# Monster blue cat



## CatHunter (Dec 31, 2008)

Big blue cat caught..Some people estimate it to be 114 other say well over 140.. I would say at-least 130. My grandad has a photo of a 118 he caught and this one looks much bigger.


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## Realtor (Oct 1, 2007)

what area? didn't know they got this big!


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## CatHunter (Dec 31, 2008)

Blue cats were common in the early 1800s at 150-250lbs. Catches of blues over 350 pounds were even documented. Over a century of unregulated harvest wiped out all of Americas true giants of the rivers. It took over 100 years for the blue catfish to finally break the 100 pound world record. Now with more states implementing regulations and more educated fishermen releasing their big cats each month blues are being caught over 100 pounds again, and most being released. With a little common sense, and common conservation we will see blues topping 200 pounds again in this century. 

Flatheads were once commonly caught over 150 pounds with flats being documented as big as 400lbs from Mississippi and the Missouri river in the early 1800s. Commercial fishing, feeding the family's, dams, dredging and channelization's slaughtered them to death. Now flatheads are much more wide spread and abundant in numbers due to transplanting by states and anglers but all the true giants are basically gone.. There is little hope for flatheads this century to top 200 pounds again, very few release big flatheads. Hell still to this day no flathead has ever been landed on a rod n reel over 100 pounds except that controversial 123lb world record caught on a zebco 33 with 12 lb on a crappie jig..


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## Dagwood (Oct 1, 2007)

How does one that big taste?


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## CatHunter (Dec 31, 2008)

Dagwood said:


> How does one that big taste?


I guess it would depend on your tolerance for crappy meat. Me personally, spoiled on the finest of fish like scamp, snapper, and flatheads would spit that right out of my mouth. 
Some people eat weird stuff like gar and eels. I'm sure if you beat the meat with a bat, kick it around the yard, soak it in goat milk for a week, hang it from a branch for a few days then soak it in cider with maple wood chips it might taste okay for a starving man...:yes:


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## Try'n Hard (Oct 23, 2008)

Dagwood said:


> How does one that big taste?


Never ate one over 100# so I cant honestly tell you how they taste. but have had some 40# blue & flathead from the river and 25# farm pond raised channel. Nothing I ate from the river was ever bad. Everything I ever ate from a pond over about 8# was catfood. 
Catfish always taste better from moving water. In the river size/age does not change the taste - much. In ponds, the longer they stay - the worse they get....HOWEVER - If I tell you they taste like crap and that causes you to throw 'em back that's just more fish for me.... lord knows I need 'em!!


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## sureicanfish (Sep 30, 2007)

dang, to each his own but i think i woulda let that one swim off, now he has 140 pounds of dead fish to deal with lol, hope he has a lot of tomato plants.


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## WhyMe (Apr 21, 2013)

What a fish.
WhyMe 
Mako my Dayo


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## CatCrusher (Jan 18, 2009)

Dagwood said:


> How does one that big taste?


A flathead gets better the bigger he gets. I really don't care much for a big blue, but it can be real good if you clean it right. Hang him up still alive and cut his tail off. The blood will pour out and then soak him overnight in ice water. That meat will be pure white and taste as good as a small one. I see some just cut the tail, but you have to take it off for him to bleed.right. I do the same on a big flathead, but it's not necessary.


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## CatCrusher (Jan 18, 2009)

Try'n Hard said:


> Never ate one over 100# so I cant honestly tell you how they taste. but have had some 40# blue & flathead from the river and 25# farm pond raised channel. Nothing I ate from the river was ever bad. Everything I ever ate from a pond over about 8# was catfood.
> Catfish always taste better from moving water. In the river size/age does not change the taste - much. In ponds, the longer they stay - the worse they get....HOWEVER - If I tell you they taste like crap and that causes you to throw 'em back that's just more fish for me.... lord knows I need 'em!!


Dead on info!!!!


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## hjorgan (Sep 30, 2007)

River cats do taste better, but big blues are a bit gamey. I like the 3 - 5 lb blues, or 1 - 5 lb channels. But, a nice 12 - 15 lb flathead is butter!


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## GROUPERKING (Sep 28, 2011)

I'll eat a flathead no matter how big he is. Just cut off the red meat under the skin and its good to go. I have eaten flat heads up to 50 lbs. and blues up to the mid 30's. Anyway, that's a fine one.I wonder if it was caught on a rod &reel or by jug or trot line?


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## CatHunter (Dec 31, 2008)

Getting more info.. It was caught in Missouri on a jug line and I believe it weighed 114lbs


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## RippinLips14 (Aug 10, 2014)

I have caught plenty of cats both flathead and blues in the 20-30 range and both were excellent. Top of the line if you ask me. The only thing I might prefer over the two would be flounder. Now channel cats, it doesn't matter if they come from crystal clear Coldwater creek (blackwater) or a farm pond, they are musky and not good to me over 3 lbs. I have cleaned the bigger cats and both soaked in ice water as well as milk, and also just fileted them and threw them in grease and both ways turned out great. I always cut my catfish in small pieces before cooking.


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## RippinLips14 (Aug 10, 2014)

But from everyone I talk to the ones 40-50 are just as tasty as the smaller ones.


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## CatHunter (Dec 31, 2008)

Check out what the people are saying on Americas largest catfish fan page about this big cat..

https://www.facebook.com/FlatheadCa...4550349292677/690372424377131/?type=1&theater


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## squidley (Jun 29, 2013)

CatHunter, how old do you think that fish is? I am sure it can vary quite a bit depending on water temp, forage, etc. but I would think it would have to be fairly old.

It is hard to imagine a blue cat over 300lbs. I was living in San Diego when they broke the state record for blue catfish, I would have to look it up but I think it was in the 120s and accidently caught while bass fishing. This was around 2004-2005 and it seemed like some of those lakes were getting big catfish with catch and release being very popular.


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## CatHunter (Dec 31, 2008)

squidley said:


> CatHunter, how old do you think that fish is? I am sure it can vary quite a bit depending on water temp, forage, etc. but I would think it would have to be fairly old.
> 
> It is hard to imagine a blue cat over 300lbs. I was living in San Diego when they broke the state record for blue catfish, I would have to look it up but I think it was in the 120s and accidently caught while bass fishing. This was around 2004-2005 and it seemed like some of those lakes were getting big catfish with catch and release being very popular.


 Up north cats grow slower but live longer. They grow much faster in the south but live short lives by biologist studies.

Blue cats grow significantly slower than flathead early on but significantly faster after it reaches 50lbs.. A flathead can reach 50lbs in as little as 10 years while in the same amount of time a blue may only weigh around 10-12lbs

However a blue cat will reach 100lbs much faster than a flathead, in as little as 20 years.. After about 50lbs flatheads growth rate rapidly decreases almost to a halt taking nearly 25 years or more to reach 100lbs.. 

For a blue cat to reach that size I would say its somewhere around 25-30 years old.. And for blue cats to have been able to reach 350lbs in the early days, adding in their accelerating growth rate I would guess they could live as old as Koi and gold fish possibly 50-80 years of age..

In today's modern age with millions of catters now patrolling the waters for a cat to travel the rivers and lakes for 30 years dodging hooks, pollution and diseases would be a modern miracle.


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## jcoss15 (Oct 11, 2010)

In my expericences, cut big cats into small strips or fingers and watch out for the fat. The big flathead we caught a couple summers ago was good eating,but it also had globs of nasty yellow fat in certain spots...I like flathead and blues under 20 lbs, but that's just me.


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## squidley (Jun 29, 2013)

CatHunter said:


> Up north cats grow slower but live longer. They grow much faster in the south but live short lives by biologist studies.
> 
> Blue cats grow significantly slower than flathead early on but significantly faster after it reaches 50lbs.. A flathead can reach 50lbs in as little as 10 years while in the same amount of time a blue may only weigh around 10-12lbs
> 
> ...


 That is very interesting information. This really indicates how these two *superficially* similar fish must have very different life histories to have such different growth curves. I am sure there are a variety of reasons for this including preferred habitat, forage, predation, etc. and you are right, it will probably be very difficult, if not impossible, to see fish like those giants that occurred before again.

Thanks for posting this really cool information.


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## Mark Collins (Dec 27, 2012)

Thats HUGE
Saw 1 here on Weiss that went 86 lbs and I have had 2 on with striper tackle that you could not do anything with. Client fought one for 46 minutes
They are in our rivers and lakes, but no one uses big enough tackle to land them


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## Dragnfly (Jan 25, 2008)

*Catfish*

Thats a good size catfish. When can we we see a big one ??????


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## fishmagician (Jun 4, 2014)

ain't safe to go in the water, holy smoke


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