View Full Version : N. American Flathead Catfish
cenecker
06-08-2005, 5:30 PM
Anyone here keep Flathead catfish? Or heard of anyone who does?
Personally I think I'd be pretty awesome to keep the nastiest predator in american freshwater. :hearts:
It would be impossoble to keep them with anything ohter than the largest fish. Their mouths are massive.
The TRUST
06-09-2005, 12:17 PM
Anyone here keep Flathead catfish? Or heard of anyone who does?
Personally I think I'd be pretty awesome to keep the nastiest predator in american freshwater. :hearts:
Nastiest predator in American waters? I think not. I think that title would be more suitable for a Muskie or Alligator Gar
piranha45
06-09-2005, 1:50 PM
according to fishbase, max weight for flathead catfish is 56 kg
max for muskie is 32 kg
max for gator gar is 137 kg
The TRUST
06-09-2005, 2:31 PM
and the award goes to the Gator gar! LOL!
cenecker
06-09-2005, 2:48 PM
whats it matter which one is heaviest? I was refering to nastiness.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but as far as I'm concerned - Flatheads are the meanest things in the water in N. American, except for alligators mabye.
cenecker
06-09-2005, 2:49 PM
I was figuring I would have to keep one in a tank by itself - lord knows it would eat just about anything.
piranha45
06-09-2005, 2:49 PM
nasty hmm... nesting bass!
nasty hmm... nesting bass!
More like nesting bluegill. One guy on the cichlid forum had bluegill spawn in his 150 gallon tank the father bluegill killed everything. Including larger texas cichlids and devils. People think bluegill are calm when breeding because they seem them nesting so close together in the wild. But what they dont know is that a male bluegill will defends its nest with its life. Anything that crosses its space is attacked.
As far as flatheads go they will eat anything in the wild. Large bass,any of the smaller sunfish,fully grown bull heads and even good sized channel cats.
Any PIC to share...............??? :shakehead
piranha45
06-09-2005, 8:40 PM
http://www.dgif.state.va.us/fishing/srf-photos/State%20Record%20Flathead%20Catfish%20and%20Angler %201.jpg
http://www.cnr.vt.edu/efish/families/images/jpegs/flathead.jpg
http://espn.go.com/winnercomm/outdoors/general/i/P2_f_enc_flatheadcafishDR.jpg
Their mouths are larger than that of a RTC (although they dont get as heavy as RTCs).
I speak from personal experince I had the chance to catch a few in appalache river in northern florida. Guess what we used for bait? Three pound bullheads we just cut off a few of their barbels and cast them out. The flatheads we caught were just around 24" to 30" (small) and they sucked down the bullheads like candy. Channel catfish and white catfish are also used as bait. Pretty much anything that swims has been used as bait. I kid you not, one guy told me he used a 12" bowfin as bait and caught a 34" flathead.
piranha45
06-09-2005, 10:10 PM
DAYAMN! hella badass :cool:
rayman45
06-09-2005, 11:17 PM
thats like the native redtail
tyson
06-10-2005, 12:35 AM
THANKS FOR THE PIC....
LOOKS VERY MUCH LIKE RTC INDEED.
PeacockBass
06-10-2005, 1:40 AM
whats it matter which one is heaviest? I was refering to nastiness.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but as far as I'm concerned - Flatheads are the meanest things in the water in N. American, except for alligators mabye.
You do know flatheads are not aggressive, right?
The most aggressive NA fish has to be a breeding sunfish. I have snorkeled with every sp of panfish durring the breeding season. and hands down, the sunfish owns all.
I have caught a 18 inch male bass with my hands while he was gaurding his nest. He was calm and let me grab him. The sunfish on the other hand, came after me. They will attack me if i get close to their nest. Their color is extremely nice too. you can see the shimmering freckles from the surface.
AmazonPredator
06-10-2005, 3:54 AM
The alligator gar is the king of the US waterways...hands down. I would like to have a baby flathead, though. That story about the breeding bluegill is intruiging. I have some bluegill that I'd like to breed someday...maybe I'll throw my cat in there and watch it die.
piranha45
06-10-2005, 9:29 AM
if you do, take videos and post them up here
Yep its true. All of the sunfish species(except for bass) get crazy when guarding their nest. They attack anything that gets to close.
mrsrobertson
06-10-2005, 4:09 PM
Sounds like some true fish stories :hitting:
The TRUST
06-10-2005, 6:16 PM
I've heard of stories of Muskie attacking kids in the water.