Yup, that's the one.

Looks Good!

Looks to be an Op (spotted Yellow). If so, usually, a 44 to 48"er will be about 60#.

A PJ (Plain Jane) (aka No spots or splotches) is usually a little slimmer & longer, as to length/weight ratio.

Unless prices are higher, Academy most of the time will have a Berkley or Rapala 50# digital scale for $20 or less (if on sale). If the hook holds & does not bend, it should still weigh upwards of a 60# accurately.

A flathead on a limb line is ALWAYS exciting watching the limb slap the water! Really nice fish!

I'm a bit farther down the Colorado in LaGrange, but the river is awful shallow there and you have to pick your days to fish it.

Dang we need rain all over!

Op or Plain Jane? A flathead catfish is all of them...their coloration is due to the water they come out of, there isn't two species of flathead catfish. Yellow cat, brindled colored, spots, etc., all are flathead catfish.

Your description/comparison of the catfish is hilarious...one is this and the other is that. How funny some folks think.

Thats A BIG X2

To the OP great fish, for sure a good one, but if you can hold a 80lb bag of concrete out like that for thirty seconds before your arms burn or tingle then your a stronger man than I... I think 50lb is a much better guess than 80, JMHO.

matt

I sure don't know anything about Flatheads, but there is only one species of domesticated dog too, Canis lupus. A Chihuahua and a German Shepherd are the same species. That doesn't mean they aren't very different in some ways...or even in a lot of ways.

Humans are also all one species, Homo sapiens, but we're not all the same shape, color, or size either.

Matt,

I hear you, good point.

As I was holding the fish, my thoughts were straying towards a sack of concrete, as it was the easiest, most compact heavy thing that came to my mind for reference. The fish was not as heavy as the concrete, but heading that way.

My second thought was that it was like picking up my 65 lb. dog, Grover. He is turning into a fatty.

DANG THATS A NICE FISH! glad to see people still catch and release the bigguns. i fish the colorado a little west of town, near westlake, havent fished much south of town

I fish te colorado out of bastrop. Havnt caugt anything of that size. Our biggest was a 38 pound yellow. Most of our fish are in the 10 - 20 pound range

Whoa...that's a BIG fish!

I fish the area around smithville. Last friday I put out ten hooks with perch. I didn't get to run them at first light on saturday due to hunting turkeys in string prarie. I got on the river around 10 in the morning and my first line was gone. Someone had tied theirs right on the same log. My luck changed however, I caught a 12 pounder and two six pounders.

Nice flatty for sure..

Nice Fish. Good Job!

Yes there are different breeds of dogs just like there are different species of fish but they don't look the same due to difference in species, including catfish species, but flathead catfish is a single species, though they may look different in color they are the same species of catfish, but are different than channel, blue and bullhead catfish and have different scientific names. No different than all Dalmatians are the same breed of dog, but their coat-coloring is not the same on every dog and they are different than other breeds of dogs.

You are interchanging "breeds" and "species". There are multiple breeds of dogs, but only one species. Just like there is only one species of flatheads. Channel cats and blues are a different species. I'm not saying there are different breeds of flatheads. I know next to nothing on the subject. I'm just saying that talking down to someone that thinks there are differences within a species just b/c "there isn't two species of flatheads" is not appropriate.

When you have populations of organisms that have been separated either by physical or other means, you can begin to see differences within the same species. Again, I am not arguing that this is the case with Flatheads, but I am arguing that it is possible. The vast numbers of dog breeds are due to humans selectively breeding them over the centuries.

Just remember, a wolf and a weenie dog are the same species meaning they have more in common than a flathead and a bluecat. If you artificially crossed a wolf with a weenie dog, assuming the mother was the wolf (since the weenie dog would probably not be large enough to carry wolf fetuses to term), you would get viable offspring. If you crossed a flathead with a bluecat or channel cat, you would likely not get viable, meaning able to reproduce, offspring. It has happened rarely, like a polar bear/grizzly second generation hybrid that was shot in the arctic several years ago, but it's not common. Another example is the white/striped bass hybrid. Some people say they can occasionally reproduce, others argue this. Not even all biologists agree on the matter.

Anyway, my point is that it is possible that there are definite differences between what some people call Ops vs other individuals within the flathead species. I've never caught a single flathead. The only ones I've ever seen are swimming in a Cabela's aquarium. I just don't like it when someone calls the opinion of someone else "hilarious"...especially someone as experienced as Lynn.