If this is last years spawn, that makes him nearly a year old? Or do flats spawn in the fall also?

Cool!! They only spawn in the spring so I bet he is a year or two old. I read somewhere that takes them 3-5 years to reach sexual maturity and be close to 18 inches long. I think once they get about 3-5 years old they grow faster because they start eating other fish rather than bugs and minnows and such....

Spawn for flats �should� be when water temps hit 70-75 which typically is May and June and sometimes into July. He seemed small compared to what I thought last years spawn should be by now....

I thought this guy would be a year old.....



If top fish is a year then is #2 a 2 yr old? Maybe fish #2 is an early spawn and the other was later? He might just be a better hunter, who knows....

Just for my own learning, not to argue at all, how do you know that is a flathead as opposed to a bullhead? I don't see a pronounced under bite.

That is an excellent question! Bullhead versus flathead. We have a ton of bullheads in our tank and they are yellow/brownish/greenish in color but solid colored versus this flathead has the typical patchy black spots on its back to help it camo. The bullheads often have some more contour to their back/neck versus a flathead is a smooth flat contour. They both have paddle tails.

Bullhead are thick and bulky with beady little eyes, they�re ugly I think compared to Flathead.

That�s some flathead candy in that picture right there. Bullheads have those beady little eyes, also bullheads rarely get much bigger than that picture, while you rarely will catch a flathead under 5 lb.

That is an Op (spotted or splotchy) YellowCat (YC), not a BullHead aka MC (MudCat). Nice to have a few pics of it, as the second pic- side view, confirmed it.

The very smallest I have run across, was in 1979, while castnetting on the up side of the Little Brazos River on TX21. A few fingerlings about 3 to 3.5 inches long.

The very smallest Yellow caught on a throwline, was in 1979 on the Trinity River just down from TX21 bridge in a fork when it was flooded, on a throwline. It was 2#.

On the average, or aka norm, I read that a 4 year old Yellow can reach up to 10 pounds. And an 8 year old can reach up to 20 pounds. This gives you an idea of the mass of food they can intake (consume). Imagine a comparison to a vacuum cleaner, that a 100 pound Yellow can eat (suck in).

Forsure baby flatty

Pretty cool seeing one that small.

Approaching a year old! Hopefully it grows up to be a BIG ONE!