A few Flatheads we caught back in January

[walleye4]

Thought I would post up some pics from our Crazy Catfish day back in January. Was going Ice Fishing and had heard of the flatheads being caught below the dam. These were all caught on slab spoons. We figured we caught well over 700 #'s of flatheads that day. We only weighed one and that fish weighed over 60#'s. Enjoy!

[mainbutter]

wow crazy awesome, flats in Jan!

[Roman_K]

That is absolutely insane!! Nice fish!

[Larry FlatCaster]

Slab spoons??? Were the fish snagged?

[DTro]

There are very few hot button issues when it comes to catfishing. Unfortunately there are a few, and coldwater flatheads are one of them.

Walleye4, those are some beautiful flats you caught there, I bet you had a great time!

For most of us hardcore catguys, there are some ethical issues when it comes to lethargic, almost hibernating fish and targeting them at that time (whether legal or not). You have every prerogative to fish for them per the guidelines of the law.

Some guys don’t even realize that these big flatheads retire to a dormant like state during the winter months and unfortunately it’s not the guys out there pulling them in for fun that worry me, it’s the guys that find out about these stockpiles of big fish and end up putting a knife to them.

Anyways, congrats on the big fish, I’m looking forward to battling a couple that size this summer.

[Larry FlatCaster]

Darren bring up some good points.

Slab spoons??? Were the fish snagged?

Looking at the pictures. It looks like the fish have some spark in them. It is quite possible that there is a warm water discharge right by the dam. Similar to P4.

Nice fish!

[PierBridge]

When you zoom in on the table in the background it appears to me there could be some sort of bait on the table?....maybe.

[walleye4]

All these fish were released to fight another day(I don't eat CATS)! Even the big one that we ran to the baitshop and weighed was released. We caught roughly 80% right in the mouth and the others were snagged. I think the ones that were snagged were ones in the way of a hook set on a hit! I just about lost a rod more than once on this day cause when they hit, they hit like a FRIEGHT TRAIN!!!!!!!!!! We catch quite a few cats on spoons all year round. I did have one on that I finally lost after about 45 minutes.

[prov1900]

Great pics Greg. Keep up the good work. One of us Nebraskans has to get some pics up. South central Nebraska is a lot different than P4, water temp wise. Totally understand the theory behind not fishing for them, but In-Fisherman really supports it, as long as there is the C/R.