Flathead Catfish on a Fly Rod?

[cycler68]

Just wondering if anybody besides MrFishingToughGuy has caught flatheads on a fly rod whether or not you were targeting them.
Here goes another big fish besides muskies & carp to add to the list of species I've caught on the fly. I am going to be one busy fisherman as soon as the water thaws out and warms up a bit.

[biot midge]

I have caught them while fishing for other species. Once in a while we catch one while striper fishing in the Arkansas River.
Steve

[Leo C]

All the catfish I've ever caught were caught while fishing for other species. Never targeted them specfically. Most all were taken on a black wooly bugger. Largest was a 32" blue last year on a 4 wt.

Once a few years back I had cast out and laid my rod on the bank searching for another fly to tie on and almost lost my rig. Saw the rod being pulled at a rapid rate down the bank towords open water. Grabbed it just in time, channel cat.

Leo C

[Buddy Sanders]

I've caught a few 'accidentally'.

They will hit anything a bass might hit.

Most memorable of all of them was the one that hit a popper after dark...actually was a bit scarry..

Buddy

[brhoff]

Don't know if it was a flathead but a 24" or so catfish with a huge head once CRUSHED my nymph...thought someone had thrown a boulder in the river.

[sagefisher]

A couple of years ago, FlyFishTV.com did a DVD about fishing for catfish up where the Red River flows into Winnipeg, if memory serves me right. They were targeting cats using streamers in flood condition waters. I guess the cats come in close to the banks looking for food that is being washed into the river. They were catching a lot of big catfish, can't tell you what species (one cat is as ugly as the next cat IMHO).

Larry ---sagefisher---

[white43]

My largest flathead on a fly was while crappie fishing and using a Crappie
Candy fly. Weighed upwards of 10 lbs on a 5 wt. An amazing adventure. My largest channel was caught on a topwater Zoo Cougar fishing for bass. Same rod an about half the size of the flathead. Also an amazing adventure. Truthfully, I've never trageted catfish but seem to catch them. White Clousers fishing for silver bass and walleyes. Seems if it imitates minnow action and you're deep enough in the water column you can trick them. The Zoo Cougar catch was an anomoly. Probably wouldn't happen again in a million years. JGW

[cycler68]

Thanks for all the replies. It's been interesting to say the least. The only two catfish I've caught on the fly have come when fishing a fly under a strike indicator. They were small ones.
I may spend more time this year trying to catch some, especially the large one's found in the oxbow lakes near here.

[FishnDave]

I've caught no flatheads on the fly rod yet. At least 1/2 the catfish I caught on flies this past year were on bass popper-flies fished in the evenings or after dark. They hit just like the bass did, usually within 15' of shore.
The cats I caught during the day were usually on woolly buggers or woolly worms, fished near shore during or within a day after a rain event. I've also had them take clousers deep minnows, but they either break my line or the hook pulls out before I get 'em in. So far....

[joe cool]

Big flatheads are one of the top predators in water that they inhabit. After a certain point, even the biggest muskie would have a hard time eating one. They are actually more active and effective predators than most people give them credit for. I haven't caught one on a fly, but I've had a big one eat a gill that was caught on a fly as I was bringing it in. That was exciting.

I'd say fish around the heaviest cover you can. Downed trees with tangled branches and root systems. Fish with large flies that imitate the local species and keep it near the bottom, although they will feed at any water level.