I went by my office today which is in Luna road in Dallas and decided to try the "Behind Haggar" location mentioned in the bank fishing forum. I went there and we delighted with the quality of the water and how clean the place was. The original location of "Behind Haggar" doesn't work any more as there seems to be some major construction but I found an apartment complex across the water which was open access so fished from there. I only meant to fish for about an hour and that's all I did. I put out some floats for catfish and cast a plastic worm for some bass. Within about 30 minutes of casting my line when tight and my drag started screaming!!! Yeah!! ... But wait ... Huh!!! I am fishing with 10lb line and this beast is stripping my hard drag like it was nothing. I must have played it for 15 minutes before getting it to the shore ... only to find that it was a big flat head catfish ... that had struck my bass plastic worm.

Pictures here:

http://i446.photobucket.com/albums/qq188/nkolban/Fishing/080829_170814.jpg
http://i446.photobucket.com/albums/qq188/nkolban/Fishing/080829_170724.jpg

Needless to say, I was surprised!! Happy!! ... But surprised.

Very cool! Nice flathead!

good catch ... is that whats called a yellow cat ??? appalousas maybe ??

Whiterockjesse,
I'll be perfectly honest, all I know is that it is not a channel cat and up till now ... that is the only type of catfish I have ever caught. Now that I have "calmed down" I was just wondering what "kind" of catfish it really was myself. Starless Dragon who has a world of experience in these things says it is a flat head so I'm VERY inclined to believe him. I only called it a flat head ... well ... because it has a "flat head". I know there are other varieties including blues (well .. yes ... I guess I could also call it blue in color) and yellows (doesn't look yellow) but the moniker of flat head seems to fit.

But then if someone told me it was a large tadpole, it would take someone else to tell me that it wasn't.

flathead , yellow , apolousa all the same catfish

thx proline...kolban i know it isnt a blue . im familiar with those .they look alot more similar to a channel .but the body has a different shape .i have caught some like the one you caught with those beady looking eyes but not too many ..kolban then that is one of the best eating cat around???? ive heard that about yellows hmmm?

yep, yellow cats (some of them are quite yellow in color) aka flatheads are the best catfish of all to eat, and that is definitely a flathead. one quick way to tell a flathead from channels and blues, flatheads have an underbite...the bottom jaw sticks out past the top jaw. it is the opposite on channels and blues. also, flatheads have a square, not forked tail. if you enjoyed catching him, try fishing live perch on a carolina rig at night in shallow water near structure.

flathead meat has a firm texture, almost like chicken breast...and tastes very good. no fishy taste. unlike a channel, all the meat on a flattie is good to eat, even the belly meat. you get quite a bit of meat of off one too.

thx for the info novato . i have noticed that blues dont yield as much meat as a channel when compared by equal lengths . ill have to try me a yella next time i get me one . happy birthday man ! w/r/j