Flathead catfish

[Bob Riebe]

This shows the original Flathead distribution.
They may still be there but the map show them going up the Rum River into Lake Mille Lacs, if they are still there I guess you never hear about it as  no one up there fishes for them, and they are not easy to catch like bullheads, though truly large bullheads are not that easy to catch.

I have always wanted to fish for them but I just never got to water where they were.
They only take live bait, though I have heard of them being caught on artificial lures.
You boys down South are in there natural range, do you fish for them often?

[Graybeard]

Used to catch them long ago. We didn't call them flatheads but rather yellow cats. We'd get them on our trot lines and also when fishing with a rod.

[mcbammer]

  A friend of mine caught  the  current Alabama state record Flathead at  80  pounds .

[Graybeard]

Now that's a big catfish. I've never fished with tackle heavy enough to land such a fish. Most of the fish we caught on trot line and on rod and reel would be in the slightly under one pound to 3 pound size.

Back in the '50s dad also used baskets made of one inch mesh chicken wire. Nope they weren't legal but he did it anyway. Once he lost one for a week or more and when he found and raised it there were 106 catfish in it from 6" or so up to multiple pounds in size. We sure had a job cleaning catfish that day.

[mcbammer]

Now that's a big catfish. I've never fished with tackle heavy enough to land such a fish. Most of the fish we caught on trot line and on rod and reel would be in the slightly under one pound to 3 pound size.

Back in the '50s dad also used baskets made of one inch mesh chicken wire. Nope they weren't legal but he did it anyway. Once he lost one for a week or more and when he found and raised it there were 106 catfish in it from 6" or so up to multiple pounds in size. We sure had a job cleaning catfish that day.

  Yes sir , its been the record yellow cat since 1986 . He caught it fishing off the dock of a grain elevator on the Alabama river .  They spill lots of grain so I guess you could say he was grain-fed .

[Graybeard]

I don't seem to do much fishing these days. My pond is stocked with catfish, bass, bream, crappie and minnows. One of the grand kids caught a catfish a year or so ago out of there that looked like it would easily have gone 3 pounds or better. He put it back in but took a cell phone photo and showed me.

I imagine there are some pretty large ones in there these days. I'd not be surprised if I have some that would go 4-5 pounds. It has way more fish than it should have so the large ones should be eating well.

[Bob Riebe]

Up here 35 years ago the DNR considered using them for bullhead control.
They put them in a small lake , although it has an outlet, to see how it worked.
Well Lake Richardson went from a survey of hundreds of small black bullheads to within 20 years zero black bullheads.
The latest survey last year scored 3 larger blackbull heads and 12 large Carp which also used to show hundreds of small ones .

The DNR decided to use channel cats instead but a lot people who fish the lakes they have been put in wish they had not.
Talking to cat fishermen on a fish forum they said the Flatheads in there should be around 30 pounds by now.

the area in that lake where cats would probably be, it has  a deep fifty foot hole,  cannot be reached from shore so I am looking for a cheap small boat with motor as I want to go there and see what is there.
It connects to another lake with a creek a few tens of feet long and the bullhead population there has dropped also from hundreds of small ones to a total of 26 but one was over 20 inches long, the the Carp population in that lake dropped from 659 ten years ago to 31 the smallest which was a foot long;  the survey did show a lot of large black and white crappies, Black 15 inches long, White 12 inches long, which is worth going for all by themselves.