Description: A flattened head, tiny eyes, squarish tail and protruding lower jaw distinguish the flathead from other catfish and contribute to it being placed in a genus of its own. The lake is located along the Red River near Durant on the Oklahoma-Texas border. "If someone told me there was a fish that big in the lake I would have probably said they were crazy," said Doak, Oklahoma's . Williams caught the fish on rod and reel, though many anglers use May and June to noodle (catching with the hands) for catfish. The Groves state record channel cat was never bested, making it the oldest record in state history. There have been all kinds of enhancements done to the lake, including an indoor dock that has handicapped access, making it a favorite for people of all ages and . Sunfish, Longear 1/2 lbs. Ethan Evink, visiting from Iowa . 9) 80-Pound Line Class World Record Flathead Catfish. Bernie McBryde of Wagoner, Oklahoma, recently smashed the blue catfish lake record when he hauled in an 82.7 pound behemoth from Fort Gibson Lake. Jake Robinson of Shakopee caught and released the new record flathead catfish. "As Carl Sawyer can tell you, it's nice when you catch the 'big one' that. Other Common Names Laster, who was fishing for crappie from the bank on Dec. 2, fought the 98.5-pound fish for nearly 30 minutes before getting it ashore. Sunfish, Warmouth 1 lbs. Weight: 69 pounds. For a complete list of record fish and the procedures regarding certifying state record fish, consult the "2004 Oklahoma Fishing Guide." The best time of year tends to be spring and fall followed by summer and lastly winter. Oklahoma Sports Moments . World record: 58 pounds, 0 ounces. Within 15 years, Groves saw three of his four records fall. But record-breaking fish can be caught at anytime, weighed on an International Game Fish Association-certified scale at any number of tackle shops or marinas, and compared to the IGFA's online records database. . It was caught in 2014 by Dale Blakley, of Niles, out of Barron Lake in Cass County. Facts: Flathead catfish are a favorite of many anglers. 0:04. KONAWA, Okla. - Two men set a new Oklahoma lake record after noodling a nearly 90-pound catfish recently! Donnie Fielden and his friend, Kevin Williams, caught a 65.8-pound flathead on a homemade trot line Saturday. Tommy Couch's 76-pound flathead was caught on a red worm from the Poteau River below Wister Dam on June 13. Pete Thomas. "After all the measurements, we safely released it and it swam off healthy, back out to be caught again," said Hollenbach. Prefers streams or large bodies of slightly stained to murky water with moderate current . Opportunistic feeders, flathead catfish will munch on anything from oysters to live bluegills. A Howe man has landed a new state record flathead catfish on a rod and reel. They are native to the Mississippi, Missouri, and Ohio River drainages and found as far north as Lake Erie and as far south as Florida. CROMWELL On a muggy Sunday afternoon in a creek off the North Canadian River muddied by an overnight rain, Nathan Williams poked under and around rocks, brush and bank crevices, trying to find a big catfish lurking in a nest. Pond 4-23-02 Brandon Hughes Carp, Grass 68 15.2 49 34 Chelsea City Lake 4-5-08 Jereme Budgick Carpsucker, River 8 11 25 1/4 18 Canton Lake 3-18-22 Jarrett Sinclair Catfish, Blue 98 54 1/2 39 1/2 Lake Texoma 11-11-04 Billy Nabors Catfish, Channel 35 15 39 1/4 26 1/4 Taft Lake 9-11-05 Gary Doak, Jr. Well, they were wrong. I doubt he gets it and actually hope he doesn't. The last part of rule #4 should be a separate point in and of itself, in my opinion. (Photo courtesy of FWC) Florida Catfish Records. 0:40. Grabbing the fish's bottom lip with his left hand and the gill plate with his right, he emerged with his biggest catch evera 58-inch-long flathead that topped 100 pounds. George A Keller's Ohio state record rock bass, caught on Deer Creek near London, has stood since 1932! World Record Line . Dropping a small fish to the bottom of these pools is one of the most effective methods for targeting flathead. Wister Lake apparently is home to the state's biggest flatheads. Box caught two 40-pound blue cats one morning in a half-hour, and another time had the 70-pound-test line snapped on his catfish rig. As with many other states, Ohio's state record fish have been caught over numerous decades. They like old brushy tangles, submerged logs, and undercut banks. Channel catfish are the most abundant, populating waters from Lake Wister in eastern Oklahoma to the Fort Cobb Reservoir in the southwest. Flathead catfish are bottom-dwelling beasts that swim throughout rivers and lakes. He is an experienced catfish noodler from Oklahoma, the state that first put . Pierce baited a brown trout head onto an 8/0 circle hook and cast his heavy duty, 10-foot . I found certified records for flathead catfish in 36 out of 50 states in the US. Flathead Catfish - Kaw lake - Rod and Reel = no . Note: Bow fishing for blue, channel and flathead catfish was legal only from September 1, 2006 to August 31, 2008. He caught the 49-inch fish on 100-pound test . The previous state-record flathead catfish weighed 52 pounds and measured 46.02 inches long. According to this, it was >>> he biggest flathead ever on record in Oklahoma also was pulled from Wister Lake. Ken Paulie holds his world record flathead catfish The simple fact that Ken Paulie caught a 123 pound, 60+ inch flathead catfish is mighty impressive. Here are those records and the contact info for the keeper should any of you wish to inquire about lake records for other Oklahoma Lakes not listed here. Congratulations on the catch, Ryan! Flathead catfish have got to be the ugliest of the cats. . Those fish weighed 87 pounds, 4 ounces, and 118 pounds, 8 ounces. "He stayed right along the bank and right along the bottom," Couch said, similar to carp he has landed in the past. Blue: 69.5 pounds, William Stewart III, Choctawhatchee River, 5/30/2015 . Spotted - None. Flathead Catfish. fish caught on the Altamaha River in 2000. Gary Doak Jr. caught a 35-pound, 15-ounce channel catfish while bass fishing Sept. 11 at Taft Lake west of Muskogee. The current West Virginia state record flathead catfish is held by L.L. Rig your fishing line and bait your hook. April 18th, 2022. Rule #5 of the rules of the State of Oklahoma for record fish will be the strongest point for him to overcome. Advertisement. 14 oz. An angler has tied his own state record fish in the catch-and-release length category with a 49-inch flathead catfish, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. While a 106-pound flathead catfish is a monster of a catch, imagine taking three hours to reel in something that's over 1,000 pounds. 8 oz. The flathead catfish (Pylodictis olivaris), also called by several common names including mudcat or shovelhead cat, is a large species of North American freshwater catfish in the family Ictaluridae.It is the only species of the genus Pylodictis.Ranging from the lower Great Lakes region to northern Mexico, it has been widely introduced and is an invasive species in some areas. But it gets even more impressive! You are here Flathead Catfish Records. This record has been in place since May 27, 1987. Young flathead catfish feed mostly on invertebrates such as worms, insects and crayfish, and . The most recent state record for a flathead catfish was a 67 lbs. 12 oz. However, the fish was thrown back in the water before it was weighed on an officially certified scale so it won't be showing up in the record books. The catfish was 53.75 inches in length and 38.25 inches in girth. Fishing on the Mississippi River near Alton, Illinois Tim Pruitt landed the massive 124-pound cat after a battle lasting nearly 40 minutes a 58 inch long, 44-inch girth blue surfaced. Flatheads can exceed 100 pounds. . The world angling record flathead catfish was caught May 14, 1998, from Elk City Reservoir, Kansas, and weighed 123 lb 9 oz (56.0 kg),However a record from 1982 show's that the flathead catfish would be North Americas longest species of catfish, after a specimen pulled from the Arkansas river that measured 175 cm (69 in.) McClung with his 52-inch, 70-pound flathead from the Little Kanawha River in 1956. Angler: Edward Davis. Levi had been told countless times in his life that the record would never be broken. Recent studies of flathead catfish show some live up to 40 years old in West Virginia rivers. Big Game Fishing Records. The minimum length to qualify for a DNR Master . Grand Lake O' the Cherokees - Oklahoma; At 97 pounds, their friend pointed out that about a foot of the fish's tail was still on the ground. Nil desperandum Isn't it about time somebody broke it? Blue: 98-0, Billy Nabors, Texoma, 11/11/2004; . Stacy Small was fishing with live shad bait and hooked a flathead weighing 84 pounds, 6 ounces. And the map shows spots in Oklahoma, where fishermen caught Flathead catfish. That's exactly what a Florida man did while fishing the annual Mid-Atlantic Billfish Classic off the coast of Maryland earlier this summer. Most are taken while trotlining, juglining, limblining, or noodling. Below you can see the analytics for Flathead catfish fishing in Oklahoma. The lake is often murky, but it's clearer than others, at least some days. Most Popular Bass Lures The state record blue catfish was caught out of Lake Texoma. When targeting flatheads, anglers will look for slow-moving pools within a river, where logs and other debris have gathered. May 15 on the Minnesota River near Savage. Flathead Catfish Records. 1:25 Although Williams said he does not fish for cat, he admitted the record catch was "pretty cool." Williams caught the 51-inch catfish on 14-pound test line rigged with a Strike King crank bait. state record flathead catfish from the Poteau River June 13, he just knew it was going to be a carp. Official Oklahoma Unrestricted Record Fish Division No official state records exist for the following fish. Species: Flathead catfish. When Tommy Couch of Howe was reeling in his 76-lb. They rank among our biggest freshwater fish of any species, and are hot on the heels of the blue catfish as being our largest species of catfish, with a current national rod-and-reel flathead record of just over 123 pounds and an 81 pound, 52-inch monster caught in Iowa's Lake Ellis in 1958. Habitat Adult flatheads are found near cover in larger pools and deep holes. It beats the old record of 72-pounds, 8 ounces by Ron Cantrell in 2004 from El Reno lake. World Record: 91.25 pounds, caught on Lake Lewisville, Texas, in 1982. The channel cat world record held until 1964 when a 58-pounder was caught in South Carolina. The fish, which was believed to be roughly 22 years old, had recently eaten a bigmouth buffalo. The 98-pound state record blue catfish came from Texoma as of this writing. Eddie, from Texas, caught the record-breaking flathead catfish that tipped the scales at more than 81 pounds. The biggest flathead catfish on record was caught in Kansas back in 1998 and weighed 123 pounds. Try fishing Arcadia Lake near Oklahoma City in Edmund. September 11, 2005. May 20, 2022 1:53 pm ET. A routine fishing trip turned into a record-breaking day for one Muskogee man. HARRISBURG, Pa. (June 10) - The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) has certified a new state record flathead catfish. For 70 years, South Dakota anglers . Its large size and great-tasting flesh make the flathead very popular with anglers. Then bait your hook with your choice of bait. A man was fishing on an Oklahoma river when he reeled in a pure monster. Their family record was 96 pounds, a record held by an uncle who caught a 96-pound Flathead Catfish in the 1960s. Charles Patchen caught the Florida state record flathead in 2016. OK State Record Catfish The state record channel catfish was taken from Taft Lake. Official Oklahoma . The giant 52-inch flathead catfish Jeff Pierce caught, measured, photographed, and released on Oct. 17 from Michigan's lower Saginaw River is six inches longer than the standing Michigan flathead record. Two Oklahoma fishermen are going to have plenty of fish fry after catching a monster catfish weighing north of 70 pounds last week in Choctaw County, Oklahoma. Channel cats can be caught most any time of year except in extreme cold water conditions. A few other minor points but that's the biggy by his own admission. The catfish weighed 57 pounds 8 ounces, besting the current flathead catfish record of 56 pounds 3 ounces, which was caught in 2020 by Jonathan Pierce from the Schuylkill River. Pylodictis olivaris. . Oklahoma Catfish Records. Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation officials were there to help McBryde weigh and measure his giant catfish. Check "Public Fishing Waters" special regulations for areas with additional daily and size limits. All that was left was his state record channel catfish. The state record flathead catfish was caught from El Reno Lake. Bullhead, Brown 2lbs. The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation says Hazyn Harmon Species Weight Location Date Angler Picture; Blue Catfish: 66 lbs. Paulie's May 1998 catch, however, is not without its share of controversy. Ken Wood caught these blue catfish off the Arkansas river, near Sallisaw. There's a new flathead catfish record on Skiatook Lake. State : Weight: Length: Location: Angler: Date: Alabama: 80 lbs 0 oz : Alabama River near Selma: Rick Conner: 6/22/1986: Arizona: 71 lbs 10.24 oz: 53" San Carlos Lake: Adrian Manzanedo: 1/5/2003: . 4. 5 oz. Explore the map and charts for more successful Flathead catfish fishing. The current state-record flathead measured 46 inches and weighed 52-pounds, and Pierce believes his fish was considerably heavier. On May 21st, 2005 Tim Pruitt caught a 124-pound record breaking the previous 121.5 lb record caught in Texas. IGFA. The all-tackle world record is a 58 pounder caught in South Carolina on July 7, 1964. They are yellow-brown and usually mottled above, with a creamy-white or yellow belly. Oklahoma keeps state records in two divisions: catches on a rod and reel and in an unrestricted division, which is every other kind of catching that is legal. Applications for bow fishing records can no longer be accepted for these species. "As soon as it broke. What might be the biggest catfish ever caught by hand was likely also the state record flathead catfish in Texas. Seventy-six-pound flathead catfish sets new Oklahoma state record. You'll find plenty of blue catfish in the lakes of northeastern Oklahoma's Green Country, while flatheads are common in most large impoundments and streams across the state. A man recently caught a near record-breaking flathead in a river in Oklahoma that weighed more than 75 pounds. **IGFA recognizes the world white catfish record (19 pounds, 5 ounces, 2005) as . The previous flathead record of 71 pounds was set by James Skipper who pulled the catfish from Oologah Lake in May of 1998. Since flatheads prefer to live at the bottom of bodies of water, hiding in cracks, crevices, and caves, don't forget to put some sinkers on your line. Black Bass (Largemouth, Smallmouth & Spotted Bass) Statewide Daily Limit: Largemouth & Smallmouth - 6 (combined) Spotted - None. Central Oklahoma Lake Texoma One of the state's largest lakes, Lake Texoma is home to monster blues and flatheads. Some of the longer standing records include the chain pickerel and longnose gar, which were both landed in the 1960s. : Chickahominy River . Davis proudly stands beside his 69-pound flathead. According to the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, Jayson Spencer was. . After looking over the weights, I've never wanted to catfish more. : Pamunkey River: 06-18-2022: Jason Emmel: Picture: Bowfin: 10 lbs. The huge catfish, which measured 53 inches in length and had a girth of 40 inches, eclipsed a 22-year-old state record flathead weighing 98 pounds. On May 24, 2020, angler Jonathan Pierce, 34, of Philadelphia, was fishing from the bank of the Schuylkill River at East Falls. Go back. Here is what is currently listed as Lake Records in the database: Flathead Catfish - Kaw lake - Unrestricted = 78.0 pounds, trotline. William Stephens of Lewisville caught the former record on . A South Dakota angler has shattered a 16-year-old state record with the recent catch of a 67-pound, 8-ounce flathead catfish. A long, wide head gives it the name. Flathead Catfish (Pylodictis Olivaris) The flathead catfish is a popular species because there are populations in much of the United States and they are well known to grow to trophy class sizes, all in addition to being excellent table fare. According to the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, Ryan Reese caught a flathead weighing 76.4 pounds on a rod and reel in the Arkansas River. Record fish caught in Oklahoma Anglers the world over gather regularly for fishing derbies to see who can land the biggest catch. Many anglers believe that Acadia is one of the best choices for catching even trophy sized blue, channel and flathead catfish. The 20 pound line class catfish record is a flathead catfish caught in the San Jacinto River in Texas. CHOCTAW COUNTY, Okla. (KFOR) - A flathead catfish weighing more than 70 pounds was caught out of an Oklahoma lake last week. McBryde was jug fishing with a friend when he wrestled the big cat into his boat. 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