


We went over to a spot up the river to some really deep water (40+ feet) that we found with irregular bottom made up of Limestone rock outcropping (we were advised by a DNR Biologist I called early on this week to look for "rocky and woody bottom in deep water"). Gene immediately hooked up (within 5-minutes of anchoring) on a fat #10 Flathead in that deep hole. The fat cat pounced on his baby bream soaking along the bottom down deep and produced a good fight on medium equipment - meaning #25 test line, 2-oz sinker, and a big, 5/0 bait hook. Oh yeah, we discovered that one had better have at least 100-feet of anchor rope for both fore and aft locations - sort of like offshore grouper fishing! Later on I managed to catch a 5-pound Flathead on a suspended cork rig (this technique uses a slip knot so you can adjust the big bobber for any depth). We observed that the "bite" from these Flatheads are definately "softer" than those experienced with the Channel or Blue cats - the latter just hit the baits running and speed up (sort of like the mackerel).
We experimented with Drift fishing to locate the kitty's, but anchoring was the best tactic. We lost several rigs to the bottom (of course - like offshore fishing), but that was to be expected. Along the way, Gene & I tried several other type baits (stinky Dip bait, big worms, cut bait) and only caught a few small Channel cats. During the heat of the day (11 a.m -5 p.m.) we fished for baby bass and bream on ultralight tackle, tossing small plugs around the shorelines - it was really hot (90+), but a kindly 10 MPH breeze kept the "sweat bees" off our brows for the most part.
We ended the trip a much more educated pair of catfishermen about 7:30 p.m. and returned to Tally town by dark! No doubt we will try this sport again, but with some modifications to our tactics and outfits, for sure. There are countless deep holes and channels along this portion of the Flint River, as we discovered during our surveilance yesterday. In fact, the areas we downloaded into my GPS bears several more trips, of a certainty.
