FFOY (first flathead of the year)

[shawn]

Finally got out again over the weekend, Saturday night. Only had a few good hits, one blasted and disfigured a sunfish. I also managed to boat one nice flathead on a bullhead catfish bait. About 31", very stout.

[kay]

. I would definitely say that a 31" is an awesome start for the year!!! What type of structure did you get the beast from?

[Fonzie]

Very nice ,

,

[shawn]

Was maybe 3-4 FOW, wood cover. Near deeper water though. Water temp 74 degrees.

[Taterman]

Nice cat Shawn. Me and the wife both got skunked here on Monday.

[axis_roll]

Sweet Cat. Gills/sunfish are awesome bait.

[slimshady]

Nice Flatcat shawn. I believe that's a Green Sunfish in the pic, and yes, they are an excellent Mudcat bait. Very hardy/very lively. And hopefully the octupus/circle hook means you're a CPR (catch/photograph/release) fisherman.

[Choupiquer]

I guess you're gonna be in trouble if you kept it.

[shawn]

I'm 100% CPR on all flathead catfish. Actually I wouldn't eat any cats on the Fox anyways. Now, if I'm camping on the Mississippi and get a small channel cat, 50-50 chance it becomes dinner.

Actually, I use the regular octopus hooks not the circle ones. Although I often fish them like a circle hook, where I'll leave the rod in the holder and just burn the reel until the fish is solid. Depends on the pick-up and where the bait was. If it's really tight to heavy cover, I think the traditional sweep set helps steer the fish away from getting snagged up.