Flathead Catfish on FOX RIVER!

[catfishhunter]

I realize most of the guys on this board are bass fisherman......We caught these fish last Friday on the Fox River, Illinois.....just south of the Chain!

[fishing3]

Jeff......Firstly, thank you for posting these pics! I've hooked into 4 of these in the past 10 years fishing the river on large deep diving crankbaits!


How big do these get?

Do you guys catch a lot of them???

What time did you catch them?


A friend told me your picture was in last weeks Chicago Sun Times??? Is that true? What day/date?

I look forward to hearing more from you! Please tell your friends about: fishthenation.com....tell them they can use it to share fishing info and pics. IT COSTS NOTHING!

Wholly &^%^&$ I'm not sure I want to swim in the river any longer :-):eek:
http://www.siteground153.com/~fishing3/images/misc/progress.gif

[catfishhunter]

I've seen pics of Flatheads over 50 lbs. before. My buddy caught one that was 44 lbs.in the Fox.
The guys and I have been catching them that weighed between 10- 20 lbs. These 2 were the biggest I have ever caught. They were 22 lbs. and 24 lbs. I caught them around midnight, about 30 minutes of each other.
I submitted the pic to the Chicago Sun Times. They chose the pic for the "Fish of the Week" segment, that came out Wed. Aug. 22nd.
What a thrill to catch these big fish. They put up a good fight!

[MUSKIE08]

We Fish The River At My Brothers House Above The Algonquin Dam And Almost Every Night If You Cast A Pole Or Two Out All Night You Will Get A 10-30 Flathead. The Key Is Big Bait Live Blue Gill Or Drum Work Best. Smaller Stuff Works Also But The Smaller Channel Cats Will Take It Those Are Easy To Get.

[fishing3]

Do these guys eat these huge flatheads? Do they taste good? I don't think they are scavengers are they?

I've caught them on Crawfish Crankbaits!!! Interestingly enough...I've caught them in pairs? Is that normal...

[Jimbo]

Look at the mouth would ya !!!!!


Nice bass too !

[AtitAgain07]

Wow!!!!Nice Flats!!!!!!!! I use to go camping out by Princeton, IL....Hennipin Canal...We would throw 4" bluegills out for the night and once awhile hook into a nice Flat.......however due to all the crap in water have yet landed one over 15#.......Great Pics!

[setdahook]

Do these guys eat these huge flatheads? Do they taste good? I don't think they are scavengers are they?

I've caught them on Crawfish Crankbaits!!! Interestingly enough...I've caught them in pairs? Is that normal...


I hope not...Fish, as big as the ones Jeff caught can be well over 10yrs old, maybe near the 20 mark. The Flats from the Fox River doesn't have the genes to get to throphy size and It takes them a longer time to grow compared to the ones from the Rock or the Miss. The pressure and no regulation on these fish...does not help either.

[fishing3]

I hope not...Fish, as big as the ones Jeff caught can be well over 10yrs old, maybe near the 20 mark. The Flats from the Fox River doesn't have the genes to get to throphy size and It takes them a longer time to grow compared to the ones from the Rock or the Miss. The pressure and no regulation on these fish...does not help either.


Over 10 years old! Are they pushing for regulations? when you say regulation....do you mean in overall length? Are their regs on the Rock or Miss?

[setdahook]

Our group is working with the IDNR to try and collect some data on the Fox so that, eventually, we can put some sort of reg on these fish. I think we have roughly 600-700 hours of fishing as a group with a little over 100 Flats caught so far this year(since end of April). If you break down the average, thats roughly 1 fish caught every 6-7 hrs with the average size of only 27"-28". Creel, size..any regs on these fish will help, especially on the Fox.

Right now, I don't know of any type of regulation on the Miss or the Rock. In due time, I'm hoping that will change...