I fish mostly for big flathead catfish, and I fish for them from the bank of the Washita River. This is the outfit I do it with: a Catfish Pro rod, an Abu Garcia reel, heavy braided line, and a live perch on the hook.
If you’re after flatheads, you’re not fishing for supper-sized fish. You’re fishing for the biggest cat in the river, and your gear has to be built for that.
THE ROD
My rod is a Catfish Pro, 8 feet long, with stainless eyelets. That last part matters more than most folks think. The stainless eyelets don’t wear like plastic ones do. When you’re throwing heavy line and fighting big fish, you find out fast which parts of a rod are built to last — and I’ve fished with this rod for the past 8 to 10 years, so I can tell you this one is.
THE REEL
The reel is an Abu Garcia 6500 C3 Catfish Special. Truth is, I’ve fished with Garcia reels for as long as I can remember — since I was a kid. A man doesn’t stay with one kind of reel his whole fishing life unless it keeps doing its job. This one is made for catfish, and it’s never given me a reason to change.
LINE AND BAIT
I use 100 lb test braided Trilene line. That sounds heavy to some people, but a big flathead in river cover will test every bit of it. And I fish with live perch for bait, right on the bottom. Flatheads hunt live food — give them the real thing and wait them out.
WHAT IT’S DONE
My biggest flathead went 54 lbs, and I’ve taken some smaller ones besides. I don’t have a picture of that fish — you’ll just have to take a fisherman’s word for it.
I do have pictures of the spoonbill: 60 lbs, and that’s the fish I’m holding at the top of this page. Different fish, same river fishing. When you gear up for the big ones, sometimes the big one turns out to be something you weren’t expecting.
BOTTOM LINE
If you fish river banks for flathead catfish, this is the kind of outfit that earns its keep: a Catfish Pro 8-foot rod with stainless eyelets, an Abu Garcia 6500 C3 Catfish Special, 100 lb braided Trilene, and a live perch on the bottom. Mine’s handled flatheads up to 54 lbs and years of river fishing. That’s not a sales pitch — that’s a track record.
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