They will eat all hours of the day if you execute properly. If night fishing is your cup of tea than you need to start learning the behaviors and where the flatheads will roam at these times so that you can effectively intercept them searching for there next meal. It does you no good, if they strike a tasty bluegill before running into your bait. Well, regardless of your overall game plan, it still sounds like you have the daunting task of locating the flatheads before your going to hit the best time to fish for flathead catfish.
You just need to locate the catfish on whichever body of water you are fishing. Especially between the hours of 10 am and 2 pm. You have several options in doing this effectively. They will be deep in the logs and snags and sitting in water depths of two feet during the day. It protects them from rolling currents and other element exposures. Once you find these spots your good to go. You just need to start effectively hitting your mark with an irresistible bait and placement and you can catch flathead catfish all year around, any season, rain or shine or even during the next thunderstorm.
Okay, so back to the idea that you may not want to use any of the new and improved electronics. We already know they are going to be in the high dense snag areas with heavy brush, so you can start just by actively seeking out areas with tree overhangs or that appear to be littered with high cover.
They even make castable versions of this technology in case some you are bank fishing on lakes or rivers for catfish and need another avenue to get your hands on the valuable information and find the slimy monsters in their favorite hiding spots.
It will almost always be areas with visible tree lines and areas where the potential for snags and underwater structure are obvious and possible.
Shad start schooling up and catfish go on hunt mode. Later in the fall as water temperature plummet and start to look more like winter, go with more fishing towards the middle to the latter portion of the day. Use live or cut bait for these fish. I like using living small bluegills for big flatheads and cut shad for blue and channel cats. The early fall is one of the best times to hook into good cats.
During the winter, catfish will be trying to stay as warm as possible. In these locations, look for the deepest holes. If you catch catfish during the winter and their bellies have some mud on them, you now know why.
The best time of day to catch winter catfish is probably late morning through near-sunset. It will be too cold out. By far my favorite time to catch wintertime catfish though is anytime you have a snow or rain event that causes air temperatures to rise some. Big catfish, especially flatheads will come alive and start biting. For a complete breakdown of fishing for catfish in winter , check out my article I wrote. Also, fishing during and after rain and flooding can yield big catfish.
If you want to learn what are the best fighting fish to catch to include saltwater and freshwater, please check out this helpful article I wrote. As with a lot of fish like bass, pike, panfish, and trout, catfish seem to bite really well in the reduced hours of early morning and late afternoon due to the cooler water temperatures and prey availability.
I find the best times for consistently good catfish action is an hour before sunset all the way until 2 hours after sunrise. But is the evening better than the morning? From my experience, the late afternoon bite has always been better. From my experience, catfish behave differently at night than they do during the day.
During the day, especially during the warmer months, catfish will be seeking out cooler, more comfortable water.
They will be in deeper holes especially if those holes have lay-down trees or boulders. Shad and bluegill will be nestled amongst the deeper structure. Big catfish will be down there too both to keep cool and to feed on their favorite food. You can catch a lot of catfish in a very small lake area if you find the deep catfish holes during the middle of the day because they will be so tightly packed.
Contrast this to what catfish seem to do at night. From my experience, catfish emerge from their deep holes and move into shallower flats near the deep holes about an hour before sunset and remain there until morning. They are out there hunting for shad and bluegill who also rise from the depths at night. Catching catfish at night is a lot easier because fish will come to you and find your bait. A study by Robinson et al. But during the day, you can catch a lot more catfish from the same location because catfish will be so tightly packed together.
The hardest part is locating exactly where they are. If you are solely fishing from shore, I recommend fishing around sunset through midnight assuming your lake has fairly gradual slopes. This is known as the catfish zone because they reside within such depths in most lakes.
However, depending on the time of the year and the temperature of the water, they can also reside in shallow areas. Begin typing your search term above and press enter to search. Press ESC to cancel. Skip to content Home Architecture Why are catfish so hard to catch? Ben Davis March 18, Why are catfish so hard to catch? Why is it illegal to catch fish with your hands? I notice that the foliage is just shy of peak as Gunter launches the boat and waves Cermele and me aboard.
According to Gunter, late October into early November is the prime time for these fish. Each corner of the boat has two rods and each rod is assigned a number and a letter ranging from 1A to 4B. When there is a strike, whoever sees it first is expected to shout the number and letter of that rod. After the minute debriefing, it takes only 5 minutes to get a bite once the rods go in.
Unlike the scavenging channel catfish, flatheads are predators, and less likely to eat the cut bait and chicken livers that channel cats favor. Despite the early success, we fail to catch another catfish, even after repositioning the boat several times. Cermele lands the first and third catfish hooked, I land the second, and Gunter lands the fourth, all of them between 28 and 38 pounds.
Flatheads fight well for a freshwater fish.
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