Guess the weight

Got out on pool 4 Saturday for a beautiful January day. It did get a little windy around noon. It was a short day for me I wanted to fish u til after dark but I had a banquet to get to. I fished from 8am-2pm pulled 3 walleyes 16-20 inches threw them back and hooked into a huge catfish on my medium action. St. Croix rod with 8lb test took exactly 2 hrs to land him here are 2 pics anyone thing they can guess the weight? I’m 6’2″ 230lbs keep that in mind in the pics. I did have a big game scale so I have the exact weight I will put it out on Tuesday. I have a feeling BK will be close:waytogo

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Another pic.

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Nice looking Cat! I’m guessing 42?

WOW ! Awesome fish and Nice job landing it. 58lbs.

Basically right between the two guesses 51lbs.

This one was 45 lbs. and yours definitely tops it.

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Looks about the same size as one I caught walleye fishing a few years ago I do not carry a scale so I have no idea what that one weighed. I would guess 50lb.

Nice Fish.

Tuesday?

Wow! Fun times, 56.5 lbs

61 lbs, man that is a toad.

It’s 60 plus.

bowtecmike wrote:

Basically right between the two guesses 51lbs.

That was the answer I put it up earlier in the week it was 51 lbs 8oz. And an absolute blast hoping to hook into another one tomorrow! I wish it was as big as some of the guesses. I did read a I check to weight conversion and according to that it should have been closer to 60lbs. It measures 46.5″ with a girth of 31″ I don’t know cats that we’ll I’m a walleye guy maybe they thin up in the winter??

Front page of current Outdoor News shows an 80 LB Paddlefish caught there in Dec.

maybe they thin up in the winter??

That was one of the questions I had about flats. If they don’t eat in the winter dormant months, why would they look so healthy in the spring? Look at a bear in hibernation I thought. They are scrawny in the spring from using up the stored fat.

There are some that think flats group up in the winter to keep warm.

Bears are warm blooded and cats are cold blooded so a flat’s temp is the same temp as the water.

There was a study done in Connecticut a few years back where they acclimated flatheads to different water temps. Using fathead minnows they found flats ate very little below 50 degrees. The group that in the 40 degree water ate nothing.

Not only did they count minnows eaten, they put a scale to each fish and found their metabolism slow down so much they lost very little weight. No energy consumed, no energy used lead to very little weight loss.

This attribute of the flathead is so well documented scientifically, that MN will be having it’s first state wide closed catfish season this December 1st for the wintering months.

Brian Klawitter wrote:

This attribute of the flathead is so well documented scientifically, that MN will be having it’s first state wide closed catfish season this December 1st for the wintering months.

Do you know if they will be including handling details in the regs as well, perhaps throw in the sturgeon while they are at it to create an awareness in the best way to handle these magnificent beasts?

Heck of a fish man, can’t imagine the fight it would of put out in the summer!!

I suggested a test with a sticker.