Collecting Native fish + trap ideas + flathead catfish advice

[ColeFishing]

I love to collet native species of fish and I'm looking to expand on my native stock for my 1400 gallon and 150 gallon outdoor pond. Currently all i have is a lMB and channel cat. most of the stuff i catch is on accident (the c-cat was found on shore stuck in a pvc pipe and the LMB made its way home undetected in my bait bucked via cast net). I want to use traps and I'm especially targeting flathead catfish. here are some Q's i have for flatheads.

1: what time of year are you most likely to find small (sub 8") flatheads?
2: where do young flatheads normally hang out or hide?
3: whats the best method of capturing one? (legally)

what would be the most ideal way to make a trap or the best one to buy? for fish and/or craw dads. I have a craw daddy trap currently but i have no idea how to use it.

Also, i am making sure everything is going to be done legally, as i already conversed with a local wildlife warden(one that knew most of what I'm interested in). he is helping me with my project of locating a flathead if i can record my catches for him. Thanks in advance!

also, just cause, i will share some pics of wild caught fish I've collected before. Heres a link to more pics and a background story for how i got started with natives lol, http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/f...503542-my-first-quot-monster-Native-quot-tank. Also, general collecting thread.

 

[Ambervikings91]

super awesome, got any full tank shots?

 

[815billybob]

What type of sunfish is that first pic it has awesome colors

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[ColeFishing]

What type of sunfish is that first pic it has awesome colors

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Thanks! He's an Orange spotted sunfish. really great fish. super smart, readily excepted pellets, interactive and stay small enough for a 20G(by itself though, as they are pretty aggressive). I wish i still had him but i learned the hard way that they are really heat sensitive and need cooler water.

 

[knife fish fanatic]

awesome

 

[ColeFishing]

super awesome, got any full tank shots?

Yeah i have a few with these old setups.



Here is my tank with a Largemouth Bass(butch), Green Sunfish(Zech), and bluegill x green sunfish hybrid(tobias). I loved these guys but when i put them in my 1400 pond some birds/coons/fox/etc killed them this is the setup they normally had.



This is the setup right before they were moved into the pond.



This is a ten gallon tank which i kept a fantail darter in along with my 3/4" LMB(now in a 16G bow front at 2").



This is the 16 bow front i had my orange spotted sunfish in and a craw dad named randy lol.



The other setups(like the one with the log perch darter) are so old i don't have any pics of them lol.

 

[ColeFishing]

oh and here is pics of the 16G bow front. currently housing the LMB and it housed the WC channel till it hit 5" now its in a 26G bow front. I don't have an actual FTS of the tank but here are pics from various angles so you can get an idea.

 

[JasonsPlecosCichlids]

A very good spot for small flats are in the backwaters in creeks off of main rivers/big creeks and on the main rivers where the bank is rocky, I catch a lot right off the bank inbetween the large rocks.

 

[TankDempsey]

A very good spot for small flats are in the backwaters in creeks off of main rivers/big creeks and on the main rivers where the bank is rocky, I catch a lot right off the bank inbetween the large rocks.

I caught a small around 6'' flathead just off a rocky area. Was using just a nightcrawler weighted to the bottom and waited. If you're gonna go the hook line and sinker route you wanna use barbless hooks and make sure they dont swallow the hook or they could have some serious internal damage.

 

[jmichailiuk]

Nice set up is that a sun fish I'm doing a similar set up in 110 tank and 260 pond


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