Home Forums Fishing Freshwater new PB flathead catfish from the kayak

Layne pulled a new PB flathead catfish into the kayak this past weekend - 45" long and weighed 42#! Love his friend's reaction as the fish is pulled up out of the water...😲 Since we still have some fillets in the freezer from two 20-25# fish we kept from this lake in June, we practiced a little C.P.R. with this one - Catch, Photograph, & Released to grow bigger. Making memories...

Thats a damn good Flathead.

Nice Job - in the last couple years our flatheads have been lighter color too..

That's a fun day right there!

I've eaten channel and blue catfish (after a fella from Texas showed me how to cook'em!)

Are flatheads good to eat too?

Just idle curiousity...

John

I've never even seen a flathead catfish but it is a catfish! I love bullheads and just getting into channels but I've never heard of anyone catching what I'd think was an eating size flathead! From what I read they seem to be hatched at 40#! When they are that big, aren't they a bit tuff to eat?

Thanks, guys. I will pass your compliments along to Layne.

Flatheads are very good eating. Just have to remove the little bit of red meat that has a stronger, fishy flavor to it. The rest is very good. Can be cut thin to fry or a little thicker to grill. We have cleaned a few in the past that were in the 30-40# range and they were all very good eating. I actually prefer them over channel cats.

Flathead are the champions of the catfish world! True gamefish, like live baits, fight hard and are the best eating of them all. Congrats to the young man, that's a great catch.

Layne's smile says it all! You done a good job of raising that boy! I would bet that he got a ride in that kayak courtesy of said flathead...

Rod and Reel?

No, it was caught on a heavy trot line we made with a limited number of hooks using 4-6" bluegill for bait. We made it not to cover a lot of water, but to (hopefully) be able to handle fish just like this. Layne wants to hook into a fish like this from the kayak using his heavy spinning gear next. If/when he does he may really get to go for a ride...

Layne did catch this one on rod & reel last summer at the same lake, but he was fishing off the dock as we didn't have the kayaks then. He really did a nice job with it as he landed it using 8# test line. I wasn't there that day, but our daughter was there helping our friends with a painting project, so she handled net duties. When they called me Layne was so excited he could hardly talk! Can't be the same fish, though, as that one last year came home to swim in the hot grease.

Thanks, Johnny. Didn't have to ask him to smile for that picture, that's for sure. The water was only 3-4' deep in that spot, but the fish did give Lay a ride for a bit before he could get a good grip on it to lift it up and over into the kayak.

Ain't nothin better!

Congrats Layne!

Thats awesome,see the look on his buddies face in the picture? Nothing better than seeing young kids like this! Congrats all the way around.

Nice. congrats

Are flatheads the Same as tabby’s?

I haven't ever heard of them referred to as tabby's around here, but did a quick check and it looks like they are the same fish, just different regional names:

"No fish better typifies the storied history of angling in Mississippi than the catfish, and no catfish more so than the most mystifying member of the species -- the flathead.

You may know it as the "tabby cat" or "yellow catfish," or any of the other scores of nicknames given the fish. It's a beautiful fish, but also odd -- odd to the point of ugliness."

https://www.gameandfishmag.com/editorial/fishing_catfish-fishing_ms_0508_02/242064

Those are nice flathead, congrats to the young man.

Seems several names.
Flathead
Tabby.
Mots
Govt cats.

Flatheads or yellow cats is all I have heard for them around here. Guess it is like crappie here being called specks or calico bass in other areas. Nice thing is, call 'em what you want, they are all good eating!