Outlook For Record-Class Catches

The Controversial Flathead

We also predicted that a flathead of some 100 pounds would soon come to scale. The new record, though, surpassed that by a triple jump. The story of the 123-pound flathead caught by Ken Paulie was filed by George Glines.

Independence, Kansas—The certified scales at the Star Mill in Independence, Kansas, settled on 121 pounds, and the catfishing world had a new world-record flathead, a fish surpassing the old record by more than 30 pounds. Fishing from the face of the dam at Elk City Reservoir, five miles west of Independence, Paulie hooked the fish of a lifetime on a well-worn pole, medium-weight spinning reel, and 12-pound line. A 20 mph south wind was pushing breakers onto the riprap facing of the dam, where Paulie was fishing for crappies with a jig tipped with a minnow.

“I thought I was hung on the rocks at first,” Paulie said. “I leaned on it a little and it moved. I saw a big log just under the water and thought I was hung on it, but it turned sideways in the waves. The next wave washed it closer, into the shallows. I saw what it was, leaned on it again, and then I was able to grab it and pull it onto the rocks. I wouldn’t have had a chance without the wind.”

The fish was verified by fishery biologist Sean Lynott, of the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks. The 61-inch fish had a girth of 423⁄4 inches.

Controversy accompanied the world-record flathead. Minor detail differences in the story were settled quickly. The fish was certified at 123 pounds, not 121, as was originally reported, or 124, as was suggested several weeks later. We also know that Paulie’s reel was a Zebco 33.

It is, however, Paulie’s description of his battle with the big fish that troubles seasoned flathead anglers. Flatheads are a terror of a fish to land. On heavy tackle, battles don’t necessarily last long, but are memorable for their intensity, particularly as the fish nears boat or shore. Given, too, is that 12-pound line is light by all standards for flatheads, even fish of modest size.

Reporter Steve Harper, in a story for The Wichita Eagle, published on May 15, the day after the event, quoted Paulie: “It didn’t give me a big fight or anything because of where it was, and because of all the rocks. . . . “ In the story, Harper also says that Paulie said the fight lasted about 15 minutes before Paulie worked the fish between two rocks where it turned sideways, impeding its escape.

Glines, the first to interview Paulie after the catch, and the man who shot the initial photos of Paulie and the fish, notes that Paulie didn’t exactly specify how long the battle lasted, but suggested it wasn’t long, perhaps only minutes. Meanwhile, biologist Sean Lynott has verified that the fish was alive, although not lively, when he first observed it.

So speculation that Paulie could not have caught and landed the fish as he suggests is as much a part of the story as the fish’s immense size. “A monster like that on 12-pound line, and the fish didn’t fight?” is the common refrain.

Bigger Fish Out There?

Absolutely. The record for blue catfish is particularly vulnerable. And although the flathead record may now seem beyond reach, we believe this record too may soon pass.

The fish are out there in many places across North America. More and more good fishermen are just beginning to fish for them, just as information about how to catch bigger fish is beginning to be published. That’s just part of the story we’ll continue to cover in Catfish In-Sider Guide. The presence of these monster fish will for the foreseeable future be one of the biggest stories in fishing.

Ultimately, how big is really big? We’re confident 140s and perhaps 150s are out there, both blues and flatheads. It’s possible that we’ll see another leap in record size. Odds are, though, that a 120-pound blue will happen along in the next few years. And soon enough, a flathead will just squeak past the Paulie fish.

And what of a new record channel catfish?

The World’s Most Elusive Catfish

A 58-pound channel catfish from Santee Cooper Reservoir, South Carolina, has served as the benchmark for millions of catfish anglers for more than 35 years. In the past decade, though, the record has been threatened four times; first in July 1993 by a 52-pound 10-ounce titan from California, then by a 48-pound 11-ounce fish from Mississippi in March 1995. The cycle repeated a year later with a 50-pounder from California in September 1996 and a 51-pound 12-ounce Mississippi record in May 1997. The only other fish to surpass the 50-pound mark was the former world record, a 55-pounder taken from the James River, South Dakota, in May 1949.

We view these recent catches with as much amazement as the world record, not only because of their immense size but also because of where they were caught. The Mississippi fish came from a 234-acre lake stocked every other year or so with yearling channel cats. Managed as a put, grow, and take fishery, Lake Tom Bailey produced the last five state records in a state brimming with fine catfish fisheries. And in California, the largest channel cats on record came from water supply impoundments stocked and managed as pay lakes. Channel cats aren’t native to the Santee Cooper watershed either, but they obviously found it hospitable.

The Santee Cooper Story

The best insight into the Santee Cooper fishery prior to the introduction of flatheads and blue cats comes from Robert Stevens, former fishery biologist with the South Carolina Wildlife Resources Department. Stevenson published The White And Channel Catfishes Of The Santee Cooper Reservoir And Tailrace Sanctuary in 1960, when the reservoir was about 17 years old. In the paper he noted that the lake’s channel cats grow larger and faster, live longer, and are in better overall condition than any channel catfish described in existing literature.

“For the past five years, a creel census has been maintained continuously on the reservoir,” Stevenson wrote. “Since 1956, the creel census checkers have reported the following giant catfish: 78, 75, 62, 60, 55, and 52 pounds. I examined a snapshot of the 78-pound catfish, which was caught in the Diversion Canal on July 4, 1956, weighed on cotton scales, and witnessed by many fishermen. I couldn’t positively identify the fish from the snapshot, but it appeared to be typical of the large channel catfish in the reservoir. Since I haven’t encountered any blue or flathead catfish in the watershed, I tentatively assume that this large catfish and the others reported by the creel checkers were indeed channel catfish.

“I have personally examined a 49-pound channel catfish from Lake Moultrie and seven channel cats from the Tailrace Sanctuary, weighing 40.8, 41.3, 44, 46.1, 47.5, 48, and 48.5 pounds,” Stevens added. “Channel catfish in the 30- to 40-pound range are not uncommon at either location, and channel cats in the 20- to 30-pound range are common. On March 13, 1959, for example, 18 fish averaging 21.7 pounds apiece were taken by South Carolina Wildlife Resources Department personnel for stocking in other waters.”

One factor that contributed to the incredible size of the channel cats at Santee Cooper was their longevity. “In this study, 60 percent of the channel catfish were eight years or older,” Stevens reported. “That compares to a study in Oklahoma where only three percent of the fish were eight or more years old. A Missouri study indicated that under four percent of the channel cats sampled were of this advanced age.” Even more surprising, Stevens found that more than six percent of the channel cats at Santee Cooper were 14 years old, while researchers in Oklahoma reported that only 0.2 percent of 7,717 cats sampled had reached that age.