Flathead catfishing (6/1/16)

[JDTuna]

With the comfortable temperatures and beautiful weather we've been having this week, Chrisper and I decided to spend a few hours chasing some flatheads.* We got to the spot and got everything set up just before dark.

Within a few minutes we got some attention from the locals. It was a odd bite, though. The fish were more or less playing around with the baits, running short distances with the baits before dropping them.* These were either smaller cats, channels or fish that weren't fully committing.

After a short lull in the action, my rod began to get hit again. I looked closely and noticed my line moving slowly parallel to the shoreline. I picked up the rod and came tight and landed a small flathead.


After that, it was pretty quiet. Chrisper had a good run off but the fish dropped the bait. Towards the end of the trip, he caught the biggest rock bass I had ever seen that absolutely destroyed a topwater.

[AirborneNick94]

Nice cat!

[River Renegade]

Sweet kitty nicely done!

[icebadger]

nice job avoiding the skunkin. keep at it you will get a big one sooner or later.nice fish for your efforts jd. by the way nice shorts dude.

[AndyS]

Just have one question. Since NJ DEP does not want these returned to the water but instead destroyed, do you heed the warning ? You don't have to respond, I was just curious.

Andy,

Good question. My sense is most serious cat fish anglers who target these fish release them, at least a high percentage and in particular the larger fish. In this case, NJFG is I think going to have to reconsider their position eventually for a few reasons. First the fishery is thriving and will continue to do so. A single female flat head can lay up too 100,000 eggs a year and they have few natural predators so these fish are not only going to survive in the Big D they're going to thrive. Second how can you have two major states, Pa. and NJ., that have completely opposing regulations regarding the same resource. NJ has a 5 creel catfish limit for the Delaware, flat heads are considered invasive and based on the regulations alone must be harvested. Pa. has a 50 creel limit for all cat fish and flat heads aren't designated as invasive. So the same fish in common waters has different regulations which to me makes no sense especially if one state is trying to remove them from the system. I guess NJ has a specific concern which Pa doesn't share. Either way these fish have established a very healthy presence which I personally don't see diminishing anytime soon, especially if they are successfully spawning and sustainability isn't predicated on future stocking programs which it doesn't seem to be.