Flatheads and Pike (9/24/16-9/25/16)

Justin great night and enjoyed fishing with you! Thought the flat heads were going to be more active but between the drop in temperature and recent increase in water flow might have put them off a bit. Fish on average were a bit bigger then the 28 - 29 inch we've been getting recently. Channels were hot early but the bite died early am after you left. Earlier in the week with the increased flow the channels hit throughout the night. Wouldn't be out more than 5 - 10 minutes before getting hit. Fish are going to start transitioning and be on the move to deeper holes. They're aggressive, every bait lately seems to be in the fish's stomach. Again an amazing fishery and with the new moon coming this is a great time to fish for both quantity and quality. It's hard getting a picture by yourself but the 23lb fish had a big head and girth. Hard to tell from the picture. I put him on the ground to take a shot and two swipes of his tail he was back in the river swimming back to his lair! Camera shy I guess. Be back at it soon, should be a really good couple of weeks if not months for flat heads before they settle in to their deep wintering holes. Go get em' guys!

[AndyS]

Anyone who hasn’t tried eating flathead catfish is truely missing the boat. First of all there is absolutely no comparison between flathead and channel catfish in flavor. Flathead is much better to eat by a long shot. Flatheads are not scavenger fish like channel cats but instead are preditor fish much like a walleye or a bass. They eat live bait not decaying stuff on the bottom like a channel cat does. I’ve caught several big flathead while trolling/casting crankbaits and I get an occasional nice one when jigging. The flesh of a flathead is as white and sweet a meat as you can find with a much firmer texture than a channel cat. Very comparible to lobster when broiled and dipped in lemon butter. I’d say that flatheads are one of, if not the best eating fish in the river and I’m a walleye fisherman. Plus, pound for pound, they are one of the best fighting fish in the river. I’ll always keep eating size flatheads

[bigfishy]

then why did you let that log git away???

[MudCat08]

Nice catfish there !
Really looking forward to the next month or so, should be good biting for these river monsters.