Flatheads on the Cut and Run

“Once you anchor and get the boat situated on the spot, upcurrent of the logjam, it’s important to get the bait as close as possible to the wood, even to walking baits under and into the crevices between the logs,” he explains. “If you don’t get a bite, move the bait to another spot in the logpile. Sometimes you only need to move baits to the other side of the log you just fished. These flatheads don’t want to chase something down when they’re holding tight to the wood, so you need to get baits close to them, flipping to at least a few key spots.”

In-Fisherman Publisher Steve Hoffman says that few anglers still recognize cutbait as a legitimate option for flatheads, but some prefer it 2 to 1 over livebait. “Besides the Wassinks, Minnesota River angler Dean Opatz, of Jordan, Minnesota, is another unconventional flathead angler who fishes with cutbait and gave up nighttime fishing,” Hoffman says. “His game plan changed in about 2002, and when he told me about his new methods, he said he’d caught more flatheads during his first year experimenting with cutbait during the day, than he had at night during his previous best season.

Although Wassink and Opatz stick with cutbait tactics into fall, Hoffman finds it most effective during the Prespawn Period. “On the Minnesota River, the action usually begins in mid- to late May and peaks in mid- to late June, toward the end of the Prespawn Period.  On an In-Fisherman Television segment filmed in mid-June several years ago, Hoffman landed 18 flatheads in two days of fishing, all on cutbait, all during the day.

“When a flathead’s deep in wood during the day, it can snap over to an aggressive state when potential food invades its space,” Hoffman says. “Because you’re fishing up close to wood, cutbait also has an advantage over livebait because you snag less—you don’t have to deal with a baitfish swimming around and tangling itself on limbs. There’s no avoiding snags, though, and if you’re not getting hung up now and again, you’re not fishing where the fish are.

“I like to anchor so I’m within easy flipping distance to the edge of the wood. If it’s a spot I haven’t fished before or if it looks like the wood might have shifted, I make a few flips to the edge without a hook, just a sinker tied on, so I can probe around and find openings to place baits. That helps to reduce snags, but lost rigs are always part of the game.

“It can’t be overemphasized that this is a run-and-gun tactic,” Hoffman notes. “If you’re not getting bit in 10 minutes, move on to the next spot. You might be covering miles of water and dozens of spots in a day. Never back-track. These fish have a go or no-go response, and if it’s a no-go, you go.

“Another sign that it’s time to go is if you’re getting pestered by smaller channel cats,” he says. “Lots of small channels aren’t going to be around if a big flathead is nearby. If you get the nibblers, you’ve found a channel cat hole and not a flathead hole. Sometimes you catch a single large channel cat in a spot. That’s okay, because a big channel can tolerate sharing a spot with flatheads. When we did our TV shoot, we caught only one channel cat—about 12 pounds—out of the 18 flatheads.

Like Ryan Wassink, Hoffman prefers white sucker, sectioning one into thirds: the head, a shorter mid-section, and a longer chunk on the tail-end. He opts for a slipsinker rig without a leader, so the No-Roll sinker is free to slide right up to the Eagle Claw 84 hook. “This isn’t a heavy current tactic, so usually I’m working with 1- to 2-ounce sinkers,” he says.

Despite these successes on cutbait, most flathead anglers still fish with live baitfish at night, and we’d agree that livebait—such as bullheads, suckers, chubs, and green sunfish—is the most effective option after dark, and in some situations during the day. But a daytime flathead isn’t a nighttime one in terms of behavior—where and how active the fish are. A flathead at night cruises like a shopper in a grocery store. It’s a different beast than a flathead during the day, which is more like a lion slumbering under a shade tree on the savannah. It might not want to run down a gazelle, but bring fresh kill to it and it starts to salivate.

At night, you might set up in areas away from a logjam to intercept prowling flatheads, such as at the head of a hole with a good daytime holding area. Get a lively baitfish down there to grab attention. Or as Stange writes: “The bait’s your fish call. Flip, flip, flop. Calling all flatheads, ho-dee ho-dee-do, catch and kill me if you can! A flathead can feel a struggling bait a hundred feet away. Maybe two hundred feet—I don’t know, I’m talking relatively. They may be able to taste it 30 feet away. And if you’re lucky, they can see it at night in clear water at a distance of15 feet.”

But daytime flatheads are a captive audience, deep in the quiet confines of a woody quagmire. It’s unlikely they’d have any trouble at all knowing something had invaded their space—a big chunk of cutbait splashing the surface, sounding bottom on a couple of ounces of lead, maybe knocking on wood along the way. And if they can taste a livebait 30 feet away, how about a cutbait oozing a bazillion molecules of taste and scent at just a few feet or less.

“The whole system is like setting the table,” Hoffman says. “If you can put a chunk of fresh cutbait near a flathead, it’s probably going to eat it. It’s an efficient way to fish, too. You don’t have the extra effort of keeping bait alive, and it’s easier to get around on snag-infested water during the day.”

Try setting the table and serving up the non-conventional, big brother. A massive flathead might be down there. His name’s Mikey, and he likes it.