# Look what lives in my POND!



## Woodyranger619 (Mar 30, 2010)

Caught this one the other night in my pond! I had no idea it lived in there!


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## Snakecharmer (Apr 9, 2008)

Boy thats a pig. Must be nice to be able to go tto your pod and know there is one monster in there. Any other fish or did that big boy clean it out for ya?


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## sbreech (Jun 6, 2010)

Goodness! Is that the Loch Ness Monster??!!


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## "Big" mark the shark (Jan 21, 2010)

What a hog


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## Woodyranger619 (Mar 30, 2010)

Acutally....there are a lot of bass and gills! Pond is full of fish. I thought there might be a giant bass in there....as last year I had something hit a bluegill as I was relling it in....bent my pole in half and then snapped my line. Guess it was this beast!


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## fredg53 (Sep 17, 2010)

Wow awesome

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## Woodyranger619 (Mar 30, 2010)

Oh....I just wanted to add....that I was actually bass fishing and this monster hit a wake-bait! WOW!!!! Who would of known?


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## flippin fool (Apr 3, 2006)

maybe small kids shouldn't swim there


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## Allent1967 (Apr 3, 2010)

Nice catch Woody.. That is a hog.


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## puterdude (Jan 27, 2006)

I know that fish,,,,that's Pond-Zilla!!!


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## Mushijobah (May 4, 2004)

Nice Woody! Love the surprising catches.


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## lordofthepunks (Feb 24, 2009)

i wonder if you caught that beast before or after work?


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## Lowell H Turner (Feb 22, 2011)

Bet you he had "bass breath'...


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## Snyd (May 5, 2004)

Woodyranger - Congrats on the catch. I am sure your heart was ponding while bringing in that monster.


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## Woodyranger619 (Mar 30, 2010)

Pounding? My buddy and I were screaming like little kids! I'm pretty sure the neighbors thought there was something bad going on...LOL (this is a development pond that really doesn't get fished too often) Was right after work (thus the scrubs---lol). Crazy......I am a pretty avid fisherman...and this happened to be my largest fish to date...and came from a very unexpected place...LOL


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## BASSINaDL (Aug 24, 2010)

hmmmm... their might be more!


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## Woodyranger619 (Mar 30, 2010)

My thoughts are this is a "transplanted" cat......I really didn't think a cat like this would survive in a pond. One would think that he would eat the pond out of all living creatures....lol...but this pond produces day after day for me. How long does it take a cat to grow to this size???


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## Woodyranger619 (Mar 30, 2010)

Oh....and one more question? How much do you all think this beast weighs? I have my own thoughts.....but am curious on what others may think.


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## BASSINaDL (Aug 24, 2010)

ive heard a 40 or 50 pound flathead takes at least 7 or 8 years to grow


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## Woodyranger619 (Mar 30, 2010)

Bringing him in on the wake-bait!


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## killingtime (Apr 29, 2009)

puterdude said:


> I know that fish,,,,that's Pond-Zilla!!!


hey puterdude i bet that crankbait that you had bit in half last year still haunts you dosent it. maybe this was his brother. lol.


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## Mizzy (Apr 23, 2011)

If I caught a giant like that, I would definitely need help getting that giant on shore. Great catch man haha. 

Reminds of the all the episodes I watched of River monsters haha. So did you let it free in the pond later on ?


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## Woodyranger619 (Mar 30, 2010)

That's funny you say that MIZZY....that's the exact response I get when I show everyone the pics (looks like something on River Monsters---lol). I let it go....would be hard for me to kill something like that! Although...I am worried about the pond...seeing the size of this thing....has to be eating a ton of fish daily...just to survive.


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## Photog (Jun 18, 2010)

Awesome catch, Woody! LMAO just think if you had huge shoulders you coulda held it out two feet in front of you and it would look TWICE the size!!!!

That'd be a lil scary...


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## Joey209 (Oct 17, 2007)

BASSINaDL said:


> ive heard a 40 or 50 pound flathead takes at least 7 or 8 years to grow


A 40 - 50 lb flattie is prolly like 25-40 yrs old depending on the environment. Ive read they grow about 1-1 1/2 lbs a year after reaching maturity. Nice fish!


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## Joey209 (Oct 17, 2007)

It looks around 35-40 inches and healthy so I would put it at around 30 -35lbs. Nice catch on bass tackle! I bet that was stressfull


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## fallen513 (Jan 5, 2010)

Woodyranger619 said:


> I had no idea it lived in there!


Ya do now!


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## cattin15 (May 3, 2010)

I wish it only took 7-8 years to grow a 40 pound flatty...most trophy catfish are 20+ years old


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## guppygill (May 8, 2004)

That looks exactly like the catfish in "Grumpier Old Men".


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## JamesT (Jul 22, 2005)

Nice catch.:B it's job is to keep the gill and bass population under control.


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## lordofthepunks (Feb 24, 2009)

JamesT said:


> Nice catch.:B it's job is to keep the gill and bass population under control.


i agree. if anything, it should help witht he quality of fish buy keeping the population down of smaller fish down. not that this should be a size debate but since you asked. i did some measurements based on my own height 
(5'11"). if your height is comparable to mine, it looks like that fish is around 45" in length. i would be surprised if that fish didnt weigh between 40 and 50 lbs.


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## I'll go in after it (Feb 5, 2011)

Having caught a number of these and measured and weighted them I would guess 40 to 45 inches and 35 to 40 pound's . I have seen these in small gravel pit's scuba diving and there is a healthy bass and bluegill thriving along with the shovelhead's . This was year's after it was converted from a paylake to a diving lake . Interestingly enough there were no channel cat's to be found even though they were heavily stocked at one time . When the shovelhead was spotted there were no other fish to be seen but as soon as it moved on lot's of fish were around . Decent size bluegill's and bass to not full of runt's .


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## getitgetit (Apr 21, 2009)

Woodyranger619 said:


> Caught this one the other night in my pond! I had no idea it lived in there!




Nice fish did you let it go back in the pond..\m/


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## Pigsticker (Oct 18, 2006)

Gheez! What a big surprise for u. I'm impressed u were able to land it at night on bass gear. I'd estimate it at 35lb give or take 5lbs. Cat of a lifetime for all but big cat hunters maybe. I gotta get into one like that one day!


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## JimmyMac (Feb 18, 2011)

Someone who fishes your pond or has intentions on fishing your pond, put that cat in there imo. If you don't have them already, maybe get some no trespassing signs, or maybe a big lite to keep it lit at night. 

I'd be angry about it if I were You, I mean, what if You didn't want a big flathead in your pond? What if there are several more in there? I don't think just one flathead is going to thin your population all that much, may even help your pond. Though if someone stuck this fish in there to come fish it out later, odds are they have/will put in more. Fishing for one fish seems silly. 

Maybe spend a night targeting flathead in there, see what You come up with.


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## skycruiser (Aug 7, 2009)

WHOA!!!!!! what a monster! on a crankbait none the less...Congrats!


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## MDBuckeye (Sep 29, 2009)

Sweet catch!
Flatties are awesome fighters IMO.


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## Nikster (Mar 14, 2007)

*WOW!* Thats one heck of a fishey.

Nik


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## NewbreedFishing (Apr 15, 2004)

hey marc that fish outta get you prepaired for those tank sized smallies next week. :B i will hook that flatty on a spinnerbait someday


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