Biggun from Wisconsin

[aanderud]

How many meals you get out of this guy...not that I condone keeping a flathead like this, but these guys did, and I think they said in one article they're gonna eat him:

Don Straka and Gene Bedward hit the water in search of some big, flatheads. They found a good action and hooked a big one at the end of the morning. The monster fish was a whopping 72-pound, 8-ounce flathead catfish.

Their attempts to weigh the fish were unsuccessful, so they took it to Valley Fish and Cheese in Prairie du Chien. It registered 72 pounds, 8 ounces. The Wisconsin record is 74 pounds, 5 ounces, for a Mississippi River fish caught in 2001.

[Scott K]

Sad day, that that fish was more then likely a year away from a state record, now it is in someones freezer, to be deep fried

[SandPoint]

to each his own

[Gordie]

Sad day, that that fish was more then likely a year away from a state record, now it is in someones freezer, to be deep fried

Or one meal away from it.

[Rick G]

It was just one small snack away from being the new state record, now reduced to catfish steak's.

Anybody wana take a guess at how old it might have been?

[Scott K]

I would guess 30+ years. Fish dont grow as fast up here in the northern area. Since they lay dormant, and dont eat for 5 months of the year.

[Abndoc]

maybe they knew it was close to a state record and only kept it to get it weighed after their scale wouldn't work. what a fish though!!

[itchmesir]

Yeah what a sad day.. when people fish and eat the fish they catch too..

[nsnutter]

Yeah what a sad day.. when people fish and eat the fish they catch too..

I'll keep that in mind the next time I'm chowing down on a 19 lb walleye.

[DTro]

Big difference between being a catch and release Nazi and preaching selective harvest. Nothing wrong with eating the fish you catch, in fact I’ve heard Flathead meat is delicious.

But it’s just another example of the level of disrespect towards the fish we love to chase. Seems like every news story on Catfish always includes a image a Larry the Cable Guy lookalike posing with the dead fish in the back of his truck or how Bubba J caught a big ol fish on his unattended bank pole and he’ll probably just cut the head off and put it up on the wall.

In fact if you read the whole story about this particular fish, you find out that this guy has been having a “great year” with his bank poles and has put several fish over 40lbs in the freezer already this year. That’s just one guy.

From what I hear, the rivers in WI are littered with bank poles and also with small to med size fish. Gee I wonder why? Maybe it’s time for WI to take another look at its laws because when you see how liberal they are when it comes to cats, it’s mind boggling to think how much fish 1 guy could legally take out of a system.

Remember the days of seeing a big pile of dead trophy smallmouth bass with grinning anglers on the front of magazines? That was over 20 years ago and I think we are still at that point with catfish.

[Abndoc]

I'll keep that in mind the next time I'm chowing down on a 19 lb walleye.

Come on 19 lbs walleye, that thing goes in your livewell and you fly to the first certified scale. Don't get me wrong, i release every large fish I catch, i haven't kept a walleye over 18 inches in probably 15 years, but we can't control everyone and can't cutdown everyone who keeps a large fish...the brown is down theory still lives. My grandpa thinks I'm the worst net man in history, he still complains about the 10 lb northern he lost 5 years ago due to my net skills..was going to eat it.

[pikestabber]

Catch and release isn't the law in most situations, nor should it be unless it's necessary to preserve a particular species. There are already laws in place to protect various fish from over-harvest, and with more and more people practicing CPR, the world can stand to have a fish or two harvested without losing sleep at night...even a large one. Maybe in these modern times we don't have to keep everything we catch because we no longer rely on fish as our primary food source as we did years ago, but I do keep the fish I catch (within the confines of the law) more often than I release them, and I feel no remorse for doing so. It's an important part of my diet and my heritage.

If you CPR, good for you. If you keep fish, good for you, too. No matter what end of the spectrum you exist on, when we all follow the laws and rules and harvest only within limits already established, our first order of business should be to say "congratulations on the nice catch" and leave it at that, IMO.

In any case, I did hi-jack this thread, but I plan to land it safely at its intended destination: "Congratulations to those guys on a fine catch!"

[nsnutter]

Give me a break. I don't have any problem whatsoever with keeping fish to eat - I keep several smaller channels a year to eat - if I gave a whoop about walleye fishing I'd probably keep some walleye too. Keeping a 72# flathead to eat is absurd though - and it happens quite frequently. I have been seeing more and more images of Cletus and Cletus Jr. posing with a dock full of trophy (50#+) flatheads waiting to be eaten. Then people wonder why were not catching the bigguns anymore? Don't need much of an edumucashun to figure that one out! It's really quite simple, keep the small ones, and let the big breeders go so they can do what nature intended them to do - make babies and swallow state record walleyes for a midnight snack

[Gordie]

I will always tell someone my opinion when it comes to realeasing big fish but I will not bad mouth them for keeping a big fish. Its a totally legal option for them to do so.

I spear in the winter time and on occation stab a big pike for a meal nothing wrong with it in my book I do not keep pike at any other time of the year other than winter so I dont feel I am depleating the resource all thou some will say different.

Yea its sad to see a big fish go under the knife but if they truly thought they had a state record that fish will die none the less.

doesnt matter if your trying to break the state record for muskies , sunfish ,or any other speices that fish has to die.

Now this fish was transported from place to place to get weighed I'm sure and when they made it to a certified scale it probably expired by then.

At least they didnt just throw the fish in the ditch and let it go to waste.

might as well feed the family a few times.

[mrklean]

I will always tell someone my opinion when it comes to realeasing big fish but I will not bad mouth them for keeping a big fish. Its a totally legal option for them to do so.

I spear in the winter time and on occation stab a big pike for a meal nothing wrong with it in my book I do not keep pike at any other time of the year other than winter so I dont feel I am depleating the resource all thou some will say different.

Yea its sad to see a big fish go under the knife but if they truly thought they had a state record that fish will die none the less.

doesnt matter if your trying to break the state record for muskies , sunfish ,or any other speices that fish has to die.

Now this fish was transported from place to place to get weighed I'm sure and when they made it to a certified scale it probably expired by then.

At least they didnt just throw the fish in the ditch and let it go to waste.

might as well feed the family a few times.

well said Gordie

[kfk]

Congratulations guys, nice fish! If you guys chose to eat it, it's your right and nobody has any reason to bad mouth you because they think differently. I release most of the fish I catch but I keep my share to eat as well and you know what? It's my right also.

If some of you guys want to make fishing all catch and release or put stricter limits on slot sizes, etc., publicly bad mouthing some guys that are probably fine gentlemen is not the way to do it. Some of you should be ashamed.

Again, nice fish guys.

[reinhard1]

i'm alway's preaching releasing the large fish of any species. i'm also for keeping any legal fish if that's what a licened angler chooses. we all buy a licence and we all have rights under the regs of that licence.

good luck.

[Hory]

I release all large fish as many other posters here do...but that person has every right to keep the fish.

I'm no scientist, but that thing has to be loaded with heavy metals and other pollutants. Catfish is not my specialty, but I assume that fish is probably older than I am. I have heard plenty of stories about what the MN and Miss. Rivers looked like decades ago. Good luck eating that thing!

[motownmasher]

to each his own, but this is a very sad story for me. i've never eaten one, and won't ever keep one. no matter how many times i hear its good.

[DTro]

I'm going to have to agree to disagree. I understand the legalities, but there are times when laws can be taken complete advantage of. The excuse "well it's legal" doesn't always cut it.

I hear that these guys tossed another 50lber in the freezer a few days ago. But it's their right so its okay huh?

If there aren't guys doing a little bit of harping from time to time and trying to protect the a fishery, NOTHING ever changes. You might end up looking like a jakwad sometimes for calling people out, but if you try to do it respectfully maybe it will at least plant a seed and give people something to think about.

I suppose since everything in this picture is legal that makes it ok too?

[c0untryf1sh3r]

I'm not going to dog the guys for keeping it, thats quite a fish. If I were in the same boat, catching a what I thought would be a state record fish, I would do the same thing as would many of us I imagine, get to a certified scale ASAP. And once you make the decision on keeping it to get it certifiably weighed there's no going back, either way the fish is going to die. Might as well get some use out of it as opposed to throwing it in the compost heap.

But something doesnt seem right with DTro's pic, even if it is legal. Who the heck would want to keep 25 or so 20+lb cats? Cant imagine them tasting very good unless you season the carp outta them.

[pikestabber]

While I don't comment on here a lot, I read on here a lot, so I'll preface this by saying that I generally agree with you, DTro, on most issues, and I am not picking a fight by any means, just stating my opinion. When I said "the world can stand to have a fish or two harvested without losing sleep at night...even a large one" I never implied that noodling a pile of big flatheads was the way to go (even though they have been doing that for decades in the south and yet still have enough of a population to make 15 hand-fishing shows about it). I just think comparing the two situations is unfair, at best... We are talking about one or two fish taken here versus a couple dozen taken there, and that is in just one instance. In the interest of our situation up north, I could argue that is why MN & WI have stricter laws/limits than AR, AL, or LA, or wherever that pic is from. We understand that people are going to harvest fish, and we make laws to sustain the population even if they do...and there's nothing wrong with that, IMO. Is the catfishing world going to collapse because 1 in 100 guys keeps a couple flattys? I hardly think so. Now, I think it's great that so many cat-fisherman do CPR...it helps keep things in balance for the guys that occasionally keep a fish, as per their right.

[DTro]

I totally respect everyone's opinion but I don't however agree with celebrating multiple 50 pound fish caught on an unattended line or ditty pole and then stuffed into a freezer. I feel bad for those in WI that have to deal with a river full of set lines everywhere.

The first 50 pounder wasn't enough? Now we have to gaff a 70lber for a photo op in front of a bait store sign.

Look I'm no better than anyone else, I just think there is some middle ground between being a complete meat hunter and a guy that won't keep anything at all. We need to protect the right to eat the fish we catch while also protecting the fish that are there and hopefully maintain the quality at the same time. The MNDNR has done a good job with that I applaud them.

As in everything in life moderation is key.

[rough_rider]

I too am having some problems over this issue. My brother is a big bass guy, fancy equipment, all artificial lures, 100% CPR for bass, 99% CPR overall, gives me dump for harvesting.

I, on the other hand, am 99% harvest so long as 1.) it's within regulation and 2.) not large specimens. Do I bring a ton of fish home? Hell no. Do I always bring fish home? Very often, yes, like 1 or 2, a handful if I'm having a good day (which is almost never).

The twist is that I have a degree in Fish and Wildlife, hold a career as an Environmentalist, worked many years as DNR fishing naturalist teaching kids, and actively support a nonprofit fishing conservation group. I guess my point is there is absolutely nothing wrong with harvesting and we should not judge those who harvest but as DTro pointed out, there are indeed some terrible cases of legal but unethical harvesting.

[itchmesir]

Big difference between being a catch and release Nazi and preaching selective harvest. Nothing wrong with eating the fish you catch, in fact I’ve heard Flathead meat is delicious.

But it’s just another example of the level of disrespect towards the fish we love to chase. Seems like every news story on Catfish always includes a image a Larry the Cable Guy lookalike posing with the dead fish in the back of his truck or how Bubba J caught a big ol fish on his unattended bank pole and he’ll probably just cut the head off and put it up on the wall.

In fact if you read the whole story about this particular fish, you find out that this guy has been having a “great year” with his bank poles and has put several fish over 40lbs in the freezer already this year. That’s just one guy.

From what I hear, the rivers in WI are littered with bank poles and also with small to med size fish. Gee I wonder why? Maybe it’s time for WI to take another look at its laws because when you see how liberal they are when it comes to cats, it’s mind boggling to think how much fish 1 guy could legally take out of a system.

Remember the days of seeing a big pile of dead trophy smallmouth bass with grinning anglers on the front of magazines? That was over 20 years ago and I think we are still at that point with catfish.

Not to offend.. But I'm pretty sure your average catfisherman didn't just get his latest LL Bean pleated jeans and polo T to go fishing in the dark for big ol cats