72 lb Flathead Catfish!

Holy Shnykees! Congrats.

WOW!!!

Nice flathead Ben, very nice fish!

That is one of the biggest fish that I’ve ever seen. Congrats Ben!

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The belly on this thing was almost out of the ordinary.

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To me the size of it’s mouth is what’s out of the ordinary…

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So, what kind of crankbait and what color?

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#5 jointed black and gold in color.

WOW
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How many shad a day do you suppose that thing eats? Thanks for the story and photos.

So armchair biologists, what do you think? She miss the spawn? Not spawning this year? Or he or she is just a plane old mutant.

I should clarify the difference between 1 and 2. It’s possible she could still spawn yet this year, as we know, there isn’t a spawning switching where they all nest at once.

that dude could eat me.

Shorty rods seem to attract them..Out of six rods we usually run it seems like 70-80 percent of the flatheads we catch are on the 2 shortys.Guys u ought to try some fat free shads inyour spread if you have been finding the flatheads they really seem to like them..And the big walleyes find them to.

Fat free shads, Chris? Hmmm….never heard of em….

Ben,
those are some outstanding photos!

While nothing can top that fish, I do have to send a huge bunch of appreciation to you for a: having prepared/thought through how you’d handle it…b: doing absolutely everything possible to get that big beast back to doing what it does best: eat and pro-create!

That flatheads are some of the most beautiful animals…and it takes photos like your’s to show folks that…

Congrats on a real trophy! for being prepared…and most of all, for sharing the whole thing with us!

Wow! Dude!

Brian it wasnt long ago that you hadnt heard of em..Something about what the hell bass lures for walleye????
And oh ya the catfish like em..

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WOW
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How many shad a day do you suppose that thing eats? Thanks for the story and photos.

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That flathead during the middle of the summer may be eating 5-7% of its body weight per day. Let’s see, that would be somewhere around 3.5-5 pounds of prey per day! I would guess a flathead of that size would be most likely to eat the largest prey it could find; it would take a darned lot of young-of-the-year shad to fill her up.

Daryl Bauer
Fisheries Outreach Program Manager
Nebraska Game & Parks Commission
[email protected]
Bauer’s Barbs and Backlashes

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So armchair biologists, what do you think? She miss the spawn? Not spawning this year? Or he or she is just a plane old mutant.

I should clarify the difference between 1 and 2. It’s possible she could still spawn yet this year, as we know, there isn’t a spawning switching where they all nest at once.

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I guess you could call me an “armchair” biologist. I am resting on the arm of my office chair where I work as a fisheries biologist.

Who said anything about that fish missing the spawn? I suppose it is possible, but without an examination, perhaps cutting it open, there is no telling for sure whether that fish was still carrying eggs. I would tend to doubt that she was; I would believe that she spawned a few weeks ago now and is already that fat again!

Daryl Bauer
Fisheries Outreach Program Manager
Nebraska Game & Parks Commission
[email protected]
Bauer’s Barbs and Backlashes

Very nice catch. My biggests catfish so far while trolling for walleye on crankbaits is this flathead around 30 lbs.
Cheers
Kelly

Thanks for the answers, Daryl. That’s some good info.

We had another nice fish on in the canal Tues night. I’m guessing it was a flatty, but we’ll never know. Pretty aggravating when you lose em!

Nice fish Kelly!

Awesome Kitty, Ben! Thanks for sharing the pics and story!