Rigs for Flathead CAtfish

Flatheads, one of the most prized and sought after catfish in the country. The apex predator in any body of water that they swim, known for their brute strength, elusive tendencies and their ability to eat gigantic baits. Easily identified with a rounded off tail fin, a wide, flat head and and mouth that looks abnormally large for it’s body. Catching these fish can have you running in circles, scratching your head trying to figure out where they could possibly be or what they might be eating.  While dialing in the fish themselves may seem difficult and at times frustrating, the rig for targeting flathead catfish is pretty simple. We will cover all the basics to a few different options for flathead rigs as well as some other options and tactics you can try adding to your rig. 

Rigs for Flathead Catfish

The first rig for flathead catfish we will go over is called an inline rig. This rig is as about as simple as it gets, your mainline, in my case 80lb braid,  goes through your weight or the snap of your weight ( my preference is no rolls), followed by a bead (optional) and then tied off to a heavy duty barrel swivel.  From there you have your leader( 60lb mono) tied to a 8/0-10/0 circle with a snell knot. My favorite hooks are the Madkatz  Kat Snatcher hook, wide gap, heavy duty wire and a nice offset, sine switching my hook up ratio has substantially increased. My other favorite is the whisker seeker triple threat. Extremely versatile and a great hook up ratio. These run on the big side and are preferred for my larger baits.

The second rig we will talk about before covering some additional tips and pieces to add to your rig is the three way rig. The mainline gets tied directly to the top of a heavy duty 3 way swivel, your weight snap gets clipped to the middle of the swivel and your leader gets attached to the third end. The other way to utilize the 3 way swivel is mainline tied to the top, leader tied to the middle and weight tied to the bottom. This works great for rods that are dropped very close to the boat to help prevent your bait from sitting on bottom. My two favorite rigs for versatility are the inline rig and the first 3 way rig described above. I do however have a few tricks I use to make those rigs more versatile. 

One of my favorite tools to utilize on these rigs are catfish rattles. They not only add buoyancy to your rig to keep your bait off bottom and working,  but they also create extra noise and vibration, helping fish locate your bait fast and encouraging them to feed. Catfish feed primarily on smell and their lateral line making these a game changer for catching flathead catfish. I position them at the half way point between my leader and my hook. I primarily find mine on amazon, being the most cost effective as it isn’t uncommon for me to blow through some leaders fishing heavy wood. Remove the split rings and run the line through the head and tail ring. Using a bobber stopper and bead on each end to keep them in place. 

Hopefully this article helps you get one step closer to consistently banking or boating some big flatheads. There are more articles on the website and more coming soon! All in hopes of helping you find that next big bite!

John Wielinga

www.getbentguideservicemi.com

269-277-9293