I found this picture on another forum. The discussion was about whether this is a real or faked picture. Consensus was the picture was doctored. I don’t know about the rest of you but I sure would like to catch one this big. Gives me something to dream about for another two months.
Steve, why did they feel it was fake?
I blew the photo up and the pixals were consistant with the rest of the photo…they did an awesome job it it was doctored….including placement a the guys hands and feet…
…shoot, I can’t stand it…i’m going to the garage to play with a reel. 
It’s real and it’s HUGE!
Its real, but they set it up to make the fish look bigger.
Look at it closely. That fish is well out in front of the guy standing. They hung it at a perfect elevation, got the right camera angle and captured the shot.
notice how highlighted the fish is from the camera flash? Too much light reflecting off it to be at the same distance the guy is standing… so, either they used a 10 million candle power flash.. and dusted the guy down with something so he wouldnt glare(clothes included).. or the fish is hanging way out in front of the camera.
I have no doubt its a big flathead, but its not the monster they are showing.
I am sure we have some fish of the size they tried to portrait(sp?) swimming somewhere.. I’ll try to get it most every day this summer!
* Fisher Sherry * just walked behind me and pointed out it looks like the guy was pasted into the photo. There are some really good programs these days, and many people who know how to use them.
Anyone notice there is no shadow coming off the guy.. and take a look at his glasses.. if the fish were any brighter we would see its skeleton.. how come theres no glare off the glasses?
Hoax all the way
I think it’s a fake. Look closely at teh tail of the fish. There’s a solid black shadow on the floor. There should be a similar shadow off the guys foot, but there isn’t.
Rootski
Once I looked at it from your “perspective” 
Fisher Dave…it clicked.
I was looking for photo editing and didn’t see it….
yup, with the fish closer to the camera and shooting down towards the guy…it could be a 10 lbs fish.
Looks like a question for….MYTH BUSTERS!
It is very convenient “camera placing” but I have a buddy that cought one for REAL that was at least that big. Ill try to dig up a picture of it. He talked to a DNR officer and they think that it would have been a new state record, but they didnt have a scale and he let the beast go. He cought it down by the dam in Red Wing going for Walleye’s a few years back.
Pete.. I think I saw the picture of the fish your talking about posted on another forum at one time. If it is, I agree that the fish would have been a state record. He is a big guy, and that fish was a monster.
He made some comments the fish hardly faught and he got it up with walleye gear with no problem. If I remember correctly there was snow on the ground in the picture… These fish are very sluggish in the winter and dont fight. There have been some very concerning debates on pool 4 about some folks intentionaly snagging flatheads stacked up in the winter and many people pushing for a closed season to protect them. I am sure your buddy did not intentionaly snag a flathead on walleye gear, I have no doubt it may have taken a bait bounced on its nose…
Its really cool the fish was released and not kept for bragging rights. I do wish however.. the guy had a scale to get an approximate weight. I am almost certain I know of the fish your talking about. 70-80 pounds would not surprise me at all if we are talking the same fish.
maybe he’s only 3’9″ 
Look at the guy’s left hand. Next to it is an unnatural dark black spot. It looks like its covering up a small dog or something. You can still see the legs sticking out. Weird. 
Its a doctored photo.
fake, without a doubt. we did that with a northern one time, made it look like a six footer. like was aid, the “shine” of the flash on the fish, doesn’t relate to the guys glasses. probably a 2 lb’er !!!
big g
my thoughts before I read Dave’s post, was the same as Dave’s. I think the fish is out in front of the gentleman.
Jack.
Welcome Pete!
P4 has given up some near or possable new state records over the last years.
One of these days there’s going to be a new state certified Flatty out of there…unless Steve picks one out of the Croix first! 
It has got to be fake. If you look real close there is a nat on the dudes left shoe, and a tick on his right ear. We all know, nats always hang to the right and ticks like your crotch! 
Who cares if it is fake or not 
The light reflection on the fish is not the flash, it is the flourescent light bulb on the ceiling of the workshop. If you look really close, the same reflection is on the guys glasses. On his left lens, upper right corner you can see a little bit of the reflection. Looking outside of the shop, it is plenty daylight so no flash should be needed. Hoax or not, it surfe gets you cat guys foaming at the mouth 
I wonder if Scotty used a MarCum to find this one…fake or real? New record? Nope, released!
I didnt even notice the animal until Tim(Mile 832) pointed it out. Now that I look at the picture, I think its 3 separate images put into one. A background picture of the garage, the fish, and the guy put in separately. The fish may have been part of the original photo.. just hung REALLY CLOSE to the flourescent lights.
It almost looks like the guy could have been petting the little black animal in the origional picture?
I’m sure that picture made it around the local bar that evening.
he might be holding his pet squirrel
Briank you know your flats well, look at the blood in his fins like he’s been rubbing bottom all winter and the blood on the surface of the skin on his side, could that be from hugging a big rock on the bottom during the winter to keep out of the current. See the light blue in his mouth on the lip edge plus the red there, that could tell a guy that his metabolism has slowed down and thats whats making the light blue. I don’t think its a small one, doctored i don’t know. It looks like the light coming from the fish and the guys glasses is from the same source, the angles are right for that. Ive seen a few big flatheads and the meat under the skin and the proportion of it relative to its bone and head size looks like a big one would. You’ve seen enough big flatheads Briank, does he look like everythings in place where it should be in the right proportions. It looks like its a darned good fake if it is.
Fisher Dave – Id have to see the pic (is their any way of finding the old thread/pic?), I dont think he ever posted it on here and from what you wrote it sounds like he was a fair sized guy, (my buddy’s only 140ish 5’10”). I do know it was on the cover of a magazine (dont remember which one 
) and possibly in Out Door news. Im at college right now but am going home this weekend and ill try to get the pic from him and try to post it up. This fish was a monster! He was by no means going for cats at all that day, he musta just bounced his walleye rig right in front of the beast. Ill update this weekend and let you guys know.
Btw thanks for the welcome
We’re looking forward to seeing it!
I don’t see the doctoring, but the perspective exaggerates the size of the fish, for sure. It’s no ten pounder, though – I’d go twenty minimum. There was definitely a flash – you can see a flash shadow on both the man and the fish, but it’s about twice the size on the fish – compare below the fin to the man’s left leg and right sleeve.
And… of course there isn’t a shadow below the man’s shoes – he’s standing on the ground!
Were the fish anywhere near the size the perspective gives it, its proportions would be different and you’d need more than a thin wire to hang it from your abbatoir…er…garage.
I’ll be brave and say that a fish that size would porobably pull me in the water from my boat so Briank won’t feel hes alone. VERY big fish indeed. 
Thanks, Bill
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