# East fork or Indian and a former member on here?



## JSeeger (Jun 13, 2018)

Browsing through some old threads here and seen a guy that went by CatKing? I believe..

Talking about seeing multiple flatheads over 50# and on this particular thread wrote about two over 70# caught at East Fork lake..

I've talked to an ODNR officer that told me the potential to catch them that large is possible there but hasn't heard of anyone actually landing a 70, and a 74# fish that he recalls over the last few years.

Does anyone know if there is legitimacy to these claims?

**I do know for a fact of quite a few 40+ caught from there**

While on the same topic I've recently seen pictures of some absolute giant flatheads on a Facebook flathead page, that a guy is saying he caught at Indian lake.

Both lakes are approximately the same distance to take the boat to and get on them after the spawn, just wondering who else has heard of flats this size from either body of water.

Again, Indian I've seen several between 10-25 and know the tournament winner last year was a few oz shy of 40, but a fish over 60 (that I did see a pic of) would be news to me.

If anyone is more comfortable with a PM sent rather than post it publicly, I'm okay with that too.

The spawn makes things slow for me and I always like getting some new ideas especially considering the lack of fish over 30 I've been pretty well stuck with here in the SW portion of the state.

Thanks!


----------



## JSeeger (Jun 13, 2018)

https://www.ohiogamefishing.com/threads/east-fork-flatheads-two-giants.126446/#post-868078

the above link is the thread mentioning a 70# and 74# flathead caught at East Fork. Does anyone know anything about these fish?? or... of any other flatheads pushing this size caught from this lake, and because i had mentioned it earlier- Indian Lake?

I CPR all flatheads over 15#, and usually most of the smaller ones because I'm loaded up on channel cats for the frying pan, but again.. if anyone prefer a private message rather than a public forum as confirmation; I am good with that as well! 

I wouldn't mind hitting either lake up from time to time during the season so it's always intriguing to hear about fish like these in SW Ohio.


----------



## Bohanan66 (Apr 19, 2012)

I caught a 33 inch flattie at Indian Lake two weeks ago while trolling for saugeyes


----------



## JSeeger (Jun 13, 2018)

Bohanan66 said:


> I caught a 33 inch flattie at Indian Lake two weeks ago while trolling for saugeyes


Ive seen proof of plenty of pictures of fish over 25. But 50+ is news to me


----------



## MIGHTY (Sep 21, 2013)

I know they stocked Indian with flatheads inside of the last decade. Maybe 5-7 years ago? Someone more familiar with Indian would probably know better than me. I don’t know what size they were at the time of the stocking either.


----------



## Legend killer (Apr 20, 2011)

I'm calling bs on those claims


----------



## JSeeger (Jun 13, 2018)

Again, I'm not saying the guy is a bullshitter, but I've never seen one that big from there, or heard of.. would be cool if so. Some of the pictures he posted looked like fish that may go over 60 for sure. I will attach one. 

As far as East Fork, I never put much effort into fishing it, although about 5 years ago i was living less than 10 miles away. 

This lake, I actually have seen a few different fish over 45# from, but 70s.. jeeesh.

I dod


----------



## Southernsaug (May 23, 2019)

The state record is 76+ caught at Clendening in 1979....to catch multiple fish pushing that would be exceptional. 40-50 maybe 60 is believable, but I agree more than one over 70 I have to wonder


----------



## JSeeger (Jun 13, 2018)

Southernsaug said:


> The state record is 76+ caught at Clendening in 1979....to catch multiple fish pushing that would be exceptional. 40-50 maybe 60 is believable, but I agree more than one over 70 I have to wonder


Yep, that's why after seeing that old post I figured itd be worth doing some recon on, as well as trying to dig into the Indian lake thing.


----------



## Stampede (Apr 11, 2004)

I remember Catking. I think he passed some years back. Been a long time, believe he also came over from gfo. Don't believe he was full of BS. Seen too many pic of him holding giant cats but can't remember all where he use to post. One pic at eastfork I recognize as being from beach area. Told me couple good areas at east fork to try. Best I ever got there was 9.5lb but can't say I really gave it a full out effort. About the time I started getting into trying, we got a camp and switched to the river. I also think he was from more east side of the state maybe.


----------



## sliprig (Apr 6, 2004)

Catking lived in the Williamsburg area, east of Cincy. He had caught some dandies in his day. IMO the king of flathead fishing in Ohio lakes was Robby Robertson. He had a very different way of targeting big flatheads. I picked his brains a few times, out of the box thinking. He left us way to early.
Sliprig


----------



## Southernsaug (May 23, 2019)

All the talk of the past is great, but the good news is we are going right into the heart of some of the best flathead fishing of the year. The spawn is ending, the moon will be going dark and the temps are up. The next two weeks the lake boat will be getting a rest and the john boat will be on the creek. I plan on setting trot lines Sunday or Monday. I only keep 2-3 flatheads a summer, but have fun catching them. If I can get a couple 20 - 30 pounders to butcher I'll be happy and fill up the freezer for me and my buddy. If I'm lucky maybe a 30+ to 40 pounder. Last year I caught a lot of flatheads, but nothing over 20. I think I ended up catching 19 between 5 and 20 pounds. I kept two to eat, a 19 and a 16 pounder. We don't seem to see as many of the 40+ anymore like I did growing up, but there seems to be more of the 15-30s. I think they just don't have the water to support the bigger ones. So many of our streams have really silted in. I used to fish only 15-25 feet of water, but now if I can find 10-15 I'm fishing it if it has cover. I never fished the lakes for them much, but we get a few Saugeye trolling in Rocky fork. The biggest was 44lbs. My personal best is 42 (Paint Creek) and a lot of 25 to 30s. I saw a 59 in rocky once, in a DNR net. I know there has been a lot of talk about some of the fish weights discussed and posted. In my experience flatheads are the most inaccurately weighed or guessed fish. My old time partner (dead now) and a few of us put up a bounty once for a 50 pounder out of Paint Creek. If you made the claim and we weighed it on a certified scale and it fell short you paid a fine into the jar. If you had a legit 50 pounder you took all the money and we rebooted. No one ever got the bounty in 15 years. We finally donated it to charity when my partner became unable to fish. Oddly just a few years later someone did catch one over 50, but the bounty was gone. It takes a lot of fish to make a 50 pounder.


----------



## JSeeger (Jun 13, 2018)

Southernsaug said:


> All the talk of the past is great, but the good news is we are going right into the heart of some of the best flathead fishing of the year. The spawn is ending, the moon will be going dark and the temps are up. The next two weeks the lake boat will be getting a rest and the john boat will be on the creek. I plan on setting trot lines Sunday or Monday. I only keep 2-3 flatheads a summer, but have fun catching them. If I can get a couple 20 - 30 pounders to butcher I'll be happy and fill up the freezer for me and my buddy. If I'm lucky maybe a 30+ to 40 pounder. Last year I caught a lot of flatheads, but nothing over 20. I think I ended up catching 19 between 5 and 20 pounds. I kept two to eat, a 19 and a 16 pounder. We don't seem to see as many of the 40+ anymore like I did growing up, but there seems to be more of the 15-30s. I think they just don't have the water to support the bigger ones. So many of our streams have really silted in. I used to fish only 15-25 feet of water, but now if I can find 10-15 I'm fishing it if it has cover. I never fished the lakes for them much, but we get a few Saugeye trolling in Rocky fork. The biggest was 44lbs. My personal best is 42 (Paint Creek) and a lot of 25 to 30s. I saw a 59 in rocky once, in a DNR net. I know there has been a lot of talk about some of the fish weights discussed and posted. In my experience flatheads are the most inaccurately weighed or guessed fish. My old time partner (dead now) and a few of us put up a bounty once for a 50 pounder out of Paint Creek. If you made the claim and we weighed it on a certified scale and it fell short you paid a fine into the jar. If you had a legit 50 pounder you took all the money and we rebooted. No one ever got the bounty in 15 years. We finally donated it to charity when my partner became unable to fish. Oddly just a few years later someone did catch one over 50, but the bounty was gone. It takes a lot of fish to make a 50 pounder.


Prolly the most accurate post that I have seen discussing fish that size and the rarity of them..

A flathead over 35 looks like an absolute monster to behold


----------



## TomC (Aug 14, 2007)

Indian has plenty of fish up to the 40lb zone. Ive never seen any over 40 yet but there is plenty in the 20 to 30 zone. From what I understand the states stocking wasn't intentional from what I was told. The state stocking truck broke down and to keep from loosing what fish they had, they put them in the lake. There are a few paylake transplants as well. Its been longer than 5 years, its been close to 10 or so years now that they have been in there. I noticed the change when the bullhead population took a nose dive and shortly after that, little 12 to 15 inch flats started being caught. Largest ive caught has been 20lbs so far.


----------

