Great video! I use cut bait almost exclusively and catch some good size fish. Key takeaway: as long as you get results, keep doing that. What works for some may not work for all. Personally I like a Santee Cooper rig with 3in float 3 to 4 oz egg sinker with a quarter bluegill/sunfish on a 4’ leader with a bait clicker. Hookup ratio is like 99% anchored.

Straight up question bud… I’ll use chicken a lot but I add the strawberry jello pack and even some garlic to it… they call it “SECRET SAUCE” have ya tried that at all??? Or do you just leave it alone? Fish can smell ya know?!

Personally, I think that flatheads can get just as big as blue cats, but since they have different behaviors, this makes them more difficult to catch. They are (in my experience) smarter than blues, and big fish don't get big by being dumb. Flatheads also tend to hunker down under logs or rock piles, and when they run they go back to that hole. A 100+lb flathead catfish is going to pull that bait right back into those snags and wrap around a log or under some sort of structure, weakening the line or outright snagging it up.

Flatheads like live bait. That's the difference. Blues will eat any old dead, smelly meat.😮

It appears that almost everyone of those catfish. And everyone of those pictures didn't make it back to the water

I guess I never considered that so many people have trouble finding and catching flatheads. After reading the comments, it seems that due to various reasons, many areas of the country are facing declining numbers. My cousins and I catch them up to 60 pounds all the time here in North Louisiana, though we've never came close to the world record.

Oklahoma has an “unrestricted category” 🎉

So many people keep all trophy Flatheads it going to make it really hard to beat records.

We still got the record lol. One day I'll break it! Although I got a long way to go on a pb to get there. Every year there is 50s 60s n some 70s caught right there at the outlet or down river from elk city reservoir! Blues are picking up though.

I watched the kiddo so my wife could go fishing yesterday for mother's day. She caught her personal best 22lb channel cat. No net, no help on the bank . Caught with a wiper head.

How long do you prospect an area for?

That’s pretty much true!!!

For catfish I am a bait caster. Not because I think they are superior, but because I use line counters to tell how far my bait is behind the boat. The hardest pulling toughest thing I’ve ever caught was a string ray with a 6ft wing span. Caught it on a spinning reel and it did just fine.

If it’s not 20” you make yourself look like a fool bringing those fish to the scale. You have to keep the rules fair and honest for every angler. If it’s not 20” it goes back in the lake immediately and those fish do not count. As far as fines,as long as the fish aren’t dead and are still living there shouldn’t be fines.

Man I wish I could catch a state record here, but it’s also the world record. Lol don’t mean I won’t keep trying

I almost broke the state record I think it's been like 20 years. I hooked up on a 94 lb shovelhead. I was just using a small Shakespeare reel and probably a ugly stik and I had 80 lb spiderwire on it I thought it was a snag I almost cut the line. I was using big Chubb minnows. I was mainly down their catching gar because I would cut their head off and make taxidermy with it people like to buy those the small ones that was on the Kentucky side. And I actually thought I caught a state record water ell. At the time I didn't know no better I had to cut it up to actually even get it up the bank so and to keep from getting a wildlife violation I had to eat it for whatever reason. I've also been warned about catching those big catfish like I've caught in the past. I had a guy actually tell me they were protected whether that's true or not I've had people tell me other things but I had actually lost my hunting and fishing license over a game bird it was an honest mistake I took five and you were only allowed three I lost my fishing and hunting license for 5 years nobody did my group of birds and I was actually studying to be a future game warden of Kentucky it was an honest mistake. I did however have a permit but there was a limit on the permit and I told him myself he said well I heard you shoot five times how many birds did you get and I said well I ate three and then I was saving one for you and one for me to enjoy together. He had said some other things but I was saving one for him and one for me to enjoy together. I don't know it seemed like they were trying to pick on me after that and then I hired an attorney he told me that if I were to hire him it would have never happened he told me that I basically got railroaded I was honest and it was an honest mistake and you know after he filed some paperwork against those guys they basically quit they were harassing folks. I am legal beagle when it takes game or fish or trout I caught some trout and you know I sore live two trout and I just quit fishing. I had the DNR stopped me and he asked me what happened. I said well I started catching trout so I quit fishing I didn't have a trout permit and I basically wasn't even going to try to pull the fish out of the water once I seen what it was. I really don't play when it comes to catching anything that I'm not trying to Target. That is the targeted species for me shovel head when I go fishing. I was catching bait fish I like to use bluegill it seems like they like to hit bluegill over here a lot more

It's hard to believe without pictures I had some pictures and my ex-wife said she lost them. For the proof the game warden in Louisa Kentucky might have a picture of a monster catfish that I caught on a bank line. There was a picture taken and he actually told me I had a record for the most inches but it wasn't official. 14 ft long it had a big massive head on it but I mean it went down to nothing I thought it was a water ell. I actually stumbled upon catching a big catfish on accident and what kind of bait to use. For shovel head catfish what happened was I set out some Bank lines and the water got up to where I couldn't get to my lines and then after about 2 days it went down and I had a couple catfish on their they was anywhere from 18 in to 20 inches channel cat. The turtles have beaten me to it so a couple of them had got eat up. What happened was it had actually took a 18-inch catfish. And I've hooked up on about 4 I ain't talking no delusional fantasy here I'm talking like it was so big that I tied it off to the side of the boat a 14 ft flat bottom Jon boat. Let me tell you now it was taking the boat under it was too much and then another time I had one hooked to the front and it was pulling my boat to the dam and it jammed up under a tree I had to cut the line it was so big that it scared me it spun my boat around and Jarred my teeth. That's the honest truth so what I did was I took a fishing stringer one of the yellow ones that was braided up and I used a big channel cat and a shark up and hooked up on one I had a couple of them that got cut there was an old-timer down there trying to play game Warden. We actually had a couple little spats to where you know hands were thrown I got tired of him cutting my gear it was so hard man I was wondering what was going on and then I waited a couple days and he was trying to sneak in he was just targeting everything I had. There was a couple guys that would come in and do Bank lines but you know they wouldn't cut their gear or nothing after they were done I always cut all my gear once I'm finished. He would show up about 10 minutes after I left and just act like he had say so I actually had to report him because he didn't even have a fishing license. I know the Crill around here on one fish one day. I hook up on those big fish and never could get one in the boat and get it on the bank I got that one big long catfish but there was no way of even getting a record with a bank line but it was massive but it was so skinny. It probably didn't weigh 60 lb if somebody could maybe find that picture for me I would love to have it it was taken with a regular camera a high-quality camera the story behind that fish I had the police called me and said I don't know what you got down here on the line but there is a huge crew of people down there there's a dnrand I sure hope your legal beagle about this. I had an Old timer tell me if I hooked up on something like that that big to give it a little bit of time to maybe wear itself out. I had to fight two people just to put my boat in the water. There was a couple people down there asking me to do a contract to fish for like 30 40,000 I said well if you see behind you that's honest Abe. I'm fairly honest myself so I would have to decline your offer even though very much appreciated it was one of the biggest catfish they had ever seen I actually pulled it up to my chin and was able to take a picture with it they took several pictures but I just turned it loose.

That’s simply not true about the blue cat. Being introduced with the flathead. It’s too much taken them home. And not allowed to grow. There’s more people pursuing them now.

Yeah, because they won’t stop so much at that damn hand grabbing. And hoop, nets and taking them home by the hundreds.

Fileting that bluegill alive was cruel!

Off topic, but you should do a video on the Red River of the North, one of the best channel catfish fisheries in the United States.

Another 100 plus pound blue has been caught on a jug line in my local lake... 111lb blue cat caught in hulah lake NE Oklahoma... Hopefully you see some reports on it.

Largemouth bass make excellent bait!

I used braid for one year and I lost more fish than ever before. They get u in the rocks and pop that braid like it's sewing thread. Now all I use is 20lb mono and I haven't lost a fish since.

Hey! THATS OUTDOOR BOYS DUDE

She sure earn a good one hope they let her have the record

In Fisherman wrote an article years ago about the largest flathead ever possibly recorded. The 139 lb monster caught in Arkansas in the 80's by the Sare Brothers on a snagline. Legal tackle for Arkansas but it was not the state record because there was no unlimited tackle category.

Yaw eat to many fish they gone be gone

Can someone recommend a good chum bait that's doesn't require preperation or souring, I've heard cattle pellets work good, thanks

i would say most arent even fishing for them the right way anyways.. i know they are in ky lake and lake barkley in western ky. i do commercial trotlines for a local market. i catch like 80% blues 20% channels and maybe .01% flathead. all i use is dead bait.. mainly bluegills or skipjack a buffalo sometimes chicken sometimes also. step 1 get a livewell for bait.. step 2 fish livebait. step 3 hope and pray its a flathead. but ya. if you arent doing livebait you arent even trying to catch a flathead in my opinion. though you still can. its just rare on deadbait so to think you will get a record when its already rare on dead bait fishing dead bait to me isnt the way to go for em. big live bluegills. or big skipjack i think would help people target them more. and i wouldnt even try asian carp. a buffalo though maybe. where im from bluegill and skipjack is the catfish catchers.

Yup

How do they taste fried , who cares how much they weight.

Big blues give a better fight

Hey big guy. I think biggest challenge in NC is it is still considered an invasive species, No regulation I catch a few over 50 every year that are healthy vibrant fish. Next thing you know we see driveway photo's of 40lb fish. A large population of people wont put them back. The "I caught it , it is my fish, I can do with it want I want" We need regulation

The only river I fish is the Altamaha river in ga and I know the guy that caught the 101 lb Flathead. I fish with limb lines only and I catch half a dozen over 50 every year and my pb is 78lb. I throw all my fish back and I can tell you the other local anglers get furious with me for letting them go. Most backwoods fishermen believe the myth that flatheads have ruined the panfishing . When it’s actually the fishermen keeping everything they catch. I have seen several fish over 80lb that would either break your gear or come unhooked and I can promise you there will be a flathead hooked over 80lb every couple months here. Getting them in the boat is a different story.

Can you use 30 pound great red braided line?

Yeah i think its because people really go after blue cats more than anything besides maybe channel cats

I finally caught another Flathead in my favorite creek! It's been over a year since I reeled one in there! Less than a year for my gear. Loaned a couple of rods and bait to a buddy and he landed what looked like a 50 pounder.

I say let it soak. Thats why you throw out multiples to begin with

That 101lb flathead was caught up from where I fish on the Altamaha River. Many 80lb fish have been caught in that river. The flathead state record was caught in the Altamaha as well as the Channel Cat state record. The largest I've caught was 65lbs. Love your videos by the way.

We just had a new record flathead caught on the west side of Michigan in one of the rivers that dumps into Lake Michigan. It wasn't much over 50lbs, and one would think, there's got to be bigger flatheads, and channel cats than that. I mean heck you can hook muskie close to 60 inches here, so there has to be bigger cats down there too.

I live in Missouri a Buddy of mine a couple years ago caught a 70 pound Flathead. The good news is we released it… we released it into 350 degree peanut oil.

Wow, I actually thought I was going to watch someone catch a record catfish??

My pb flathead was 70lbs plus in Smithfield NC in 2005

The current world record was caught with 12# line on a Zebco reel. This fish didn't pull like a typical flathead, does anybody have thoughts about this?

I miss catfish and carp channel. While I don’t target catfish or carp I learned a lot about fishing early in my journey from that channel. I think WV had a catfish record broken last year. Big ones are out there.i agree we need to learn to target them better.

Kansas Flathead record 123 lbs...1998....Guy was fishing for crappie with a jig and minnow

Limb, Trotlines and jug fishing are for lazy drunks....unless they are just meat fishing to feed a family

Can't wait to catch my first 100 plus pound mud puppy.

Those fish can easily inhale a 15 lb carp. They might not feed for a while after eating something that big. I raised a baby(5 in) in a tank. It would feed every 3 weeks on 1.5 in perch.