Big flathead catfish are something. The only North American freshwater predators that grow larger are alligator gar and sturgeons. Maybe the blue catfish. But they don’t match the flathead as a predator. Nor do other freshwater fish, for that matter. We would have to enter the saltwater league to find a tougher customer.

The native range of flathead catfish includes the larger rivers of the Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, and Rio Grande river basins from the Great Lakes south into northern Mexico. Flatheads thrive in rivers that range from tributaries just 100 feet wide to the lower reaches of the nation’s largest rivers. Although rightly called a warmwater fish, flatheads also can survive and grow large in cool waters. In 1978, the first flathead ever caught in Canada was taken in a commercial trap net on the Ontario side of Lake Erie. And the Minnesota state record stands at 70 pounds, larger than the Georgia record.

Flathead catfish inspire tales both tall and true, as they rank among the largest North American freshwater fish, and their slightly monstrous appearance (to the uninitiated) makes them formidable gamefish. A 30-pound fish is beyond the realm of experience for nearly all freshwater anglers. So when one breaks a bass fisherman’s line, its estimated size increases in direct proportion to the diameter of the fisherman’s eyeballs when the fish spools him.

Most rivers in the flathead’s original range have been dammed, creating large impoundments that provide good habitat. Gizzard and threadfin shad abound, providing prey for all sizes of cats. Sunfish species, bullheads, and skipjack herring add to the smorgasbord.

These species also occur in rivers, plus many species of large suckers that slide smoothly down a flathead’s gullet. While studying the diet of flatheads in the Flint River, biologists were surprised to find even big fish scarfing young-of-the-year shad less than an inch long. They’d upchuck this partially digested shad soup in the livewell.

The big flatties must have cruised through the schools with their mouths open like a pod of baleen whales. Flatheads in this limestone-based river also consumed lots of crayfish, the most common prey for fish under about 10 pounds.

Not surprisingly, flatheads grow fast, generally faster in terms of weight than any predatory fish on the continent, exceeded in some systems only by the common carp and grass carp. Their fastest growth spurt typically occurs between ages 3 and 8 when they add several pounds a year. But even big fish grow fast, with tag returns indicating increases of more than 10 pounds per year, in some cases. Record-size flatheads haven’t been aged, though they certainly can live at least 20 years.

In most reservoirs around the United States, flathead populations are thriving, providing anglers with overlooked opportunities to catch the fish of a lifetime. In some areas, commercial fishermen have increased operations, lured by the high value placed on flathead flesh by many folks who like to eat fish. And the trophy status of this fish has spawned a new generation of freshwater big-game anglers.

In small streams, though, the number of larger flatheads probably is limited, for fish over 20 pounds may be 10 years old or more. The same’s true of 30-pounders in medium-size rivers. Releasing most larger fish in these systems helps keep the population strong, with enough big breeders to reproduce and to tear up someone’s tackle next year.

Big flatheads are vulnerable, based on hard statistics. May take 25 years to grow a 40-inch 35-pound flathead. And with eating habits like a lumberjack, they just aren’t hard to catch once you find them.

Fifteen + 15 + 15 + 15 + 20 + 30 = 110 years. There, strung on a rope draped over a board fence is 110 years of fish history. Better save that photo, for the time soon approaches when you won’t see those fish again in your lifetime. Your sons and daughters won’t either.

But there always are more flatheads in the next hole, in the next river, in the next state. Today, perhaps. A handful of flathead catmen find good populations of big flatheads today because few fishermen know how to find and catch them or, more the case, will not spend the time it takes to do it.

Commercial fishing is a long tradition in most major rivers that hold flatheads. Fishermen seek them because of their high market value relative to drum, buffalo, and carp. Sportfishing for flatheads has increased in popularity, and catfish anglers are becoming more vocal about their favorite species. They’ll make sure resource agencies don’t slight cats in their population studies and management plans.

Conflict between commercial fishermen and anglers is inevitable, as it was for walleyes in the Great Lakes and elsewhere. In Oklahoma, blessed with probably the largest flathead population, fishery managers are pondering difficult allocation problems. The trend’s clear.

The social and economic importance of recreational fishing means inland commercial fisheries for gamefish are dwindling. And commercial fishermen are content to pursue more predictable and lucrative occupations.

And if big fish eventually die of old age instead of harvest, where’s the waste? The payment is in the many years of being a big flathead, of being there to thrill men, not in the $2 a pound the flesh is worth at the market. We raise chickens and turkeys, dumb as a stump, for food. We can even take smaller, more plentiful catfish for occasional meals. If we protect catfish habitat, smaller fish remain readily renewable.

Seeking fame and fortune? Win a bowling tournament. Don’t try to ride the backs of a bunch of big dead fish. Stringer shots of big cats prove stupidity, not prowess. Shoot a photo or 10 before you release big boy to continue to spark our existence with his own.

OK, so perhaps there were more and bigger flatheads a hundred years ago. By comparison to other populations of big fish, however, this is the golden age for flathead cats.