# Flathead Catfish tournament



## CatHunter

Well we are back from the tournament and even though we didn't win we caught some fish there was some really good guys from all over out there that really turned there game on in this 20 hour tournament, I had the big fish lead for a while with a 26.6lber till it was beaten by a 27lber followed by as 36lber and we boated several that went around 20lbs and many 10-15lbers. 
i think we had a total of 24 fish , i have a 55 gallon live well and it kept filling up so fast we had to keep running back to the dock to weigh them all in, if we was on the same team we would have won i think but we had to fish separately, we was using all live baits from bluegill to large river minnows and only using two rods a piece, It was fun but next time the trophy is ours!!i lost third place by 1lb 
Biggest fish out of over 100 boats
1st 36.6lb flathead prize & trophy $1000
2nd 31.5lb flathead prize & trophy $500
3erd 27.5lb flathead prize and trophy $250
4th 26.5lb flathead Our team pensacola catfish hunters $0

Most pounds
130lbs of flatheads prize $250


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## CatHunter

heres a few more i have way to many to upload them all we even have some good video


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## bowfisher91

that is a serious concentration of flatheads. Was that tournament on the Apalachicola river?


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## CatHunter

yea it was the Apalachicola, we didn't get them from one spot before the tournament started we scouted out over 50 spots and marked them on gps over a 20 mile stretch of river we worked the river really hard had had the lead for a long time i think we came in 6th place out of nearly 100 boats..We just missed the money spot but it was our first tournament so next time the trophy is ours


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## bowfisher91

That is really impressive. I have heard they are thick on the apalach and I knew there were a few tournaments over there every year. Were any of them full of eggs yet? or is it a little early?


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## CatHunter

we didn't look we donated all of our fish to the foundation it was hard i really wanted to eat a few of the smaller ones and release the big ones, i hate to kill these beautiful creatures if u want to catch some quality catfish u can do it on escambia right now, there in prespawn and gathering up like bucks in rut fish the structure and dont wast time in one spot Let the big ones go just keep a picture


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## bowfisher91

I'll keep that in mind, I have fished yellow a lot and pulled some slobs out of there, but never fished escambia. We fished yellow river all night about a week ago and could only get on the channels and blues. I will definitely be on the river a few times this week.


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## CatHunter

how big of flatheads do u get of the yellow river, the biggest i have gotten was only 8lbs


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## OB One

Cathunter. Please check your PM's
OB


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## CatHunter

pm sent


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## bowfisher91

We had 1 over 30 last summer and 2 that broke 20, but it was not regular. There are good fish there, but they are tough to find. We caught quite a few of the 5-8# flatheads, but this year we haven't been able to get on them. I'll let you know how our next trip goes this week.


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## CatHunter

FWC shocked most of them out of there last year


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## RiverGulfFshr

Great haul and good night for you two. I've fished that touney many times and had a blast. The Big River Roundup Flathead Tourney is at the end of the month and hopefully I'll be fishing it; how bout you Cathunter? Bet you had a blast. Be safe and keep em coming.


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## bowfisher91

CatHunter said:


> FWC shocked most of them out of there last year


I've heard about that... I also heard they really couldn't kill enough to make a dent in the population. But if that is the reason, that is a shame.


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## CatHunter

Ill be trying to make every one of them, i really enjoy competing with real good fisherman, i would have to agree theres more cats in there then they can touch, its a beautiful thing for catfish lovers not so good for bream fisherman. 
Since 1982 when the first flathead was discovered in there nothing has been the same the flathead population has doubled ever year..But then again its that time of the year when the flatheads on all the rivers are in a feeding frenzy.
From April-July the flatheads feed like crazy then they go back to being there old lonely selves


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## pole squeezer

*Save the flatheads*



CatHunter said:


> FWC shocked most of them out of there last year


What do those folks have against flatheads? They're the best tasting, best fighting cats in freshwater. Up here in Ohio, folks are lamenting that there aren't many flatheads to catch. Infisherman magazine rates them as a prize catch, and has written many positive articles about flatheads. It looks like all the other southern states place a high value on these fish, except Florida.:thumbdown:


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## CatHunter

Well Florida used to not have flatheads, and believe me your preaching to the quire i love flatheads unfortunately the Apalachicola river use to be one of the greatest pan-fishing rivers in America. 
But since the invasion of flatheads there has been almost a 90% decline in the pan-fish population before the flathead and the bluecat came there were not really any predators in the river so the pan-fish just ran wild, not any more, before the tournament started we went bream hunting for bait and i tell you this we looked for 5 HOURS and caught 5 bluegills, they have also decimated the bullheads this is not a big deal for me or you but for the folks over there that grew up fishing for them they are heart broken.. As for the yellow river it is home to the endangered gulf sturgeon which the fwc has been trying to bring back from extinction but the flatheads keep eating all the spawn every year..


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## FishWalton

That's some fine fine cats. Congratulations on a job well done.


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## Bbagwell

nicely done, bro.


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## CatHunter

Heres a quick video i put to geather on some of the cats before the battery died..


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## FishWalton

Some states think flatheads are the ticket while others do not. In Texas they have regulations on flatheads while in Florida we do not. Nevertheless they are apparently good eating, but if they are killing the bream population then that's a problem. It's sort of strange but in Florida it's actually against the law to release a flathead,but I doubt it's enforced on those who actually catch them for fun. Catch 22!


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