3 Simple Rigs for Big Flathead Catfish

good afternoon I'm Spencer that's woody yeah I'm going to talk about the three super simple super effective rigs I use for flathead catfish 90% of the time so the first rig rig that I use almost exclusively during the day with the exception of the third one I'm going to show you it's a little different than what a lot of people are probably doing I naturally gravitate toward things that are a little different because most people classified me as a little different which Vegas I get where they're coming from anyway so what makes this first rig different well it's not that much different what you have is a three-way crane swivel and this prevents your sinker from sliding now growing up everything you read about slip sinker rig was the way to go for catfishing that's still an excellent rig and I still use it pretty regularly but for daytime catfishing more specifically daytime flathead catfishing it's close to cover and usually dense wood covered I want a short leader now you can have a slip sinker rig and this rig has a short leader it's got like an eight to 10 inch leader but with a slip sinker when you cast lots of times that sinker slides up your mainline then when it slides up your mainline you're 8 to 10 inch leader is now a 3-foot leader or 5-foot leader the longer the leader the more snags you get with this a tight 1/8 inch leader no matter what its gonna stay an 8 inch later and it drastically reduces the amount of times I snag and have to retie so three-way crane swivel I'll link it in the description below if you want to go NAB you some next part clip know no matter what I like to have a clip because I'd like to be able to change my sinker [ __ ] or sinker size quickly if I want a light sinker because I want this rig to drift near piece of cover I can put on the light sinker if I want to put on a heavy sinker because I want to place it directly in cover and I don't want it to move around no problem just unclip it and change the sinker works awesome and I haven't found it this is the best system I found leaders leader length during the day for flat heads got to be short there's nothing wrong with using a 4 to 6 inch leader this is 8 to 10 inches which is probably what I use most of the time next part I use 85 pound whisker seeker braided line as my main line for all of my flathead catfish you eater 50 pound 50 pound mono this this guy right here it's a rattle more specifically a versa rattle whisker seeker makes them they're pretty nifty the current hits these makes them spin they rattle draw attention and I'm always looking for something to give me a little extra edge to catch a few more fish two out of my three biggest flat heads this year came on rigs using versa rattles the main purpose of these beats between the hook and the versa rattle is cushion this space I don't want this versa rattle to get in the way the hook because I want that hook point to be unobstructed and go straight into the corner of the mouth of the fish for hooks this is an a taut whisker seek your super jay love these things there are ridiculously sharp and they stay sharp a dot is about the best all-around size for the majority of flathead fishing and that's because it's a great hook for blue gills and mid-sized bull heads which is the bait that I use and can get the majority of the time if I get into some giant baits I always have a supply of ten odds the ten op is a machine compared to the a dot and I save it for those extra special occasions the reason I use J hooks is because for flat heads is because lots of times they take the bait they just don't move or they'll pull the rod down a little bit and they won't move this is really frustrated with circle hooks yeah you can reel down on them lots of times that leads to poor hook set and fish loss now there's no perfect hook but this is my favorite because I can I can treat this like a circle hook you don't have to set the hook like crazy for with a j-hook I just reel down on the fish until I feel weight and abruptly lifts similar to how a lot of people fishes serve a look now before I move on to the next rig if you were looking at me and you're like wow Spencer that's shirt shirt you gots pretty sweet I would have to agree with you if you want to get one which I think you should click on the icon at the top corner of the video they'll take you the website there's t-shirts there's dry fit long-sleeve shirts like this one sweatshirts it's just one more step to becoming River certified anyway onto the second rate let's say you're camping so you fish all day then you want to fish all night that's like 24 hours of fishing that's awesome so my other rig that I use at night time a lot requires no retime whatsoever this thing is a whisker seeker sinker slide and I'm not gonna take the time to show you how it works right now there's I'll link the video in the description and check the corner right about now that video will show you how to use a whisker seeker sinker slider so this guy is what allows this rig to be changed without any retired so first thing I do with rig number one take the seeker off sinkers off next thing I do I take this clip off clips off top next thing I do on the main line I put the whisker seeker seeker slide on take the sinker and I took off put it on the new clip have a sliding rig sliding rig everything I need you're like well that swivel looks kind of junky I guess you can retie if you want this could potentially catch more debris as it floats downriver sure but almost all catfish rigs are pretty bulky and they're gonna catch a bunch of debris so it's totally your call I haven't found it made that much of difference one disclaimer check your knots before you do this because sometimes it's a good thing to retype and if you're ever not sure about your knot strength like this rigs been in and out of a bunch of logs all day and you haven't had to retie it from a bus stop it's probably a good idea to retie anyway why do I want a sliding sinker tonight my bait imagine my bait on this hook tug tug II and tell you on a thick sinker rig he tugs and has solid resistance against that sinker what happens lots of times is the fish pops off the hook and then you're sitting there and you have rods out without bait on it and then you're not catching fish that sucks what the sliding sinker allows as a fish pulls against it has some give back and forth and it's playing against more so the bend in the line as well as the tip of the rod and that give prevents the fish from tearing off the hook and you know the longer you have baits in the water the more fish you're going to catch rig number three if you need to get down and some super thick cover this is where it's at this rig right here it was first introduced to me reading channel catfish fever which is a book written by Doug stange Otis Smith Smith and Steve Quint in fisherman dudes the guys who started my addition well they didn't start my addiction to catfishing but they definitely filled it to two 8-ounce egg seeker generally gets the job done a bead and you tie your hook on another great feature would be to put a bobber stop up above here to prevent your seeker from sliding and what this does is it essentially creates it turns a catfish where you can do a G head this is super duper weedless are you gonna snag free and this is a great rig for dropping it straight down into a brush pile lots of times that's where that big boys at so the bummer part about it why I prefer the other rate is if you do get snagged you lose your hook and your sinker and sinker prices do add up nothing would make me happier then if you use the rigs and information that I just showed you to go out and catch yourself the biggest catfish you've ever caught your life that would make me absolutely ecstatic do you found that information helpful and you want to see some more hit the subscribe button if you want other people to know your River certified go get you one of these t-shirts links in the description if you want to know every piece of tackle I'm using those links are in the description to go catch a giant thanks for watching

Channel: River Certified

Views: 88,794

Rating: 4.9005737 out of 5

Keywords: 3 Simple Rigs for Big Flathead Catfish, rigs, tactics, tips, tricks, strategies, how, to, best way, teamcatfish1, hooks, sinkers, swivels, secret, beads, bobbers, river, creek, stream, lake, pond

Id: YdGwO0XUSog

Length: 9min 30sec (570 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 05 2018