 2011. And my Uncle passed on in January 2020 of a blod clot that settled in his lungs.

JS is the only one of us 4 who has actually seen it. Looking back in my archives, it was one night in April 2009 that Jeff (father) & James (son) went to run their trotline, and even though they lost it, James S. has been the only one to see its head, and its tail as it waved Bye-Bye. JS said there was nothing but head in the spotlight. And after it went down, the tail surfaced to which he said must have been at least a foot span. It snapped the swivel & took the leader after waving Goodbye. After my tango with it on Cinco de Mayo in 2018, it literally snapped my size 36 braided leader. It took the hook, but did not snap my Crane SS 4/0 swivel. I have never had any fish snap my size 36 cord. I am thinking I had a Mustad 3x strength SS Stump Hook Triple strength, short "J" style. Jeff & JS used 9/0 Bronze offset Eagle Claws & had caught two coming in at 62 pounds each, among many other smaller. A 92 pound Yellow was caught nearby back I think around 2006 by one lady running her trotline.

Anyways, I will resurrect the thread I started on "The Giant" to give updates on, just before & during "The Quest". I am pretty sure it is probably a male. It runs like a tractor in granny gear, never stopping & obviously knows it can eventually get off any line, even if ripping the hook out. And after the 2018 encounter I had to adjust my estimated weight of him. I now think we are dealing with a Yellow that run between 115# & 150#. Speaking of one that big, on the cover of the 2021 Hard Copy (printed edition) of the 2021 calendar, is one of a 135 pounder caught in 2007 in SC which took him 2 hours to get him to the shore. If'n "The Giant" does not measure up to the poundage estimate, I will be very disappointed & may have to give "him" an award at outsmarting me on his weight due to his strength.

Any Lynn's Catfish Calendar followers, since we're talking Yellows, here's an early release for a portion of June ...

The 2nd one is the 11th & 12th (Fri/Sat) is my PYC Personal YellowCat) days, as well as YC (YellowCat) days on my Catfish Calendar. The 3rd weekend is 20/21 (Sun/Mon) my PYC days & also YC days on the actual Calendar.
For those who don't know, the PYC days is the underlying pattern of YellowCat's "roam-feed" switch. It's when the ONE kicks them out the door to go roam for food. The YC days are one of my 4 sigs on the actual Calendar, which is the strongest pull for that day.

And in my KEY 2021 which touches on the 4 "sigs", as well as my PYC days, one tip to key (focus) in on, is Bleedover. The gates for the days in the calendar are not cut & dried as to Midnight to Midnight. Most of the time there is a bleedover either way of up to 12 hours. Therefore you would want to get an early start, and if running set lines, be sure & check them the morning after the last day of a run. Bleedover is not a guarantee, but most of the time, it pays off fairly well.

I'll post the May calendar Monday night up on the Catfish Calendar thread. I should have left a little overlap into the first week of May in the April posting. I have to call it a night for now. Very long weekend here.

I was telling my wife about this threat Chris. She is a professional scrap booker. She dug up some 20 plus year old pictures is me when we used to flathead fish Rend Lake. As you, we ate about everything we caught back then.

I've only ever caught flatheads as incidental catch while going after striped fish. Biggest was approx 50#, which was a blast on 12# sandbass tackle.

I know there's some older photos tucked away & will post if I can find them.

These are the kinds of threads that keep me coming back to TFF fellas. Thanks for sharing amigos and also for following me and Action Jaxon on our journey to Catville, USA. I reserved a campsite at Hickory Creek Park on Lake Lewisville May 16th for our first crack at getting Jax on a Yella. I know they are going on their beds real soon so hopefully we can catch em feeding up hard right before the spawn and get it done first trip. I figure we’ll get 2-3 trips in before the spawn.

Headlamps arrived yesterday from Amazon. These lights are really cool for guys that fish at night. You can change from UV to green or White light. UV makes the rod tips and hi-vis line light up like a light saber. UV lights were not around back when I was chasing Yellas but I’ve been using the Fish Phazer LED lights for blues at night for the last 4 yrs. I don’t fish at night very often so I have been apprehensive about spending much money on lighting up the boat. I found some battery powered wireless submersible LED lights that are remote controlled and can change color from UV, green, blue, red, or white light at the touch of a button and can also be dimmed.. They were cheap so I will be let y’all know how they do as soon as I get my hands on them. If we decide to get into night fishing I will spend a little more $$ to light up the boat. Fishin b $pen$ive!!

Here is the link to the headlamps:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B087XWCK71?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_image