Someone Wake Me Up From This Dream! (May 12 Flathead Report)

[hanson]

I just noticed "dtro" posted a report titled "You have got to be kiddding me!" That is what I wanted to title this report, as that phrase was echoing through the river bottoms over and over last night.

I had the privilege of sharing the boat with Tyler Holm last night. I must admit, I was a little gunshy as I recently invited Tyler along to my ice shack on Upper Red Lake this winter and we darn near got skunked on crappies. I caught one crappie for the weekend and I know Tyler was disappointed in the crappie action. I was hoping and praying that we wouldn't have a repeat of the URL trip.

I met Tyler at the boat ramp and we set out to scout some locations. It was still early in the evening so we had plenty of time to locate spots. Since we did have a lot of daylight left, I picked a spot that looked good to kick out a daytime flathead, but I was wrong. The current in this location was wrecking havoc with our baits, and wrecking havoc with my confidence at the same time. It was now dark and we were moving to Spot #2 but I feel we made a fundamental error in sitting on that spot too long.

By the time we set up on Spot #2, it was about 10pm. This worried me a little as the flatheads have had a good feeding window in that 9-10pm timeframe lately. We wasted that window on a so-so spot and changing locations. Lesson learned.

We sat in spot #2 for an hour or so and I was going over the fundamentals of flathead fishing, bite detection, and hook setting technique with Tyler in case his 1st Flathead Catfish ever decided to take his bait.

And it was a good thing I described bite detection to him because he noticed my rod tip behaving strangely. I looked over and sure enough, that was a fish munching on my bully. I removed the rod from the holder, reeled up some slack, recognized the fish on the line, and drove the hook home! Game On! I'm not sure who was more excited... me or Tyler!

But that excitement would result in heartbreak as the fish came off boatside after a couple minute fight. I'm not sure what happened, but it came unbottoned and we were so disappointed.

I rebaited, recast, and went back to waiting and drinking Sierra Mist Free, my new favorite no calorie, no caffeine, no sugar, no fun, keep you up all night soda pop.

And then it happened, eagle eye Tyler saw a thump on his rod tip followed by some strange behavior. Tyler was now as nervous and as excited as I was when I caught my first flathead catfish.

"What do I do? What do I do? Should I set it? What do I do?", said Tyler.

I calmly asked if he could feel the fish pulsing and pulling. Indeed he could and at that point, I saw the fish almost pulling his rod into the water. "Set it hard!" I said. Tyler made a great hookset and got the fish into the boat quickly for his 1st Flathead Cat ever! Way to go dude!

It was bigger than he ever expected, a 14 pounder!

Tyler with his 1st Flathead Catfish @ 14 pounds!

(I would have a great photo here but I'm waiting to receive it from Tyler.)

Here is where "You Have Got to Be Kidding Me" comes into play. Tyler's fish was caught approximately 12:30pm. No sooner than he rebaited and cast his bait out, my rod thumped and started to slow load. Uh Oh! Here we go again! Flathead #2 for the night was in the boat shortly before 12:40pm. This fish was almost a twin to the one Tyler just caught- 13 lbs.

Hanson's 1st Fish of the Night - 13lbs

We quickly photo'd and released that fish, rebaited my rod, and went back to waiting. But the flatheads wouldn't let us do much waiting. No sooner than we got settled, it was the same deal on my rod again- thump, slow load, hold, grab the rod, set the hook, fish in the boat!

But this time we had a serious fish on that didn't want to come to the boat. It rolled up the line several times at which point I was getting really nervous about losing it. But we didn't. Tyler was a great netman and we got her in.

Whoa! This one is a 32 Pounder! 40 Length x 25 Girth

Here's another look.

After that fish was released, I think our night was made! But there was one more little guy that wanted to play.

This little guy came into the boat about 1:15am or so. By the time I handled all these fish, my hands were chewed up. You can see the flathead rash in the next photo.

Good Kind of Pain!

You have to remember, all 4 of these fish ended up in the boat in about a 45 minute time period. Absolutely phenomenal and hectic fishing there for that brief window.

What happened? Why were we successful?

So as I sit back and take stock of what happened last night that contributed to our success, there are a few key points that come to mind.

1- Location. Having multiple locations and moving when you aren't getting action was important.

2- Weather. For the hour or so leading up to our 45 minutes of catching flatheads, we were watching lightning dancing in the cloudtops to the north, west, and south of us. I've seen this happen before on very successful outings. If you are in a good spot, an approaching or nearby T-storm really seams to kick these fish into gear. We had to stop fishing and leave due to the approaching lightning. It was getting close and making me very uncomfortable.

3- Bait. Lively bait is always important, but for some reason, small bullheads (5 to 5 1/2") were the baits that were getting eaten. I don't normally use bullheads this small but they worked like a charm last night. I need to thank Moore's Bait & Tackle for the bullies. We were in a pinch for bullheads and Bob hooked us up!

4- Bite Detection We did not have a single clicker "run" all night. Every bite was a chomp, slow load of the rod tip, and the fish just sat there. Watching your rod tip is so critical in catching these fish at times.

Tyler deserves a big congrats on his 1st Flathead. Patience and perserverance is what it takes to fish these cats. It finally paid off man!

[katchaser]

Ur killin me!

I will never catch you in numbers of flathead this year Hanson.

I will start flatheading in the next couple of weeks though.

[Dan Thiem]

Awesome!

[rushing]

mind bottling.

[bgreen82]

Quote:

---

4- Bite Detection We did not have a single clicker "run" all night. Every bite was a chomp, slow load of the rod tip, and the fish just sat there. Watching your rod tip is so critical in catching these fish at times.

---

i hope i didnt mistake that for lively bullhead movement on friday night.

[hanson]

Quote:

---

I hope i didn't mistake that for lively bullhead movement on friday night.

---

Hmmmm.... maybe.

We had a couple bites where the rod tip spazzed out for a few seconds. One was on Tyler's rod and I told him to let it sit there a few seconds and if nothing happened, pull it in to check the bait. Sometimes the flats will hit it and come back . Sure enough, the bully was gone.

Like I said, all of our baits were a very slow and steady load of the rod tip. Sometimes the tip would slowly throb up and down, other times it just sat there loaded like you accumulated some debris. The trick was picking the rod up and feeling for the fish and then setting the hook.

Sometimes it is better to swing and miss if you think it is a fish rather than letting him get away.

[Tyler Holm]

Quote:

---

Game On! I'm not sure who was more excited... me or Tyler!

---

Me, for sure!

Quote:

---

It was bigger than he ever expected, a 14 pounder!!

---

Size was a moot issue for my first ever flatty (after 2 unsuccessful trips already), but a 14 pounder exceeded my expectations.

Quote:

---

Tyler deserves a big congrats on his 1st Flathead. Patience and perserverance is what it takes to fish these cats. It finally paid off man!

---

Thanks hanson, but an even bigger thanks goes right back to you for THE PERFECT guidance that evening. I learned a ton from you and have it stored (and the whole evening) in the long term memory bank. Thanks Chris!

"You Have Got to Be Kidding Me" continues here with Holmer's first Flathead