Some of the flathead have spawned

[katfish]

I hope the drought is over

[Smoothkip]

Good fish Robby! Glad your starting to get on them!

[smokey869]

nice fish congrats

[Chuck]

Nice one Robby!

[chuckd67]

Good one Robby, I hope I can get on one soon. The drought is never ending for me.

[katfish]

This female was in exceptional shape for just finishing the spawn.
A tail nip and bruise either from foreplay or being run off the nest
after laying eggs.



The "experts" often say flathead don't bite during spawn
and flathead don't bite during a full moon.


This fish didn't get their memo

[Seanstone]

Congrats on yet another exceptional flathead.

I caught my pb flattie on a full moon.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using proboards

[ducky]

Nice job Robby, is it just me or have the last two years produced more females than usual. Seemed like the first three years I started lake fishin you would catch nine or ten males to every one female.

[katfish]

The percentage of females does seem to be up for us also.
This may be due to a number of factors. My best theory is
that dominant (larger) males often spawn several nests of
eggs each year and become so thin they cannot recover their
fat before winter and then die.

This would cause the ratio to be unbalanced and females would
be larger and dominate areas they normally do not reside.

Another idea is that increased popularity of noodling from TV
shows has decreased the number of dominant males. Although it
is illegal in Ohio, I still see signs of it in areas I fish.

I am not surprised at the number of females at this time of
year because we normally catch several females that hang
around spawning structure after being run off the eggs by males.