How's this for a first Flathead?

Well fellas I have put in two long years of trying to catch one of these darned critters. And over the past week my streak of bad luck turned around on me and took me to a night of fishing heaven!

I threw out my cut bait and had a clicker-burning bite as soon as I found my Grizzly (that stuff is magic with me lol). I locked down on the fish and knew it was a Flathead but I didn’t know how big. Wow…after a 30 minute fight I found out it was REALLY big! I measured it with 2 people witnessing and assisting me because I had to measure with my Scheels Muskie rod I caught it on. Butt end to the 2nd guide exactly. That is right at 49.5″ which according to the In-Fisherman length-weight charts should just be eclipsing the 50 pound mark by a few more. But she was a skinny girl so I will say she was 50. For reference in my picture, I am 5 foot 9 inches tall and weigh 170 pounds. And I do sincerely apologize for the gill-plate lift in my picture. She was still somewhat green when I had it taken and she reacted quicker than me when I went to grab the bottom jaw. Trust me I wasn’t trying bare-handed again anytime soon when she got my hand all tore up and almost twisted my arm fully around. This was taken at about 15mins after the full moon came up and I haven’t caught a nice fish since.

Anyway I am still happy as can be and she swam off strong enough to soak me with a face full of water!

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Ill make the picture bigger if I can figure it out tomorrow. I’m not used to this new layout yet…

With two years in the making, I think you’ve earned that fish! Congrats!!

PS Click on your photo to make it larger.

Nice fish!

Not to poop in your pudding, but you can grip the fish by the jaw instead of by the gills and greatly reduce the risk of injuring it.

Edit – oops, just read that part of your post. Let’s stick with ‘Nice fish!’

Still seeking out my first good flattie, if it’s half that size I’d be stoked!! Congrats on the fish, gotta love those full moons, seems this post has been a couple weeks coming with last full 2 weeks ago, contained the excitement for some time man, makes it that much sweeter.

I feel your pain, frustration, and elation. I’ve had some stretches like that, but the excitement that comes with a great fish makes you forget about the long, boring nights. Nice fish!

Nice fish!
What a beast!

TIme to upgrade to actual flathead gear if it took you 30 minutes to get her in!! lol.

1 hand in the mouth, 1 hand cradeling the belly. Flathead rash on your hand is something to be proud of! They do have some rough sandpaper don’t they!!

congrats on a nice fish

i agree to the other previous post, upgrade gear and flat rash is pretty cool. kinda right of passage and sumthing to remember the kitty by =D
kinda like a kiss goodbye, oh wait most of us do actually kiss them as well.
“sum take a lil too far though”. oh hey Ryan hows it going bud lol

here is a pix of a #40 that swam forward as i was releasing her, clamp dwn on my arm and tried to break it off for a snack. “i don’t care wat anyone says but i do think fish purposely bite in retaliation”

Mike –

You have earned that fish – that is what makes it such a sweet catch. A 49.5 inch flathead is a monster trophy fish – Congratulations. I’ve had a discouraging season so seeing that big brute coming out of the St Croix has energized me to keep fishing. Thanks for the post and the picture of that fish. See you out there.

Steve

Brian Klawitter wrote:

With two years in the making, I think you’ve earned that fish! Congrats!!

PS Click on your photo to make it larger.

.Hey BK When you fix a cat that size do you add spam to the recipe.?…rrr

Thank you everyone. Especially Steve DeMars. After that night fishing with you I realized I learned a lot more than most do on a casual fishing trip. I applied what you taught me and it has all paid off. And, of course, I have my lucky Fish Naked shirt! Thank you for that day of fishing and teaching me the key things I was missing. And thanks to the rest of the IDO and St.Croix fishermen who I have spoken with online and in person. I think I’m about ready to catch another one!

Here is the best part of this guys. A few days before this I had a run on my biggest setup, using a 10/0 Team Catfish Super Circle and a 130lb Spro swivel. I used 65lb line as well and had a doubled up Palomar knot on every connection. This particular Flathead made my landed one look like a Bullhead. I had about 30 minutes or so into fighting this thing and keeping it from running under the bridge when I finally saw a tail. 10 minutes later me and everyone around me saw the biggest Flathead I have ever laid eyes on. I pulled it along to the rocks on the WI side of the Stillwater bridge and got her chin on a rock (her head was wider than the rock). Then my buddy got his video camera going and the fish decided to go once more, jumping up caused it to then bend my rod to the point my cork grip is now loose, and then I heard the line stretch before snapping like a firework. There is a state record out there guys…and I am spooling up with 80lb braid right now.

Rocks….The other flathead honey hole! I primarily fish rocks now because, lets face it, there are a lot more rocks than prime log jams. This is the time of the year to float corks down those rock shorelines.

Congratulations to a true monster. I really hope you get a chance to land the “one that got away”.
Chris

I think hands down, the St. Croix puts out the most 50# flatheads

Now i know where to anchor my boat tonight

there are definitely some monster in the croix. i had a few fish break me off and i only run #80 on my setups. heck ive even thought of bumpin it up to #100. a few yrs back Life1987 had something break him off and he was running #100.

Nice fish Rat, a real nice one for your first big one.

4seasonsport wrote:

Rocks….The other flathead honey hole! I primarily fish rocks now because, lets face it, there are a lot more rocks than prime log jams. This is the time of the year to float corks down those rock shorelines.
Chris

Chris,

Interested in discussing this more in detail, either on here or in pm. I have been trying it, and having a few growing pains that might be worked out with a little help.

Thx

Rocks are great all year round. Some of my biggest fish have been caught in the middle of big boulder fields, natural slate, or man made rubble.

I’m sure I’ve broke off on a lot more than I’ve caught though. . A lot of heartbreaks for me in the rocks…

I don’t know if it is the rocks or if it is the abundance of fish in the area in general. I have tried just about every shore accessible spot from Hudson up to just north of Stillwater and only right around town there have I heard and seen so many fish. I have seen sturgeon jumping, watched a few bass bust minnows on the shoreline, obviously there is a good number of catfish in the area, at least one crappie is pulled each evening, and by the WI side rocks there is a school of little baby minnows so large that it looks like a bug hatch waiting to happen. I scooped a few with my minnow net and the larger ones appear to look like shad, I wonder if they are shad fry and if this has jump started the bite? Either way I am grounded from fishing until my car is fixed, a broken sway bar and transmission problems are making a fishing trip more of an adventure to see how far I go before a catastrophic failure happens.

There are big schools of shad moving through there. I was anchored there saturday night and caught a few small flats on big suckers, channels and sturgeon were caught on shad. I was the guy with the jingle bells if’n ya heard that