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A group for bullhead lovers. Since bullhead aren't likely to have their own website anytime soon, let's give "bullies" some love!
Location: On the bottom
Members: 52
Latest Activity: Jul 13, 2023
I carry a *wide* range of stuff to chase Catfish with. Here's a few pics to give you an idea.…Continue
Started by Allen Morgan. Last reply by Allen Morgan Jul 26, 2019.
Here are the hooks I typically use for Catfish. I carry a range of sizes, and different types of hooks, but these are the hooks I seem to always fall back on.…Continue
Started by Allen Morgan. Last reply by John Sheehan Jul 23, 2019.
The following pics are the various rigs I use to catch Catfish.My basic bottom rig. It…Continue
Started by Allen Morgan. Last reply by John Sheehan Sep 14, 2017.
The Best Bullhead Catfish Fishing Tips You'll Ever Find: Part 2 (premier-fishing-tips.com) BAIT RECIPES:…Continue
Started by John Sheehan Sep 10, 2017.
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I'm with you Rod , the flathead sounds like a devastating creature!
Maryland currently has an invasive specie classification on flatheads where as 10 years ago there wasn't likely a single flathead in the state.
The Upper Chesapeake region , Susquehanna River, NorthEast River, Elk and the non-tidal Potomac above Washington DC have fishable populations...even world class in the Susky on up into PA where it is believed they were transplanted by anglers 10-15 years ago. 30 lbers are quite common and I have seen many pics of 40's and at least one below Conowingo Dam at 54 lbs.
Catch and Kill ethics are encouraged by the MD DNR to assist continuation of native species population. There are tons of RB Sunfish in the Potomac, but numbers may dwindle if the flatheads take a bigger hold of the waterway. Recent electro-shock surveys in the upper Potomac by MD DNR shows an increase in flathead populations, so there is some concern.
All good size cats (2 to 15lbs) are great to eat, depending on the waters they're coming out of. We have genetically mutated channel cats from the California aqueducts ranging between 5lbs to monstrous 52lbs, and flathead supersized in the farmland's slurry of dangerous chemicals and manure between 25lbs to 68lbs. These are definitely not good eating, but surely abundant.
However, although our lakes are not the cleanest, the cats between 1lb to 10lbs are truly yummy. We love catching them and make gourmet meals out of them. Anything more than 15lbs, we either give away, or offer to the animals of the land.
Yea, it's hard to unring a bell, or put the genie back into the bottle so to speak. A lot of the ole timers say that the Flat, Snail, and Spotted Bullheads are the best eating Cats. Apparently the Flatheads think so. I go to church with a fella who is originally from the Florida panhandle. He claims those Spotted Bullheads from the blackwater creeks and rivers down there are the very best eating catfish. He often describes them as Butter Cats!
I know the Black Bullheads I catch from a spring fed pond are really good. Tasty rascals! Soaked in buttermilk & rolled in cajun mix they are delicious.
Here in Texas Flatheads are native, and are in all the lakes and rivers. When they are present most of the smaller cats disappear. In all honestly you're going to have less of everything. Just throw a couple of big Flatheads in a 2 or 3 acre pond, and see how fast all the fish disappear.
A friend of my did this with a 2 acre pond and within 1 year they ate most the fish in the pond. He couldn't believe it! I couldn't believe it! I read some where that they don't spawn in ponds. These did because we started catching smaller ones. There were some really decent size fish in that pond that became prey. Incredible! It took a while, but we finally got all of them of out of the pond? Anything that moves, or swims through the water is on a Flatheads menu. They are eating machines.
There needs to be more public awareness, and education about them and their impacts to other fisheries. I think Maryland has begun a good campaign to educate people. Hopefully that will continue? Lord willing other states will watch and learn something from their efforts?
This is a quote from a biologist in one of the articles I read.
Biologists speculate that anglers who wanted to increase fishing opportunities for a large and hard-fighting fish in their areas, to slip them in local waters. He said that while it might seem like a good idea to replace a population of small bullheads the result will be less fishing opportunities.
“As a general rule, only 10 percent of the weight of a prey item is converted into body weight of the predator that eats it,” continued Hodges. “If a stretch of river now contains a single Flathead catfish weighing 50 pounds and ate bullheads exclusively, up to 500 pounds of bullheads could have been eaten by that Flathead to grow that big.”
“Taking that scenario one step further, if you assume an average bullhead weighs about half a pound it means that for each 500 pounds of bullheads that are eaten, anglers fishing the Yadkin River are losing opportunities to catch 1,000 half-pound bullheads and replacing them with a chance to catch one trophy-sized Flathead catfish.”
Maybe it's just me? But I would rather have a lot nonstop action for smaller scrappy fish like Redbreast, Bluegills, and Bullheads. Instead of fishing all day for one, or maybe a few big fish. Just saying.....
Here is a great example of just that ... a probable illegal release of a fish that was caught in and native to the adjacent st Josephs river and released into a nearby lake
Michigan man nets 52-pound catfish, a new state record
http://archive.freep.com/article/20140117/NEWS06/301170105/giant-ca...
nice video of the catch also in the article
But in reality, it a combination of both. Some waters were stocked with flatheads by private parties, while some are stocked by the governmental agencies, to support the remedial ecosystem, supporting wildlife. Uncontained and uncontrolled, you got issues.
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