Fish Taste?

[fishinwrench]

4 hours ago, Ryan Miloshewski said:

I thought we were talking about noodling. Plenty of guys still do noodling around there is what I was referring to. We catch them on the Sac on trot lines occasionally.

Yeah you can target them in late June by noodling..... But don't brag about it on Facebook!  😉

[Terrierman]

You can target them in June in the big rivers.  Throw lines near brush or rip rap with current.  Sunfish or carp minnows work great.  By minnow I mean a 5 to 6 inch fish, hooked under the dorsal fin.  Bring an honest to goodness big net and maybe even a gaff.  For really big fish, the gaff is the deal.  We always shot for going in the dark of the moon in June and did pretty good after we figured our system out.  An aerated bait tank is a must.  I made mine out of a plastic 55 gallon barrel with a pvc spray bar and a bilge pump.  Worked great to change the water when we wanted and kept everything alive for days.

[bfishn]

Geez, I.ve successfully fished intentionally for flatheads dozens of times and about half were rod & reel. Been skunked too, but that's how you learn. What I'll share;

Night time, away from humanity.

Dead stealth, either tied up or drifting. No lights, no noise, no TM, and only brief use of sonar. 

Live green sunfish about the size of your hand. 7/0 hooks. If you're tied up, heavy 3-way rigs cast near (but not in) cover. Drifting, you put 'em on balloons or those giant slip-floats, set less than 10' deep. Fish those rigs over deeper water near bluffs/rocks. Tiny cyalume sticks in the balloons or zipped to the floats make it more funner. Good baits will keep the floats bobbing and moving, but you can tell when a flattie gets near.

There's lots of other ways that work, but if you want 'on purpose', that's it.

[fishinwrench]

7 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

Are you claiming that you are capable of successfully going "FLATHEAD FISHING" ?

I'll take that bet.  👍  

Announce what day you'd like to go, buy a newspaper that morning, and post a pic here before dark.      

Again.   Any takers ?   😉

[Flysmallie]

2 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

Again.   Any takers ?   😉

I’m your huckleberry. But pack your bags, we will be doing this in Oklahoma. Probably Cache Creek. 
 

Actually I don’t think you are ready for noodling in Oklahoma. And I pretty much swore that I would never go again. 

[Flysmallie]

2 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

Again.   Any takers ?   😉

I’m your huckleberry. But pack your bags, we will be doing this in Oklahoma. Probably Cache Creek. 
 

Actually I don’t think you are ready for noodling in Oklahoma. And I pretty much swore that I would never go again. 

[Flysmallie]

I always wondered why people of the Ozarks didn’t eat as much catfish as we did in southern Oklahoma. And all of that came from farm ponds. Probably with an oil rig nearby. Even the fish farms that supplied the restaurants, finished off their fish in pins on the same farm ponds and they fed them pellets. Maybe us Okies weren’t smart enough to know it tasted bad. 
 

But I have also ate at Dowds and wasn’t impressed with their catfish. 

 

 

 

[fishinwrench]

54 minutes ago, Flysmallie said:

I’m your huckleberry. But pack your bags, we will be doing this in Oklahoma. Probably Cache Creek. 
 

Actually I don’t think you are ready for noodling in Oklahoma. And I pretty much swore that I would never go again. 

I was referring to pole & line in Missouri. 

I'll have to puss out on the handfishing these days......but I do have a few Polaroids in the drawer, taken back when I thought I was the toughest thing on the river.   

Oklahoma punks build and anchor crates, and sink clay pipes for those fish to gather in.   We poked around in root wads, muskrat tunnels, and REAL scary places.    I ain't doing that anymore. Flathead is good, but it isn't THAT GOOD !

[snagged in outlet 3]

10 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

Flathead is good, but it isn't THAT GOOD !

Another example of why there isn’t a “Flathead’smen association”.  Like the cattlemen have😆.  

[fishinwrench]

1 hour ago, snagged in outlet 3 said:

Another example of why there isn’t a “Flathead’smen association”.  Like the cattlemen have😆.  

I have several customers that crow all the time about....."We catch big flatheads!" 🙄

No, you have caught some big flatheads. Who hasn't?    But you can't leave the house EXPECTING to!   I don't care what day or time of the year it is.   

Can I leave the house EXPECTING to catch Bass, Crappie, Bluegill, Channel cat, Blue cat, Walleye, White bass?    You betcha! 

But Flatheads?    Heck No !   Nobody can, and that's a fact.