They are in the st Clair river in Algonac.
There is a nice fishing area next to the channel.
A 4 Oz pyramid sinker cast with a leader and cut bait, you should be able to get those and channels.
A guy at the gas station today gave me 3 dozen worms, said he zeroed sturgeon fishing but caught nothing but cats.

 

That’s super cool! I never would have guessed they were in there. I’ll be in Detroit tomorrow, I’ll have to check it out.
When I looked at a map I saw several fishing areas, if you don’t mind me asking we’re you fishing in the North/Middle channel or in the St Clair river before it splits up into several channels?

 

I've tried some spots for flathead even drove to kalamazoo last year with no luck. From what I hear Saginaw river is the spot. I have a boat but became becareful if you get a cheap one. That river has and will take a like I leave mine at home when chasing cats at night On new waters unless you scout it daytime or take someone who knows the river that would be my advise use live blue gills on heavy tackle and make a night of it I'm going to try again when salmon season ends

 

Darn that stinks I hope you have better luck.
I normally try to look at where I’m fishing during the day before I head out at night so I know what I’m dealing with. I’m normally pretty careful but I definitely appreciate the warning.

 

Take a life

 

For those who like to drive, try the Maumee River up around Grand Rapids, below the dam. It's wading on rocks. Lot of flatheads and channel cats.

 

The Maumee River in Grand Rapids, Ohio is only a 2 hour drive each way, I will definitely go there and check it out later this week, unless someone tells me it’s a bad time of year.

I plan on using 80lb braid, 3-6 oz of weight and a large single pointed hook (have form a past fishing trip). For catfishing I usually have the hook tied between a weight and a bobber, to avoid snags and lift my bait a little off the bottom.

I’ve never read the Ohio fishing rules but it would do that and see if I can use live bluegill/fish as bait or if not a wad of night crawlers suspended 6-18” off the bottom.
Any recommendations would be welcomed.

 

Lots of channel cats in the SCR and LSC but I’ve never seen a flathead in those waters...if there are any, they’re far far outnumbered by the channel cats. 😉

I’m a boat fisherman but have been in the area my whole life.
I’ve talked to people and read posts on here.
Algonac, where the river splits.

Sea Duck would know (and I agree with him). Fish biologist in this area for years.
I've caught channel but never flathead.

 

Lots of Sturgeon too.

 

That would be so cool. I’ve always wanted to catch a sturgeon but never thought I could have a good chance of catching one. I heard shrimp works well for them. I’ll definitely cast a rod or 2 for those when I go.

 

Sturgeon is the last Michigan fish I want to catch. It's still on my bucket list. I have caught all the others.

 

I use live bluegill or bullheads with citcle hooks. Flathead is some of the best table fare of any fish in ny opinion. Especially the belly meat if you get a big one

 

I’ve always wanted to fish for flathead catfish but I’m not really sure where to fish for them.
I found some information like there in the Saginaw river, but as it’s a far drive I’m trying to find more information before I start shore fishing every spot that looks good.

I’m not looking for anyone’s secret spot but I’m trying to narrow it down to maybe a 2-10 mile stretch of river or a lake (if they live in lakes) to focus on.

Was thinking of starting where the Saginaw River splits into the Shiawassee River and the Tittabawassee River, and work my way up the Saginaw River from there where I can access.

I don’t have a boat but some of them are pretty cheap on Craigslist, I’d be willing to buy one if it’s needed to get to good areas to catch flatheads.

I live in Lansing but I’m in Detroit in every week, and I’m often in Flint and Ann Arbor and willing to drive up to 5-6 hours each way to try new spots.

There are a number of places to fish for flatheads in the area you mentioned however it is the Shiawassee and Tittabawassee that dump into the Saginaw River. That stretch from the convergence to downtown Saginaw hold lots of cats. If fishing Wickes Park be aware of your surroundings as that was usually a body dumping grounds in the past. Fish on east side of river south of train bridge to Court Street is a good area to catch them from shore. Ojibway Island has a number of spots for shore fishing and you can also fish off of a dock on the west side that runs north from Court St. Be prepared though as there are some real monsters there. I had one drag me and my 18' Starcraft around for about half an hour before I was able to get it to the boat and land it. That one was roughly guessing about 40 pounds and unfortunately I threw it back before taking a picture. (didn't have a scale at that time) Have caught about 6 cats about that size from the train bridge to the convergence of the three rivers over the years and was not trying to catch them at all. My brother would not touch them and just cut his line when he got it to the boat.
Good luck and enjoy the fight.

 

I appreciate the advice, this is exactly what I was looking for! Quick question how long would you leave a line casted for waiting for a bite. Also do you think 80lb braid is strong enough to land one?

I heard should move your bait around every 30ish minutes, as they are not cursing the entire river like channels, but would love to hear from someone who is good at this.

Thanks again and will definitely keep safety in mind

 

For Maumee fishing reports call Maumee Tackle. Where the gentleman is telling you to wade across the top of the dam is at Grand Rapids. Go there when the water is too high, slip, and go over...and you are dead. Yes, that's a little dramatic, but it's quite a drop to the rocks below.

The river is low right now, and his description is a good one. I have a cousin that fishes for flatties up by Independence dam on the Maumee and he does very, very well.

Like I said, Maumee Tackle can give you an update on conditions and provide some assistance as to where to try for flatties and channels.

 

Will definitely be calling Maumee Tackle as I can always use help fishing lol. And I appreciate the feedback on spots that’s always good to know.

I ended up going there and most the water people were wading in was below knee deep, only below the dam. Seemed safe as I saw kids wading too. Tho I was told the water was very low by several people. And I grew up swimming in fast rivers and am a good swimmer.

I don’t mind it and actually waded in the dark with a light, 2 poles and my tackle bag for 3-4 hours (and had a blast catching several gar).

 

True, cats are like rats; bad eye sight and tend to run the same paths as a default, but just the same when a scent reaches them, they seek it out to eat. Also like rats, it's more about finding their nesting areas and presenting near them. That's where moving bait around comes into play.

80lb braid, sure - but don't expect any braid to hold up to abrasions from barbs, logs, rocks, shopping carts, etc.

Assuming your talking about the leader, I recommend using big mono with crimps.

Wading a fast moving river in the dark? I can't recommend that. Risking your life for trash fish? Really? Just cast and chill, bro.

 

I have 6 rods spooled with 80lb braid I use for catching channels I have from a past fishing trip. I’ve never had the line break on a fish, even when the heavy rod snaps on a 20lb fish so I assume that’s heavy enough.
I normally don’t use leaders as they’re expensive, get tangled and I have tons of heavy fishing line to spool up rods. I will definitely buy some if that helps tho. Maybe this is dumb I’m new to this.

Appreciate the advice and I definitely pay attention to make sure I’m safe. Where I was wading was pretty shallow, about knee deep, and I could see the bottom, and I normally try not to go deeper than that at night unless I know it’s slow, shallow or both.

 

I used to know a guide, who worked on the Potomac River, who guided, for catfish, at night, with poppers and fly roads.

I have caught cats on Rapalas, Mepps, Rattle Traps and darn near everything else. I often fish with Berkley Gulp leaches.

 

I caught about a 5 lb channel cat in 70 feet of water in lake michigan once trolling for salmon. Cat hit a spoon 35 ft down on a downrigger. Really surprised by that one.

 

Drifting shrimp under a float works really, really well on the Maumee. Buy the cheapest floats you can find on Amazon, as you will lose a lot.

For shore fishing, the boys and I use a three-way swivel down to a pyramid weight, with the hook on a shorter drop on the other ring of the swivel. This keeps the bait off the bottom, and out of the algae. There are probably better rigs, but that's what works for us.

The catfish charter on Sandusky Bay (Captain Scott Heston) uses mostly perch spreaders with beefed up leaders (i.e. 40# mono) with Kahle style hooks. He only uses shrimp for bait, and puts a whole one on each hook. You drop it down to the bottom (he has a pontoon) make a couple cranks, and put in the rod holder and wait for the rod to bend over. We caught over 100 in 4 hours between six guys a couple years ago. Average fish was 8-10# with biggest at 22#.

 

Drifting shrimp under a float works really, really well on the Maumee. Buy the cheapest floats you can find on Amazon, as you will lose a lot.

For shore fishing, the boys and I use a three-way swivel down to a pyramid weight, with the hook on a shorter drop on the other ring of the swivel. This keeps the bait off the bottom, and out of the algae. There are probably better rigs, but that's what works for us.

The catfish charter on Sandusky Bay (Captain Scott Heston) uses mostly perch spreaders with beefed up leaders (i.e. 40# mono) with Kahle style hooks. He only uses shrimp for bait, and puts a whole one on each hook. You drop it down to the bottom (he has a pontoon) make a couple cranks, and put in the rod holder and wait for the rod to bend over. We caught over 100 in 4 hours between six guys a couple years ago. Average fish was 8-10# with biggest at 22#.

I use shrimp on Sandusky Bay. I use a 1/2OZ egg sinker. A leader, with bait floats.

 

The Joe, the Grand, and the Saginaw river all have fishable numbers of Flatheads. They really like live Bluegills.

 

I had read that on the internet and was looking forward to trying my luck. will let you know how it goes.

Tho those are large bodies of water I was trying to find a specific area of one of the rivers so I’m fishing in a decent section of the river. I’m not looking for anyone’s secret spot or anything but maybe like a 2-10 mile stretch of river that has them.

 

A buddy of mine caught a 43# flat in the Saginaw, fishing from shore in downtown Bay City. He wasn't fishing for Flathead Catfish, and that thing put a hurt on him, with the gear he was using.

 

Holy smokes that sounds awesome. I bet it was a blast catching one on a pole intended for other fish lol.
Thanks for the input, I will definitely be pulling out some maps and looking for places to access the water near there. Can’t wait to get out there and try my luck.

 

Find the deeper holes with old, submerged wood on the Nasty and you will find cats.

 

Find the deeper holes with old, submerged wood on the Nasty and you will find cats.
View attachment 970472

Wow that’s a giant fish! I bet that was very fun to catch. I appreciate the advice for fishing deep holes with wood will definitely they that when I go out for them next.

I’m not up to date on my fishing slang so I’m int sure what the Nasty means lol

If you have a suggestion on where I should try I would love to hear it, I’m not looking for anyone’s favorite hole, just looking to make sure I’m not fishing for them in a place flatheads don’t live. I’d be happy to drive 4+ hours each way form Lansing where I live to catch one.

 

I was looking at a map of rivers near me and noticed I was closest to the Grand river in Lansing (I had never heard of flatheads there til I posted this). I was wondering if anyone knew if there are flatheads in the Grand river near Lansing.

I have also noticed I’ve been catching less channels cats when fishing for them than I was in late July/ early August. This is the first year I’ve caught cats so I’m curious does the catfish bite slow down around now or have I just been having really bad luck. I assumed I could catch them all year but I maybe I’m wrong.

I appreciate any advice or suggestions.

 

This one from the saginaw near bay city a few years ago. We get c couple a year fishing for eyes

 

That is so awesome. I appreciate the info. When the water gets warm again I plan on fishing the Saginaw River for cats at least a few times. I bet that was a heck of a battle catching that beast on a pole for walleye