Need some more info. Are you fishing from a boat or bank? Anchored or drifting?lake or river? Shallow or deep? What size fish are you trying to catch?

Most of the blues I catch are caught while Flathead fishing or under a bobber during the channel cat spawn. Flatheads on the lake I use a Carolina rig, usually with whatever 2-3oz sinker I’ve got handy, a sturdy barrel swivel, and a 6/0-10/0 octopus hook (depends on the size of my bait). Sometimes I’ll put a small splitshot up from the slip sinker to keep it from sliding while I’m casting. If I’m river fishing it’s generally on smaller waters. In those cases there are still big fish, but I still downsize and I’ll run a carolina rig with a 1 oz egg sinker and a smaller hook and a tad smaller live bait. If there are a lot of snags, I’ll run a slip bobber rig that let’s put just enough line to get the weight on the bottom and it’ll hold the bait about a foot or two off the bottom.

I am very fond of a good Slip cork rig for spring and summer catfishing.👍🏾

Good post. My grandpa‘s way was not always the best way or the be all and all. I like to hear what others used to get the job done..

I think it’s kind of worth mentioning that when I’m using a BIG live bait, like a carp, a giant sunfish, or a bullhead that I can’t cast, I’ll kayak a bait out with a hefty enough weight to keep the bait pinned to the bottom and struggling. That’s where that split shot comes in. Sometimes I’m not sure why I use the big baits at times, I always seem to catch the big ones on a 3-4” bait and then I catch a 6-8lber on a massive bait. Can’t make it up. I caught about an 8lb flatty on a bluegill that was on the fringe of what I could cast out, like 8” long and so tall I could barely fit my hands around it, on the flip side of the token I’ve seen 50 lbers caught on a 3” bluegill. I kinda just use whatever I catch at the lake.

On another note, channels and smaller blues on the rocks in spring are great with a piece of cut Shad, a size 2 hook, a peg bobber, and a piece of cut shad or fresh smaller threadfin or gizzard shad (cut other nongame species will work in a pinch). When I fish this way I like to peg a weight right under the bobber and then let the the bait kind of free fall and work up and down with the waves.

Santee Cooper Catfish Rig