I went back to the same river where I lost half my rod, my cast net, and my senses the other night and thought I'd try for some redemption. I threw my new cast net, got some some shad and cut them up. I caught this beast on a shad head. It the first flathead I've ever caught and is far FAR and away the biggest fish I've ever caught (not counting a few professional guide trips for blues on Twok)!

I was alone and it was dark so I had a hard time getting pictures. I wanted to get it back in the water quickly but I HAD to measure this fish. It was just shy of 15 pounds and 34 inches long. Not a river record or anything, but it was a good fish for me.





The bite wasn't at ALL what i expected though. It just barely wiggled the tip. I thought it was a small channel or even a insomniac crappie or something. I decided to leave it and let the little channel cat eat on it a while to see if he could hook himself (I was using circle hooks). After a minute or two with the tip still barely dancing I reeled down a little and felt some pressure, but it felt like I was hung on a log or something. There was a little bit of wiggling but it just felt like something big, still and hard.

Then the fish moved a little more and now I was sure it was a fish. The movement stopped though and I felt just real heavy steady pressure again. I thought my little channel cat had swam into a snag or something so I decided to try to gently work it loose. I pulled a bit with no progress, walked down the bank a bit and pulled some more thinking if I changed the angle it would help.

I was pulling pretty steady now and the "log" started coming at me. At this time I was pretty convinced that I had a fish wrapped around a branch or something and I was pulling both towards me. The fish wasn't really pulling back, it was just kind of letting me drag it, it wiggled a little bit but certainly not fighting me.

When I got it near to me it started moving around more and I thought "ok the little thing is working free of the log". As soon as I that thought hit me I saw a HUGE swirl right off the bank, my heart stopped beating and I pulled my rod tip up. That huge face came up out of the water and stared at me!

I nearly fell over in shock lol! I started screaming and whooping like a wild man!

Anyway, it was a fun night. Is it normal though for a flathead to do that? Just let you drag it along like dead weight?

Oh btw, I released it after a few photos and weighing and measuring it.

When live bait fishing for flatheads, it�s not uncommon to have them bump a bait and play with it for hours until they take it.

Nice cat! Congrats on the PB

Really nice toad

Nice!!

Nice cat.

I had a similar experience one night in my kayak when hooked a flathead on a crank bait.
Thought I was hung up or hooked on someones lost bait bucket or trot line.
Was not till got it pretty close to kayak that it put up a fight otherwise felt like dead weight.
Videos I see show them putting up quite a fight.

I had to try to get a picture at night of a flathead over 30" in my kayak.
Your pictures are better than mine.

Way to go brother! Not a bad way to break the ice. Congrats!

Interesting... I wonder if they such an apex predator that they just don't have the flight or fight instinct at all. Like they think nothing in the river can hurt them (they are probably right too ) so they just go with it?

Congrats

Nice fish. Congratulations on the PB!

Way to go on the PB!! That is a nice fatty for sure!!

Fleatheads start the fight when they see that boat. Caught several that have done that. Had a 40 pull like a 10 pounder until he saw the boat, once. Then he took off like a Wahoo.