Kansas Kat

[frankb_ks]

I took this fish off a trotline last year.  He weighed 58#.  A female of the same size would have weighed another 10# I would imagine.  Almost time to start catching them again...Just gotta get the turkey hunting out of my head first... :-D BTW, the catch of my life is standing next to me... :grin:

Thanks for looking.

Frank

[longwinters]

Frank,  is this cat a relative of that big buck you showed us on the deer hunting forum?   Nice.  Say, do cats that big still taste good?  Many of our fish species taste better when small to medium size rather than King Size.

Long

[frankb_ks]

LOL Long.  I do not think the species interbreed... ...  This past year has been an exceptional one for me with starting with the turkeys, then fish, then pheasants, then geese, then deer, then the trapping... :grin: ...  Almost makes me wish I was not so damned old...may not get enough of those type years in...  :roll: ... Oh well, better half full than half empty I reckon...

The thing I like most about flathead is that it does not matter how large they get, as long as all the fat is trimmed off them they are delicious.   I think it has to do with the fact that flatheads are strictly live bait kind of fish.  You will seldom catch one on anything that is not alive on the hook.   To give you an idea maybe, we eat quite a few crappie, and in my opinion the flathead are just as tasty.  I know a lot of fishermen disagree with me on this, because they think you should release all the big fish to "fight another day", but I much prefer to eat the large flats and release the smaller ones.  Generally if it is a good bite, I release everything under 20 lbs.  Once a fish gets to that size they grow remarkably fast, and will have a good deal more meat on them in a year or two.  I view the flatheads much like I do the deer as a dependable and cheap food source.  I generally fish for them for a week or two late May or June, put up a fair amount in the freezer, and then leave the rest for next year.  My wife and I use two or three deer a year also.  What is that c&w song about a country boy surviving???... :-)

Anyhow, thanks for looking.

Frank

[John]

Frank, you're my kind of people, I get pissed every time I see someone wagging a flathead pup on their stringer just because it's the legal size, 20 inches here in Oklahoma.

I don't keep em either if they aren't over 15 pounds, no belly meat on those little flats.

I get into it with the catch and release boys over keeping the big ones, they say those big ones need to be released so their genes will stay in the habitat. I laugh at em.....those genes are in there, those big ones have spawned many times.

I catch my big flats for the freezer in mid March and April down here, and just fish for grins after that.

I ran across a couple of bass boys a few years back, they were keeping those just barely legal flats...said they were the best eatin...I raised some hell with em, and told them that I was going to quit releasing their money fish and start eatin them.

[frankb_ks]

Hey John,

It is even worse up here - no length limit, and way too many people who think anything that weighs 5 lbs is a big fish.  Then there are those people who keep their lines out all season, long after they have taken what fish they can use, and are too lazy to pull their lines even when they aren't baiting them.  Don't get me started... :-D ... I consider the flathead a fine fish to catch and to eat, and wish people would give them a little more respect.  As for the bass guys - a lot of them are good guys who respect the lake and the other fishermen, and then there are those who come roaring past an anchored boat as fast as the boat will go,  and fifteen minutes later come roaring back - done fished over the entire arm of the lake I reckon.  Guess I am getting too old, but such shenanigans irritate the piss out of me anymore.  Glad you agree with my flathead ethics.  Did you catch any large flats this spring then?

Good fishing to you.

Frank

[John]

Frank, I limbline. I wire poles to stumps along a flooded creek channel caused when a lake was raised five feet back in the late 60's. I use the poles one spring, then I take them out.

I need for the lake to drop about four feet in late summer and stay down so I can put in new poles before winter sets in, and then put string and hardware on them about mid March.

I do catch several nice fish each spring, but the damn lake has stayed full the past two years, and I haven't been able to put poles in.

I used to do some noodlin, and have caught several fish in the 50-60 pound range like that, and my biggest was a bit over 70 pounds, it was a spawned out female. I would have liked to have put her on the scales before the spawn.

[frankb_ks]

Hey John,

I like to limbline too, but we have too many fish thieves around here, and limblines make it too easy for them.  I tie my trotlines off a little below waterline, and you have to be on top of them to see them.  When I do limbline, I like to use 1" pvc conduit.  Much to be said for getting hold of your trotline, and feeling something BIG down the line aways trying to jerk it out of your hand... :-D ...  It gets real exciting when you have a couple of large fish on consecutive hooks... :-D ... Never did any of that noodling.  Not legal in this state, and would rather see spawning fish be allowed to finish their spawn anyhow I reckon.

Here is another photo of some kats and my "kitten"



Good fishing to you.

Frank

[John]

Frank, I live right close to my limbline spot, it's right here behind my place, and I put my boat in right down the road about a half mile from the house. Lots of folks around here know me. I've not had too many problems with fish thieves.

There's a weekly bass jackpot on the lake, and a funny deal.......the only times I ever got skunked on my lines was on jackpot night. I always have fish on, but not on jackpot night two weeks in a row.

I also carry a pistol...snakes ya know, and after the two weeks of getting skunked on jackpot night I went back there and got amoung the bass boys and stood up in my little jon boat and went to raising hell about the sob's stealing my fish, of coarse nobody knew anything about that, but it never happened again.

I did catch one ole boy that cut my hardware off 4 or 5 of my poles and he put some smaller hooks and baited em with his goldfish. I had a real serious discussion with him about that. I told him that if he wanted some catfish to come on up to the house and I would give him some, and to leave my stuff alone....I'm an old fart, 58, but I'm a good sized fella, and folks remember when I thought I was a bad ass....the old reputation comes in handy sometimes.