baby flathead cats

[nativelover]

i posted awhile ago about this with no luck.

does anyone know where i can get a baby flathead catfish, about 2-6"?

i live near the colorado river (california, arizona border), but have no idea were to look for hatchlings. so ill prolly end up ordering one...but where?

[Oddball]

I catch flatheads locally. However, I won't be able to find any babies until early spring. The last 4 I caught went to huge display tanks since they weighed in at 10lbs for the smallest and 27lbs for the largest.

[nativelover]

ill just have to get one from you then. if your willing to ship it to me in cali. ill pay of coarse.

whats the smallest you can get, im looking for 1-4 inchers, prefreably around 3inches. im upgrading my tank @ X-mas, so spring isnt a huge problem, i was prolly gunna order just b-4 summer, or mid spring. also where you get them from, what do they eat naturally? i want to try an all natural aproach to raising it. also can you sex then at that size?

maybe you could give me tips on how to catch flatties on rod and reel since im prone to an empty stringer everytime i try for them.
thanx 4 the quick reply oddball

[guppy]

I have never tried to catch little ones.

[joeytoe]

Smallest one Ive ever caught was around 6"

[nativelover]

i guess six inches would be cool, then i wouldnt have to seperate it from my oscar and bluegill.

Guppy- you mean you've never thought about keeping one? its like a big brown s.american rtc.

and what should i stock up on, food wise? baby bg's i guess? maybe rosy reds? will they eat night crawlers or earth worms?

i was thinking of setting the tank up bare with just an old coffee can with both sides cut out, in the corner and some floating plants. is this ok, or should i have lots of dec'or? theres will be a tremendous amount of current also.

[yourmylunch]

most of the babies from this year are prob about 6 inches by now try catching them anywhere you would catch the big ones for the fry pan just use a small hook and an earthworm close to the bottom. i catch my local catfish here in a drainage stream by the house that flows several miles to the river. also contact your local bait and tackle because they sometimes get them in shipments of baitfish we get them here from the ghostshripm bags

[yourmylunch]

my catfish eat anything they love worms live fish they usualy pin in they cornes and gulp down at night any pellets of anything anything
use some kind of small gravel because mine like to sift it

[guppy]

When I was fishing for flatheads we used 1 ought treble hooks and half chickens for bait. When we talked about catching an 8 inch cat it weighed 40-50lbs because we measured them BETWEEN THE EYES!

[contender]

i used to live in arizona, and i was fishing for trout in a tube, and doznes of baby hatchling flats would swim right up to me ?? kinda freaky .....

[Oddball]

I've caught 1-2 inchers with my crayfish and minnow traps. I've even found babies in old soda and beer cans that I pick up out of the stream confluences to the main lake. When I use shrimp or worms for bait I don't usually get the flatheads. As soon as I switch the bait wraps to chicken livers, the flatheads hit the traps pretty quick.

[porkchopexpress]

flatheads feed almost exclusively on crayfish and worms until they reach about a foot long......try using some small crayfish on a hook (preferably circle hook) in a pool on the down or upstream side of a wingdamn on a river. :thumbsup:

[waterlife]

I will buy flatheads in large quantities for those who want to collect them and know how to ship. 2" to 6" preferred but will consider slightly larger sizes too.

Ted

tedreyiv@yahoo.com

[Oddball]

Damn Ted, you're still alive??!!! I thought the earth opened up and swallowed you. I hope things are on the upswing for you now since your not-so-great previous year. Good to see you around again.

[graysilm]

Soon as the water temp here gets warmer I can get small flatheads in quantity. Me and a few of my buddies electrofish with an old telephone crank (yes its legal in the river we do it in) and we can get small flatheads, blues, and channels in abundance. Like I said it is legal to shock them in the river, but I'm not sure about keeping transporting them alive, but I will give it a shot. Let me know.

[teleost]

Soon as the water temp here gets warmer I can get small flatheads in quantity. Me and a few of my buddies electrofish with an old telephone crank (yes its legal in the river we do it in) and we can get small flatheads, blues, and channels in abundance. Like I said it is legal to shock them in the river, but I'm not sure about keeping transporting them alive, but I will give it a shot. Let me know.

Let me get this staright, your electroshocking fish but uncertain if you can transport them? This is legal?? You must be joking right?

[graysilm]

Let me get this staright, your electroshocking fish but uncertain if you can transport them? This is legal?? You must be joking right?
In the specific river I am electrofishing in, with the permit I have, yes it is legal to shock the fish. I can keep as many flatheads as I want to eat, no creel limit, no size limit. They are an invasive species in my area. However I am not sure if it is legal for me to transport the fish alive. No I am not joking. Does that clear things up?

[USMCtanker]

In the specific river I am electrofishing in, with the permit I have, yes it is legal to shock the fish. I can keep as many flatheads as I want to eat, no creel limit, no size limit. They are an invasive species in my area. However I am not sure if it is legal for me to transport the fish alive. No I am not joking. Does that clear things up?
well if u do get some and u can ship, ill for sure buy some of u just let me know :thumbsup:

[graysilm]

well if u do get some and u can ship, ill for sure buy some of u just let me know :thumbsup: I can and will get some, just let me know what size you like. I can get them from about 4" to 3'. I can ship fish, and I have good shipping techniques, however my only concern is the fact that these flatheads, like most catfish have sharp spines. I am somewhat concerned that the spines would stick through the bag. Let me know if you have any ideas on how to address this issue. Like I said before, I cannot get these fish until the river temp reaches 70+ degrees. Right now it is around 54 degrees, but the air is supposed to warm up a lot this week so hopefully it will not be too long until I can get the fish, but I anticipate it will be early to mid April. Write back and let me know what your thoughts are.

[nativelover]

10 mil. black trach bags. there really thick and the black blocks out all light and this, im guessing would calm the fish down.

you could prolly go with 3 mil. 10 is a bit extreme...lol.

let me know when you get some babies. ill prolly only want 1 or 2. but let me know anyways.

thanks,
~chris~

[bshockstubb]

hey. what city do you live in?
I live in BHC and I catch 4" catfish in Topack Marsh near needles, Ca.
right on the colorado river

[nativelover]

alta loma, about 2 1/2 3 hr drive from you....but in this heat i wouldnt transport in the back of a truck...lol.

maybe we can work somethin out, i've been wanting to fish topock for a while now so maybe we can meet up sometime.

[gar man]

what would u bait a trap with to catch baby flatheads?any suggestions will b accepted tyvm!

[Moontanman]

Soon as the water temp here gets warmer I can get small flatheads in quantity. Me and a few of my buddies electrofish with an old telephone crank (yes its legal in the river we do it in) and we can get small flatheads, blues, and channels in abundance. Like I said it is legal to shock them in the river, but I'm not sure about keeping transporting them alive, but I will give it a shot. Let me know.

As soon as I read you could legally shock catfish I knew we must be neighbors! Only place in the country I know of where you can do that! Catfish can be transported and sold in NC, especially non native catfish like flat heads!

[Moontanman]

I can and will get some, just let me know what size you like. I can get them from about 4" to 3'. I can ship fish, and I have good shipping techniques, however my only concern is the fact that these flatheads, like most catfish have sharp spines. I am somewhat concerned that the spines would stick through the bag. Let me know if you have any ideas on how to address this issue. Like I said before, I cannot get these fish until the river temp reaches 70+ degrees. Right now it is around 54 degrees, but the air is supposed to warm up a lot this week so hopefully it will not be too long until I can get the fish, but I anticipate it will be early to mid April. Write back and let me know what your thoughts are.

If you need help shipping fish let me know, I do routinely.

[gar man]

what would u bait a trap with to catch baby flatheads?any suggestions will b accepted tyvm!

[Moontanman]

what would u bait a trap with to catch baby flatheads?any suggestions will b accepted tyvm!


I've never caught a baby flathead in a trap, lots of bullheads and madtoms but no Flatheads. I plan to set a trap tomorrow night in the North East Cape Fear where I know there are flat heads and see if I can catch a few, I plan to use chicken liver, I usually use shrimp or sardines in can with a hole punched in it.

[gar man]

ok pm me if it works ill try it in the missouri lol :P

[Moontanman]

ok pm me if it works ill try it in the missouri lol :P


I set my trap last night and I went this morning at day break to check it and I had three big river shrimp but nothing else. Hard to believe I didn't at least get a crayfish, an eel or a sunfish.

[gar man]

how much r u selling the flatheads for? i live in council bluffs iowa

[silentmajority]

Smallest flathead I have ever seen here was an 6" little guy that took a 3" live sunfish on a 6/0 hook.

They are such awesome fish I could only dream of keep a little one. I've heard from the people who take care of Cabela's Native tanks that flatheads are particularly hard to take care of. All the worlds luck to you though, I would LOVE to see some pics someday.

[bettadaze]

I kept one in a tank for about 4-5 months before I got a RTC. Not too hard to take care of, not picky about food will eat anything that moves. Kinda boring just lay on the bottom till the lights went out. Then anything in the tank was dinner. Redtails and channel cats are better in tanks, more active in daylight. Flatheads are slow growers, they take several years to grow to any size. The one I had in a tank was 6" when I released him in the pond 2 years ago and when caught over Labor Day weekend he was only 9 or 10" long. I would like to get some more little ones where in NC is a good place to look for some?:headbang2

[catman]

I catch bigger flatheads all the time but would love to know how to catch the little 3-4" ones.

[Danyal]

haha, i refer to my channel cat as a pussy fish, he never moves during the day and only in the middle of the night and if you turn any sort of light on to see him, he bolts. I raised one from 3" to ~6" as a kid before i let him go in a pond and he was really really awesome, everything my current 10" is not.

[Venom SS]

Best thing I could suggest is get a buddy, a 10 foot minnow seign, and go drag some rivers and creeks that feed larger bodies of water sometime in early to mid summer. Flatheads spawn when the water gets around 66-75 degrees. So in Texas for example, thats sometime in spring / early summer. The reason why no one ever really has true Flathead fingerlings is because of their habitat. They spawn in heavy cover such as logs, rock piles, and undercut banks, and the fingerlings will hide inside logs and things. This makes use of a standard seign very difficult due to snagging. Also, these fish are very solitary, and leave the nest after only a few days and head their seperate ways. So catching a fingerling would probably best be done with live traps in the above stated kinds of areas. Use traps with smaller openings so that larger fish cant get in, bait the bait box heavily to draw in small baitfish and enough food to sustain them for awhile, which in turn could draw in small flatheads. Let the traps soak undisturbed for a solid 3-4 days. With good placement and a hell of alot of luck, you just might get one.