Definition Of "flat"

[DChance]

We hear about it in tons of articles etc. but what is your definintion of a "FLAT" coming from MN the River may have a different definintion than where I am now in MO with the Reservoirs. I also would love to see pictures of maps if you could.......BTW I know what I consider a flat, but reading articles got me thinking. What depth do you look for in a flat?

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[Phil Lilley]

Good question. I think I know what a flat is but I'd have to say it's going to be defined differently by each author or fisherman.

A flat to me is an area that is flat- no holes or variant of slope. Depth doesn't really make a difference. It's usually not located on a point, even if the point is relatively flat itself.

[chambug]

We hear about it in tons of articles etc. but what is your definintion of a "FLAT" coming from MN the River may have a different definintion than where I am now in MO with the Reservoirs. I also would love to see pictures of maps if you could.......BTW I know what I consider a flat, but reading articles got me thinking. What depth do you look for in a flat?

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Highlight "FLAT"....then click on the blue box with the diagonal arrow....then click on the "Search with Bing" site. If the little blue box does not come up, right click on the highlighted "FLAT", then go to Bing

[Trout Commander]

I thought Bing wasn't supposed to give you search overload?!

[Tom Tricamo]

I imagine a "flat" is more or less an underwater plateau. The depth of a flat, to me, is shallow; I'm basing this on the idea of "spawning flats". By the way, I love fishing flats with a square bill crank, especially when shad have schooled up on them in the back of coves.

[Guest]

I imagine a "flat" is more or less an underwater plateau. The depth of a flat, to me, is shallow; I'm basing this on the idea of "spawning flats". By the way, I love fishing flats with a square bill crank, especially when shad have schooled up on them in the back of coves.

I like mud flats..

In the Ozarks, these exist in the backs of coves where runoff has silted in the lake bed.

It could be up the rivers of a resorvoir, mud and sand flats.

Some smaller lakes are jsut that, flat with a narrow creek channel winding thru them.

The plateu you spoke of, its mound in my opinion.

Flats are usually large with very little depth change and scattered logs or stumps.

[OkobojiEagle]

An area of the shoreline-to-bottom slope that is considerably more level than the slope surrounding it.

I think interpretation can be quite dependant upon the topography you are used to fishing. I think you could alow a flat to be part of a point. I wouldn't think depth would be a factor in defining a flat as long as you didn't include the lake or river bottom. I also would not require it to be perfectly horizontal or barren of structual anomolies. I think you could find flats on large mid-lake humps as well which my definition doesn't do a good job of including. Mr. Webster I'm not.

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[flytyer57]

Here are a couple of pics from the Pigeon Creek area of Lake Norfork when it was about 9.5 feet below the bottom of flood pool.

The first pic shows the "flat" running along the shoreline. It pretty much runs the whole length of the creek arm here.

The second pic is of a "flat" on a point.

[jdmidwest]

A good definition of a "flat" in MO would be an old Flooded Field that got inundated when the lake backed up over it. Level and constant depth over a large area outside of the main channels.

Topo maps would be a good place to look. They would probably warm up first and later in the summer have the best vegetation.

[Al Agnew]

In a river, I consider a flat to be an area of shallow to medium depth, gentle current at most, and...flat bottomed. You'll usually encounter flats toward the lower ends of pools, where the river is wide, leading down to where the current begins to speed up and the bottom begins to rise at the head of the next riffle.