In a continuing effort to help all you new anglers curb your flathead frustration, let me offer another quick tip to help you improve your alpha predator game. Reaching back some 20 plus years and thinking about all the questions I’ve been asked the most, I’m pretty sure “What bait should I use?” is right near the top.
There are many variables that go into choosing the right bait for the right time—things like water temperature and water speed, plus whether the flatheads are in prespawn, spawn or postspawn condition. To simplify things a bit, let’s just break flathead bait into two categories: live and dead. Let us also keep things simple by saying that both types of bait work when water temperatures are in the upper 40s or higher.
Next, we will divide water temperature into two broad categories: cool water and warm water. Cool water is 69 degrees and under. Warm water is 70 degrees and up.
It is best to stick with small live baits and dead cut-bait in cool water and no-limit live and dead bait in warm water. Three- to five-inch shad and other fish are great in cool water, while 15-inch shad and other fish are great in warm water.
There are so many variables when it comes to bait, a person could write a book on the topic. But good live or cut-bait can be any fish that naturally swims in the water where flatheads do. Certain baits are better at certain times, however, and in a future issue we will discuss when bluegills, bullheads, shad and other baits all have their shining moments. Go catfish!
(Matt “CatMatt” Jones is a lifelong catfisherman from the northwest corner of Illinois. He’s also a long-time guide, speaker and writer who enjoys spending most his time chasing big flatheads. “I caught my first catfish at six years old, and the fire just kept getting bigger from there,” he says. “Every new tactic was just another twig on the fire. Now, almost 50 years later, catfishing still fuels my passion. Along the way, I’ve learned a thing or two, and passing on my passion is what I enjoy most.”)
