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Three comments:

1. Nice cat! I’m sure it was a heckuva fight, glad to hear you’re trying to keep it alive…

2. Judging by the pics, you probably did more damage holding it by the gill plates than by any crankbait – with a fish that size, grab the lower jaw!

3. Not 50 – three good pics suggest to me a cat in the mid thirties, tops – helluva nice fish for the Upper Miss – don’t be disappointed with that.

We did not have much choice in how we were holding her. While removing the crankbait from her gills the treble came off the crank and she smashed it all the way into her bottom lip. We where actually trying to remove it while my wife took pics.
As for the weight, we will take it to a certified scale today before release. She is doing quite well, very active and ready to go back to the river. I am nearly 6’5″, weigh 230 lbs., and I had lots of trouble holding this fish alone. I lift my fifty pound daughter several times a day, and this fish is very near or over her weight.
While I am admittedly not a cat guy, I tried to the best of my ability to handle her as carefully as I could, and I always try to be as accurate and honest as possible in my reports.

If that fish was 48″ long, it could have easily been mid to upper 40’s. My biggest to date was 48# and measured 47″. I did not measure the girth but it was not a fat fish either.

And yes, try not to handle them around the gills.

I don’t think that fish is over 40 pounds, but it is still a darn nice fish!

Dang…Dark! That sure is an ugly picture…pretty cat though….

Where did you catch her…GPS coordianates ect.

John…

That’s another reason I prefer catt’en…If that was an eye…folks would be talking about…maybe a 5 lbs differance in opinion… not 20 lbs!

I’m going to go with 34 lbs…do we win anything once you know the weight John? Cat trip in your neck of the woods?

Thanks for posting the pic! Awesome fish and my hat’s off to you for setting an example of trying to save the fish. Many, would toss’er back and say…oh well…just a cat fish!

A darn nice cat no matter what the official poundage is. Judging flathead weights by pics is a difficult task. I remember being off by quite a bit when Flathead posted his pig last year. Different camera angles, etc. can really make a difference.

Dark, did you used to play bass for night ranger???

Official results are in, 46.5 inches, 47.5 pounds, and that after evacuating in my water tank!

WOW. All I can say is that you guys take a bad fish picture!

If somebody showed me this and told me to bet on either 37 pounds or 47 pounds, I would have bet the farm on 37. Heck I’d even consider 27!

One thing to consider, this fish was not held at arms length as many times happens to enhance the appearance of size. It was held as close as possible, as we were working to remove a treble from its lower lip. I’ll post a copy of the article in the local paper when it comes out! My eyes are not blinking, but straining to hold the fish still for the pic.

Nice fish. The camera can be your best friend when you want it to and it can also be your worse. All of us cat guys know the certain ways to take pictures of these flats to make them look bigger right? I would have to agree with everyone though by the picture I would have said it was a mid 30lb fish too. Congradulation though and hope she got back in the water ok.
Jeremy99
http://www.tanglingwithcatfish.com

I don’t care what you guys say that fish is not 47lbs!! The only way it is, is if the 2 guys holding it are 7ft tall. And Dark30 whats the deal you say don’t mess with the gills but in your photo I see a yellow rope! That wouldn’t be a srtinger would it! That wouldn’t hurt the fishes gills

Night Ranger……Dude you are killing me.

Night Ranger? Never heard of um. I did play some pretty mean air guitar when that “new” band they called KISS showed up though.

Brian, That photo must have got stuck in the scanner for a second or two…I think it may have stretched my head out a little.

daruoho, can you say “certified” scale. let me embelish.

cer·ti·fy ( P ) v. cer·ti·fied, cer·ti·fy·ing, cer·ti·fies
v. tr.

a.) To confirm formally as true, accurate, or genuine.
b.)To guarantee as meeting a standard: butter that was certified Grade A. See Synonyms at approve.
That’s what certified means. I am not a liar, I am not stretching, I am repeating the reading from a certified scale from a reputable retailer.
I do not appreciate those who question my honesty or integrity. Part of being a Field Staff member is a commitment to those quailities, please do not smudge my reputation with your doubtful nature.

Thanks for the explanation John. That’s a lot heavier than it looked from the pics – I usually look at the head and figure how many hands you can fit – a fish in the forties will accomodate two hands side by side with room to spare. Didn’t look like that from the pics but they’re only pics after all. Nice explanation on why you’re holding it that way and good to hear it’s doing well. You can imagine how a fish like that has its own weight as its worst enemy when it’s out of the water.

I can see you came out of the deal with an appreciation for flatheads (not that you probably didn’t have one to begin with) so I guess it’s okay that a fargen walleye guy got a nice cat, lol. We get a little jealous around here because walleye guys are holding our respective state records for flats…

daraohu,
The rope was attached to a wire ring through its jaw….still not a real great way to hold um but I was by myself when I caught the fish and needed to keep it in the river until I got help to take pics. The fish was released in great shape as always….no high blood pressure even.

I am not calling you a liar but…..I don’t know about your pictures….I went through some pictures I had and even the bad ones would make a 47# look better than that.

Here is a 41.0 pounder. The man holding it is 6’3 and 300 pounds. You can see the entire width of his 8′ boat. He and the fish are further from the camera. You can see the guy from head to toe plus some, yet that 41 pounder looks bigger than your 47.

FlatheadWI, I am really beginning to see the resentment you cat guys have for a walleye guy! If it is any consolation, I was a cat guy (mostly channel cat though) for 20 years, only been a walleye guy for 6 or 7.

I am not sure what the rest of you guys would like, but I will try to post the newspaper article next week when it comes out. The scale does not lie, but pictures can be very deceiving. I know if I stand just right and turn just right to the camera, I can look like I’m 30, but in reality I’m 45. I look at Shaq O’Neal standing alone and he does not look THAT big, but when I stood next to him, He sure as H… IS that big!

What I am trying to say is, the fish was weighed on a scale which was certified by the FDA, checked before hand with a certified 50# weight, then weighed and read by the shop owner, witnessed by half a dozen guys, and all saw the same thing.

If my wife did not delete the photos already, I have some of my hands in the fish’ mouth. Both fit with lots of room to spare, and my hands are 5″ across. Nough said for me.

Fight nice kids! Walleye guy or cat guy, that there is a dam@ nice fish!
Congrats!
Tuck

Sounds to me like we have a bunch of bored, jealous catfisherman out there…of and of course daruoho instigating as usual. judging by the picture I’d guess that cat’s weight at about 47.5 lbs.
Jason.

Soooo…John..? Does JC win anything for guessing the correct weight?

Quote:

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Sounds to me like we have a bunch of bored, jealous catfisherman out there…

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You got that right, at least in my case.

This reminds me of what one of my freinds always says when I am taking his picture:

“Fill the frame with the FISH!”

Brian, I think JC should win a lifetime free subscription to the best darned fishing site on the internet .

Short or Long, Fat or Skinny.
I beleive you. Really no reason not too. Its very hard to weigh a picture with your eyes. Heck, its hard to weigh a fish with your eyes.