Flatheads are solitaries, and any one piece of cover will usually yield only a few adults. Flatheads feed actively at night, and will spend the daylight hours loafing in a favorite deep hole before venturing shallow to feed.

One overlooked aspect of flathead action is stream-fishing. Although their numbers may be limited by the size of the water, big flatheads can be taken from even small streams. Flatheads prefer their prey alive and kicking, or at least freshly dead, and any fish that a flathead can fit into its mouth is fair game. Shad and sunfish are popular prey items.

Slender, with a broad, flat head, the flathead exhibits a back and sides colored pale yellow to light brown mixed with dark brown or black and a pale yellow or cream-white belly. The flathead can be distinguished from other Georgia catfish species by its white-tipped tail and a lower jaw that extends slightly beyond the upper jaw. The fish’s appearance reflects its attitude: big and grumpy.

The Georgia record flathead catfish weighed 67.5 pounds. Some of the largest Georgia sportfish, flatheads, especially those in reservoirs, are habitually overlooked by anglers. Indeed, all across North Georgia, reservoir catfish represent a virtually untapped resource.

TACKLING CATS
Tackle selection should be guided by your expectations for your catfishing expedition. If catching supper’s what you’ve got in mind, a medium-weight baitcasting, spinning or spincasting outfit spooled with 12-pound-test monofilament will do fine. For the bruisers, however, heavy tackle is really the only way to go -- so much so that you might even want to consider saltwater tackle.

If you plan on tangling with a big catfish, 20-pound monofilament is the minimum to spool on your reel. Modern braided lines are well suited to catfishing, since 30-pound-test line of this sort is small in diameter. Besides its allowing you to put plenty of it on the reel and its near-zero stretch, braided line confers several advantages. The sensitivity of the braid allows you both to feel the bottom -- making it easier, say, to pick out a hard, rocky area on an otherwise soft bottom (the sort of place in which fish are likely to be holding) -- and to detect even the slightest nibble. And when the fish takes the bait, the line’s lack of give puts the force of the hookset into burying the hook, not stretching the line, and as catfish have tough mouths, this can be particularly important when you’re setting a hook in deep water with a lot of line out.

Whatever reel you go with for the pursuit of plus-sized cats, consider a model incorporating a bait-clicker feature. It’ll alert you to the bite while allowing the fish to take the bait and run without meeting heavy resistance.

For terminal tackle, a standard fish-finder rig has a lot to recommend it. Consisting of a sliding sinker, a heavy swivel trailed by a 3-foot leader of heavy monofilament, and a large sturdy hook on the end, it’s simple yet productive.

If you’re using live bait with the fish-finder, hook it so that it stays as lively as possible. For smaller catfish, just downsize the same rig.