A deformed Catfish?

[Scott K]

I dont normally post pics of my catches, but I thought this one was interesting. It has a little bit of an underbite! Besides being deformed it seamed very healthy. What do you suppose caused this? Birth defect?

[harvey lee]

I would guess a defect. Looks to be a good scooper for bullheads and such.

[katchaser]

This looks odd and I have caught a few flathead with the same characteristics. I wondered if this was from an accident or possibly fighting during prespawn.

I considered a smaller male getting into a dominant males territory and getting smashed to the bottom and then recovering from wounds. These fish had no apparent scars that would result from such a trauma.

I took one of the pictures to the biologist at the hatchery and it was his thought that it was probably a birth defect.

[hanson]

Those are a couple of cool photos and goofy looking cats too!

I would guess its an injury that cat received early in its life and recovered and learned to live with it.

[Scott K]

What I thought was odd , is that where I caught it, it is a popular fishing spot, I know a lot of people who fish this spot, and no one has mentioned catching anything like this in the area. the fish was a little smaller then 40lbs, and if someone catches one aroung that size, word gets out a bit. Especially if its deformed such as this one is. How far do fish travel away from their normal areas?

[hanson]

Quote:

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How far do fish travel away from their normal areas?

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Thats a good question.

A number of studies and articles that I've read suggest flatheads have a "home" area in which they live, and leave nightly for their feeding runs. This would be their normal summer activity. Makes sense when the same fish can be continuously caught from the same area and I know of more than a couple cases this summer already.

However in the spring & fall, it seams like they make major migrations to their wintering areas. This would be the time of year I'd expect to run into more fish roaming and moving.

The other theory is this guy might have been there the entire time but was just too smart to get a hook in his lip.

It'll be cool to see if this guy is caught again (and where) since he is pretty unique.

[Scott K]

Well it does have the chance to be caught by another, it was caught, weighed, pictured, and released. I hope to hear of another one to catch it. Its fish like this that doesnt need a tag!

In certain areas I have caught the same size fish over and over, assuming it was the same fish. There was a fish just under 60 caught about 6 times in one month by people I knew all within 500yds. And everyone described the abnormally yellow color of the fish, so I figured same fish. The river changed in the spring and I havent heard of it being caught since. This was about 5 years ago.

[katchaser]

Mike and I usually look at flathead closely

for identifying scars. We hope to remember

a flathead to help us guage their growth

rate if we happen to catch it again.

Limblining, jugs, and trotlines are still

legal means of catfishing in Ohio. Not

surprisingly, we catch a great number of

flathead that have broken jawbones that

have healed. This indicates to us that

they have ripped themselves free of hooks

and survived.

Here is a pic of a flathead I caught last

year while fishing alone.

I took the pic to show other flathead fisherman the deformed tail. This

way they could identify it and hopefully tell me the weight.