“Catching Big Cats in Kansas with Danny Payne and Mister Twister”

Part 2: Use a Tough Line in Strong Current

Question: What’s the biggest flathead you’ve caught on the Mister Twister Curly Tail Grubs?

Payne: I was fishing on Friday afternoon. I came down to the spillway after work about 5:00 pm. I was fishing a 3-inch Curly Tail Grub in the white and in the orange colors on 12-pound-test line. When the catfish took the Mister Twister Grub, I really had to rely on my drag and just let the catfish wear itself out. I didn’t have anybody to help me land the catfish.

So, after I got it in the net and to the shore, I had to go buy a bigger net. I saw right away that the dip net I was using wasn’t large enough to land big catfish. The only way I could land it was by moving it over into a small eddy off of the main current and netting it really quickly. If I hadn’t netted it fast, that catfish would have taken-off downstream and taken all my line with it.

Question: What rod and reel set-up are you using?

Payne: I use a medium-weight rod with an open-faced reel. All the big cats I’ve caught, I’ve caught on 12-pound-test line. But last week, I switched over to a braided line, because with all the water we’ve had this summer, the current’s gotten really strong. I knew if I didn’t have a stouter line and then hooked one of those big fish in that stiff current, that fish would pull all my line off. I’d never be able to stop it. Now I’m using 30-pound-test Stren braided line with a Pflueger reel and a Berkley Lightning rod. I also use a Shimano reel on another Berkley rod.

Question: Have you ever fished for catfish with jigs before you started catching these big flatheads?

Payne: I used to fish at Fall River in southeast Kansas, and I met some fellows there who were using jigs with Curly Tail Grubs to catch catfish. That was the first time I’d seen a flathead caught using jigs. The guy I was fishing with caught a flathead on a yellow grub. So we began to experiment with jigs and tails, and we caught a bunch of 5 to 10 pounders. Last year I was fishing another spillway and caught a 30 pounder on a jig. When I was a kid, I saw a fellow catch a 47-pound flathead using a jig.