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Recorded 4 catches of Flathead catfish in Illinois. Most active — June–November. A day-by-day bite calendar for Flathead catfish.
Friday, September 4
The bite is weak — fish are sluggish. Pressure is dropping — this usually boosts the bite.
Best time — 00:00–04:00 and 23:00–23:00 (nighttime activity).
Work the cover — snags, weed edges, hole entrances; retrieve the lure with pauses.
In clear water, natural colors work best: live-bait bottom rig or large bottom bait.
It's a hot day — a hat, sunglasses, and plenty of water are a must.
A slow day — go only if you really feel like it.
The computed water temperature is around 80 °F — inside the 70–86 °F comfort range for Flathead catfish, so baseline activity is high.
Flathead catfish feeds at night: the peak falls in the dark hours, between sunset and sunrise.
Pressure is flat: it moves no more than 0.03 inHg over the day, so the weather isn't shifting today's bite.
September is a slow season for Flathead catfish: the best months fall at another time of year.
These are the same values the bite curve above was computed from. How the forecast works
Clear · feels like +102°
The day is 2 min shorter than yesterday.
Sunshine hours count direct sun only — cloud cover cuts it, so it is shorter than daylight.
The windows are set by the moon's transit and rise, and the forecast above already accounts for them: within these hours the bite score sits higher than across the rest of the day, while the day's overall level still comes from the catch-calibrated model.
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