The cool part about this fishery is learning their habits. Basically just emulate what Fast Eddie does and you'll be successful! Seriously though how many fish can you target in fresh water which can range between a few pounds and 30 - 40 lbs if not larger. While you can catch them at certain times of the year during daylight hours, for the most part this is a night time fishery. Structure, current, bait, moon phase, barometric pressure etc. all factor into their feeding habits. There's much debate about how often they feed from every night to every three days to a few times a month. They have a voracious appetite, small beady eyes and HUGE mouths. It would surprise me if they feed every night based on the size prey they feed on, I would think they need a few days to digest a nights catch before feeding again unless they have a very fast and efficient digestive system. Most fish will spend the entire day under structure for protection, fallen trees, log jams, boulders etc. and prowl at night for their meals. Popular belief is they feed for only a few hours a night and patrol usually within a few miles of their daytime haunt. Flat heads don't like extremely fast moving current so look for them in seems of slower moving runs as well as in holes where the water on the bottom will be slower moving than surface and are excellent ambush points. For those who have tried it, you know how great a fishery it is. One you have to put your time in and pay your dues to learn. For those who haven't tried it, it's a lot of work but the rewards are great. Try fighting a 20 - 30 lb flat head and you'll now exactly what I mean. There was another thread recently talking about bait. This is almost entirely a live bait deal. Cut bait will work and as FE has proven (how I'm still trying to figure out) but they will hit lures as well or in FE's case lead head jigs with plastic swim baits. Quite a feat in my humble opinion! But if your serious about landing quality fish, you need to invest in a bubbler system of some sort, catch or buy your live bait and plan on fishing when most others are sleeping. The hours can be tough but when the time comes when that clicker goes off, you let her run, set the hook and it feels like you snagged a freight train you'll understand the thrills of flat head fishing! Warning to all, it's an addictive fishery that has a certain trial and error phase to learn. Once you start figuring out habits and structure, you're score ratio will quickly improve as flat heads are somewhat territorial and typically once they establish their lairs and feeding zones they will continue to prowl that area to some degree throughout the season although as with all fish seasonal changes will require targeting different holding areas. They're definitely pushing their limits in the Big D further north every year so find good structure and good water with good bait (blue gills, perch, river chub, rock bass etc. etc) and you'll be in prime flat head water. Every night I fish and get the skunk I know I'm that much closer to a bruiser. Had a great trip about three weeks ago. Landed 8 and had quite a few missed run offs. Two fish estimated between 15 - 20 lbs and one 36 in. with a stomach that looked like it swallowed a dozen shad. Fish had to be pushing 25 - 30 lbs. All fish were caught on live perch with the exception of two on live bluegills and released unharmed since I was fishing in Pa. waters! Dropped one fish after a half hour fight (line snapped) and never had her off the bottom more than a few feet. Fish was huge! Went back a few nights later, fished almost the entire night without a touch.........that's the nature of flat head fishing!

Get out and give it a try, it's a different kind of fishing but when it finally all comes together I guarantee you won't be disappointed!