Flathead

[river angler man]

I hit Lake Springfield at the power plant today around 5:30a. I was real slow for a few hours catching only 2 squeaker catfish. I did have a thought on that. Many times when I get those tiny little channel cats I hook them through the mouth but also will sometimes get through an eye or through the gills. I know Channel Cats can survive with only one eye as growing up we had a farm pond and caught a one eyed channel cat for years, but the gills is particularly concerning. I let all those squeakers go but I don't want them to die once they get back or be permanently disfigured, any tips on avoiding this?

Anyway back to the report finally around 7a I get a larger fish(I was using shrimp). When I get it close I realize it wasn't colored like a channel cat. At first I thought it was a large bullhead, but once I got it in all the way I saw that protruding lower jaw and see it's a Flathead. Now I've heard 1 or 2 people here say they've caught Flatheads in the lake, but I always assumed they were mistaken that they were actually large bullheads. I know Flatheads are on the species list for the James but I'd never caught one this far north and thought they were only in the southern portion of the river, but clearly I was mistaken. Now the question I ask is how often do other people catch Flatheads in the Lake? Flatheads grow much larger than Channel cats and while they are never going to reach anywhere near full size in a lake that gets fished as much as lake Springfield does, I saw someone caught a 10 pounder next to the dam and was wondering has anyone else caught anything similar? I would never bother to try and target them since clearly they have nowhere near the numbers Channels have established with stocking and am purely curious. Anyway the one I caught was only about 15" and unfortunately I didn't think about how rare they probably are and decided to keep it,wish I hadn't but it died pretty quickly before this realization hit me, oh well good eats(maybe? actually not sure).

[zander]

flatheads to me are the best tasting catfish. I have seen others catch some in there. They probably exist in the more river like areas up stream and sometimes find their way down.

[vonreed]

Check 4 topics down from yours. A 10lb flathead was caught at night right by the dam. The best catfishing I've found on Springfield Lake is not where the discharge is. I've done real well upstream on cats. But that was a few years ago. Good luck, now you got me wanting to go catch a flathead for supper.

[usmcgrunt]

Being the one that caught the 10 pound flathead, I can say I've caught a lot of quality flatheads out of Springfield Lake. They're not as rare as you think, you just have to adjust your technique to catch more of them. They're mostly hunters, so stinkbait, cut bait, and the ever present liver and shrimp won't catch as many fish. I prefer bluegills about the size of a credit card for smaller flatties, and then obviously bigger gills for bigger cats. The nice thing about that is the amount of very nice size channels I catch too. In sheer numbers, channels and bullheads outnumber flatheads, but that's true everywhere

[Hawk]

Last year I hit the Finley (above the dam at Linden) nearly every weekend. Fishing was great. It didn't matter what time of year, sometimes even the time of day, I would get top water action. With the water the way it is, fishing is TOUGH! I have a canoe with a trolling motor that we use. (1) Can you guys tell me if it is worth the effort to put in on the James at Hwy 65? Where to go/use?

Also, the girlfriend wants to catfish, but I don't know where to go. I didn't know that cats where an option here. (2) Can you cat guys help me out and give me a little direction on where to go, what to use, what time to go? I live in Spfd but I'm really unfamiliar with the James and Spfd Lake. Thanks for your help.

[BATCAB27]

I haven't fished the spfld lake area in years, so I can't help much. But you may check out the spfld lake board, some people have been posting about catching some cats down by the Dam I think.

[BATCAB27]

Lol, crap this is the spfld lake board! I need to go to bed...

[usmcgrunt]

Hawk, I fish Stockton some but do most of my fishing at Springfield Lake and I've caught a ton of cats out of there. If you want eater size cats, I'd use 10 lb test line, an egg sinker, and a swivel as a bottom rig and use shrimp or liver or cut shad or bluegill for channel cats. If you're like me and figure if you're gonna spend a night fishing, you might as well catch some big ones, I'd use a 3 way float rig on no less than 15 lb test line and use a bluegill as bait for flatheads.

To make the 3 way float rig, you need a 3 way swivel, preferably a circle hook about 5/0, a bank sinker about 1 or 2 ounces, and a bobber. First tie the swivel to your line, then tie on a leader about 2 feet long and tie on your sinker. Then take a leader about 18 inches and tie on your hook. Stick the bobber on your main line right above the swivel to keep your bait off the bottom and swimming around. This is my favorite rig, and the best one IMO for night fishing with live bait.

As for places to fish, I always try to go to the end of the point and cast towards the dam. It's about 80 yards to cast, but I carry a 12 foot pole that has no trouble making that cast. If you don't have an obscenely large fishing pole, just cast as far as you can. If there's someone there, the last dock on the left facing the cove is another pretty productive spot. Just cast diagonally to the left to compensate for the heavy current.

And since you're new to Springfield Lake, be sure to watch out for idiots. They come out of nowhere and try their best to ruin your night. Common symptoms include: repeatedly crossing your lines, scooting over bit by bit to take over your fishing spot, yelling and screaming just because they can, and other annoying things that seem to be common courtesy to the average fisherman. Hope this helps, and good luck.

[jbtiwns30]

im new to fishing here in missouri and i think i read it right. when you say use blue gills, you have to catch them in that lake in order to use them for bait right? if your using shad that needs to be from that lake as well or can you catch it from a river and cut it up then use for bait? i know where i came from it depends on the lake of what you can us or not. thanks for the info, i might need to take my daughter out fishing one of these nights.

[Wayne SW/MO]

Circle hooks are hard to beat for cats. The trick is to let them take the bait and move off with it, then set the hook by lowering the rod tip and sweeping it to the side. You should virtually all of them in the corner of the mouth.