Flatheads are still out there…..Pic

Managed to boat 1 Flathead tonight. (32inches 14.12lbs) After a long battle in a snag close for to 5 min and letting out lots of anchor rope to drift up on the snag. My fishing partner for the evening Dewey finally managed to wrestle his first Flathead loose. I thought for sure this one was a gonner.
Other action for the evening.
Had the hook pop out on one…… again. (Still getting used to my new rod).
Had one crunch my bait during a good run.
Nice night on the water.
Cant wait to take another crack at the one that keeps shaggin my hooks.
thanks
Larry

Nice to see some fish again!

I got out for a couple hours last night. Dean’s been wanting me to try stink bait…2 very little channels…in fact, I thought they were walleyes

I did get into one 5ish pound sheepie on cut bait.

I’m taking the favorite wife out today for a little pleasure fishing…right after I wake up.

Kid caught a decent channel on cut bullhead lastnight. Head like a cement block but kind of skinny yet. Looked post spawn. And I had a sneaky SOB wait until literally the last second to take a poke at my bullhead. I was done loading boat and getting rod out of holder. Engaged the reel and KABLAM! Rod almost went swimming. Lucky I have cat-like reflexes.

Anyway, same thing that happened to you, Larry, happened to me. Hook popped out. I had a rather large 12/0 Daiichi circle on and it sure felt like it buried. Oh well, try again tonight and see what my luck will be like then.

Nice fish btw.

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Head like a cement block but kind of skinny yet.

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No personal attacks on Pug!

(I owed you one buddy! )

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I did get into one 5ish pound sheepie on cut bait.

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So did we only add 20#……

Cut sucker…….

My buddies were stunned and speachless I don’t think they Knew what it was…. they loosened up a little when I told them we just caught the state record Sheepshead……

Holy Sheepshead Batman! That looks like something from South America!

Glad you got a pic!!!!

I’m linking this to the General Forum…awesome!

What river Gary? Details!!!

What a pig!!! Never seen one that size.
Cool pic
thanks for sharing
Larry

Knowing the battle a Sheepie will put up…… you had your hands full I’m sure Dude

That is a pig of a Sheep Head

Bret

That is a HUGE sheepshead. Believe it or not – its not a state record. I just went to the MN DNR website and here is the state record:

Drum, Freshwater (Sheepshead) 35-3.2 36 / 31 Mississippi River Winona 10/05/1999

The record is 35 lbs 3.2 oz, it was 36 long with a girth of 31 inches.

This is still an amazing catch. Congratulations – I would have that pic hanging in the house. Might have to fight with the Bride but it is a cool pic.

wow thats a big one. Here is my personal best. Caught trolling eyes and I guessed between 10 and 15 lbs. It fought real hard on 8 lb line on a medium spinning rod. It held my boat in one spot against the current while i fouht the fish for a few minutes. Again, thats a big sheepie!

Nice sheepie Pierbridge, what did you do with him after you weighed him? Nice catch too Cade.

Damn thing looks like a tuna!!!

What was it caught on? Bait/tackle/rod?

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Damn thing looks like a tuna!!!

What was it caught on? Bait/tackle/rod?

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I have never eatin a sheepy that size. From the 10 pound range and under they make better pickled fish than northern pike if you filet the backs out. During the spring walleye run, I will fry Sheepy back straps side by side with walleye/sauger filets and let you tell me the difference. Much better than Tuna in my book. It is all in preparation

Mossy, PB will be in cut bait for a couple years now.

Seems like anytime I’ve caught a sheepie around 5 lbs or more…no matter how hard I try to get him into the boat, unhooked and back into the water…they die.
I had around a 9 pounder a few years back that I thought swam away…only to find a seagull feeding on it a half hour later. You would think they would be a hardier fish??

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Mossy, PB will be in cut bait for a couple years now.

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Fresh Cut Sucker “Moore’s Bait @ Tackle medium Sucker” ……

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you had your hands full I’m sure Dude

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He sure did, it was his first time Cat Fishing and

I had him set up with my channel cat rod/reel a 7′ 6″ Berkley Big Game medium with a Garcia 6000 UNDERSPOOLED “lazy-cheap” with 50# PP and a 4 odd Circle….

This Sheepie hit like a freight train and headed straight up stream pulling drag out big-time I knew if I didn’t do something quick “I’m thinkng big flathead at this point” were going to be spooled “lazy-cheap” I thought about jumping up to the front and grabbing the rod and trying tighten the drag but instead I fired up the motor and took off after him anchor still down, after catching up to him he took us for another ride down stream he made two more runs near the boat and we finally scooped him up….

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Seems like anytime I’ve caught a sheepie around 5 lbs or more…no matter how hard I try to get him into the boat, unhooked and back into the water…they die.

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We actually got him back in the water pretty quickly I had no tape measure so we did a quick weigh job with two scales and snapped a couple pics and plopped him back in but he just laid on his side, for at least 5 minutes I tried reviving him but it was tough to hang onto his tail I was going to put him back in the net for better control and all of sudden he just bolted so were hoping he’s OK.

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That is a HUGE sheepshead. Believe it or not – its not a state record. I just went to the MN DNR website and here is the state record:

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I think Ralph and I were just talking about the Record last week I couldn’t comprehend how a Sheepshead could get 35#’s my biggest is about 6#’s, and when this beast plopped in my boat I thought 30 for sure maybe more thats why we weighed it with 2 different scales you had to see this Fish in person to really appreciate it, it was so Thick it looked like a NFL linemen on steriods you know the guys without necks…My friend who caught it “BobberDown” is 6’4″ 280 lbs.

Mississippi River Upper Pool 2 near a Creek mouth……

We have sheephead here too but i’ve never heard of anything that size in the cedar or iowa, nice fish! it would make the papers here.

From Fishes of Wisconsin :

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The sizes of the pharyngeal bones and molar teeth that are found in the campsites of American Indians indicate that in primordial times weights of about 90 kg (200 lb) were attained by freshwater drum.

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Just a little something to think about…

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Head like a cement block but kind of skinny yet.

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No personal attacks on Pug!

(I owed you one buddy! )

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I can see the blockhead, but don’t make me post another blinding picture of my ivory gut!

That’d be pretty cool to catch a drum that big. I don’t think I have ever caught one over 5lbs.

That is the largest sheepshead I have ever seen!! Here is a guy who can make a fiberglass mount for you (Pierbridge) from a picture the weight and the mesurements. fiiberglass fish mounts Id hang it right over my bed.

Bye the way, what was the length and girth on that beast?

Larry, So does your friend have the fever now? Have him join the IDA site and the upcoming metro cat league.

Good work! Dont worry you will break that rod in yet!

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Bye the way, what was the length and girth on that beast?

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No tape measure….. ……I can’t imagine what the girth was but it was real THICK….

I believe it flathead at 200 pounds. I read a book years ago that had drawings in it about the sizes of fish that came from the miss. around the St Louis Missouri area and it listed quite a few. This book had only drawings but it gave a weight of each of the spieces that was drawn and i rememebr one in perticular about the bullhead catfish as it was called and it listed at 150 pounds. It gave the coloring and everything and it sounded like it was a bullhead. If the indians were catching 200 pound sheephead a couple hundred years ago were there bullheads that weighed 150 pounds,,,i don’t know.