Got the boy hooked on catfishing!
 

My wife and I have started taking a friend's 12 year old son fishing/camping. After catching smaller blues and flatheads the first two trips and really getting excited about them, he landed this 36 lb flathead after a 20 - 25 minute fight! I believe we got the boy hooked!

RE: Got the boy hooked on catfishing!
 

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

RE: Got the boy hooked on catfishing!
 

Very nice-( sounds like some fight)tell him congrats on thegreat cat.

RE: Got the boy hooked on catfishing!
 

awesome!! thats a nice flathead...well...to me in the north! you southern guys call that a baby! lol. id be bouncing off the wall if i caught one that big!! what do you guys use for bait?? congrats!

RE: Got the boy hooked on catfishing!
 

mauser there is only two baits down here.....A whole bluegill or a cut up shad. I love to carry people that have never seen over a 20 lb catfish and pull up a 50 to 70 lber that almost go out the boat. That is a nice cat there i am sure he will be hooked for life.

RE: Got the boy hooked on catfishing!
 

Awesome fish........ wish I had flatheads or Blues up here.

RE: Got the boy hooked on catfishing!
 

oneshot...figured it was 1 of the 2. i am going to try the live bluegills this year...creek chubs been working well for me and are simple for me to get...but everyone swears by live bluegills for flatheads...even though until a few years ago there werent hardly any bluegills in our rivers...i get probably an average of 4-6 hits a night fishing 3 or 4hrs...so that aint bad...atleast i dont think so...i figure theres alot more giant 4-6 inch minnows and creek chubs in the river than bluegills...kinda matching the hatch of catfishing! lol

RE: Got the boy hooked on catfishing!
 

The bigger the bream (bluegill), the better. Even people down here have a hard time putting a 1/2 to 3/4 lb. bream on for bait. Flatheads also like other cats. One 15 lb.er last week had three 6 in. blues in it's belly and a 35 lb.er a couple of years back hit a 6 lb.! blue that was being reeled in. The blue opened it's fins and had the flathead stuck until they were both in the net and then pulled out of the flathead's mouth! What a catch! I guess if a flathead can getsomething in it's big old mouth, it can crush it and swallow it.

RE: Got the boy hooked on catfishing!
 

mauser I would find a local stocked pond and use the bream outta there also any bream will do i just usually use bluegill but 4 to 6 hits every 3-4 hrs isnt that good

RE: Got the boy hooked on catfishing!
 

oneshot...keep in mind in clear up here in PA. flathead catfish are relatively new for us! i guess in my areas they been around for a decint while in the Ohio river..but were at their northen limits...i definently dont have the population or size that you southern boys got. and last year was the first year i started fishing live baits going after bigger cats. i still dont know where to find them and dont have a boat. the ohio river is only about 200-300yds wide up here lol... thats another thing i wanna learn about this summer is locating flathead holes....im sure 4-6hits a night isnt good even for PA...but for my first season i feel it was pretty decint....

RE: Got the boy hooked on catfishing!
 

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.:D

RE: Got the boy hooked on catfishing!
 

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. [:@]