man that is awesome, looks like you got you a lifetime fishin buddy

I have to agree with this, way to go and congrats!

keep in mind in clear up here in PA. flathead catfish are relatively new for us!

The only type of catfish we have up this wayarehornpout and they do not get even close to the size of those small ones we see on here.

I suppose they are the same everywhere so they're usually found around structure. During the day they are under banks and in log jams. We fish for them right down in the thick stuff out of boats with heavy tackle. At night they take tocruising out into the open and prowling the banks looking for resting fish. We catch them on set lines right against the bank in any water that eddys and holds baitfish. Deeper seems better. The boy hooked his out in the open though where a sandbar sloped down. The fish's first run was up the slope of the sandbar which was a good thing as I had time to pull the anchor and start moving the boat away from the logs we were fishing to the side of. After moving the boat about 50 yds. towards the sandbar, the fish turned and tried to head back into the logs, so I tossed out the anchor and started tightening down the drag to turn it before it reached the logs. That resulted in an ugly bruise on the boy's leg as he held onto the rod for dear life with the rod butt dug into his thigh as the drag tighteneddown.We turned the fish and then it was just a matter of wearing it out in the open water. When it finally did and came up, I had to pull the anchor again and drift back to net it because the boy couldn't pull it against the current with it turning sideways using the current to it's advantage. So you see, landing a fish this size in current from a fixed position on the bank would be very lucky. They win all to often from a boat. [:@]