Flathead gets ball stuck in mouth(PICS)

[kshunter]

My brother from Wichita sent me these pics. This happened here in Wichita KS, a few weeks back at central and 119th st. These pictures where taken at the pond behind someone's house. Their neighbor saw a ball bouncing around kind of strange like and when he went to investigate, it was a flathead catfish with a child's basketball stuck in its mouth and the pictures tell the rest of the story. His wife did have to cut the ball in order to deflate the ball and release the catfish.

[farmcntry]

New bait huh?

[PABowhntr]

Darn it. All I am getting are the little Red "x's" and this would be one I would want to see. We could start selling them locally as catfish bait. Thanks for the idea farmcntry.

[RustyOlRanger4x4]

thats pretty cool i dont think we have catfish that big around here so ive never seen one that big in person id be scared to hook one id have to use my grouper poles but those are some cool pictures

[ZebcoMan33]

Holy crap dude that fish is an awesome keeper, I wonder if the guy let it go or had it molded.

[Red Hawk]

Well that's something you dont see everyday. I like that expression one the fish's face lol

[ZebcoMan33]

That would suck for the fish, it couldn't swim under water

[Carpmaster]

Those are awesome pics, i only dream of cacthing one that large. What the heck could that fish have been thinking????wierd

[PointingLab]

That is too much!!!I wonder if they have any video? Americas Funniest would probably like to see that.

[wesleykey]

Yes, these photographs are real, taken at Sandalwood Lake in Kansas on 28 May 2004. An account of the circumstances under which the pictures were taken appeared in the Wichita Eagle on 30 May 2004:

From Panama to the Great Lakes, Bill Driver's done pretty well fishing over the past 50 years.

Now he's wondering if he'd have done even better with a different kind of bait. "I never considered using a kid's basketball," Driver said. "Maybe I should have."

Friday afternoon, Driver was standing on the deck of his house near 119th Street West and Central when he saw an eight-inch ball floating in Sandalwood Lake.

Noticing the ball wasn't floating normally, Driver wandered to his dock for a closer look. A catfish had its mouth stuck around the ball.

Driver hollered for his wife, Pam, to get a camera while he unrigged the sail from his nine-foot boat, wading into the lake and corralling the fish toward shore with the sail as a seine.

Several times, the flathead tried to dive, only to have the ball buoy it back to the surface.

The fish appeared to be exhausted and offered little resistance once in the shallows.

Things may have gone easier had the fish the strength to struggle.

"I just couldn't pull that ball out of its mouth," Driver said. "I was lifting up out of the water as best I could by the ball. I finally sent my wife to the house to get a knife."

Driver carefully deflated the ball. Estimated at 50 pounds, the fish swam toward the deepest part of the lake.

Driver has no plans of targeting the fish in the near future.

Instead, he'll probably continue to fish for the bass and panfish that swim within the one-acre lake.

"I guess I might try fishing with a golf ball," Driver said. "Smaller fish, smaller bait."