yesterday i finally catfished with live bait after wanting to for a while. i set my minnow trap and caught about 20 fathead minnows in the 1-4inch range. i was fishing for bass and such on the light rod while it was still daylight with a bobber. the catfish rod had a live 4 inch fathead minnow on it. got a few little hits where my rod tip would move but he wouldnt take it. finally he did and my rod bowed over! i set the hook with all i could and he barely budged! i fought him for 5 mins or so with 17lb test and a 17lb leader. i kept my cool and kept pressure on him and loosened the drag. he took a fewwwww reel screaming runs. the typical big catfish head tossing the whole 9yds. then he burried me in a log jam or something.i had pressure on him and could tell he burried me so i was just trying to hold him and tugg lightly to direct him. waiting when the line went limp!!!! ahhh man he had to be huge. darkness fell. i sent my buddy to go get chicken liver. i sat there fishing...all the dead minnows from the bass fishing earlier i used for bait on my light rod. caught a nice 18-20 inch channel. then 15 minutes later the light rob bowed over. i set the hook and he took off. i only have 8lb iron silk on that rod and the line is OLD. whenever iron silk came out is how old that line is. its tough line. and i had on my 17lb test leader. he fought me for 10-15 minutes and i landed him. a nice flathead. he wasnt giantly FAT but i couldnt get my hand aroud his belly like a small cat. and he was long. i want to say 26-30 inches. gota be pushing 10lbs. then after that i caught a nice channel. all on big dead crushed up minnows(i used a rock to smash them a bit) and all on the 8lb rod!! heres some pics. keep in mind im 5'10" 200+lbs. the pics dont do either fish justice. i dont know why they look like good pics but they dont show the fatness well at all. what do you guys think the flathead weighed?? here he is







heres the nicer channel




very fun night out on the river. i cant wait to get back out. hopefully tomarrow night. i gota call my buddy later and set the minnow trap if he wants to fish tomarrow. i wish i would landed that bigger fish. he would been a brute i bet. that bigger flathead had NOTHING on the first strike i lost! and i fought him on 17lb line not 8! man im bummed! but i know where hes at and know what he wants to eat!

is it common when using live baits to have them peck at it a while then finally slam it?? they slammed the dead minnows HARD. but the live 3-4 inch minnow got pecked at a while then finally got hit hard. is that common and what to expect or what?? thanx guys...hope you like the pics!!