Springtime Flathead want to make baby Flathead! This is the most vulnerable and predictable time for flathead catfish. Spawning areas repeat from year to year. Often fish spawn in areas with less than 5 foot of depth. These areas offer best cover to protect nests and warmer water temperature. Young fry have cover and food they need to survive. Prespawn finds males in spawning areas building and protecting the best nest sites. The best sites are areas of bitter battle amongst the biggest strongest males. Prior to the females arrival the males exert enormous energy building and protecting sites that will entice females. The better the spawning site the bigger the male protecting it. He must stay to occupy the area so he must find food there. Find these sites and catch the prespawn males!(58-64 degree water temp) When females arrive males will no longer feed. They court the females and exhibit what a fine nesting site they have. Females look around and the same pecking order as the males occurs. The better the site the bigger the females. The females lay their eggs and the male fertilizes them. Even if the female is 20 pounds heavier than the male she will be driven from the nest. Males threaten and beat the females away from the nest. Normally the bigger females are rammed till bruised to force them away. They roam within 100 yards of the nest for several days. During this period the females will feed. This is the time when a fisherman can find and catch several fish in concentrated spawning areas. The males will not feed until the fry disperse to feed on their own. (Especially at night you will hear the males defending eggs and fry) They will not feed but reveal locations favorable for next years prespawn/spawn locations)

Dominant males will attempt to entice another female to the nesting site. I caught an extremely skinny male of 41 pounds once. The size of his head and the length of his body suggested he had once been a 50 pound fish. The best guess was that he had mated 3 times and did not feed for more than 8 weeks while he courted, spawned, and guarded fry 3 times.