# FINALLY - Crushed my old personal best last night!!



## Fishman

I am so happy to finally be making this post. I knew it would be sooner or later. My time spent scouting paid off big for me tonight!

First off, let me explain the situation. When it comes to going out fishing I'm about as thourgh as it gets. I check all my stuff 3 times, to make sure that when I get where I'm going I have everything I need to make it an enjoyable trip.

Well I was suppose to fish with Jack and Bryan tonight, but a friend of mine whom I had made plans with wanted to come down. All was well, Jack was more than happy to accomodate us. Then my friend threw the curve ball - my girlfriend wants to come I didn't want to impede on Jack and Bryan by bringing a crowd so I backed out last minute. Sorry guys!

But I decided it would make a good double date type of thing and take my girlfriend along as well, as she has never gotten to see what its like to pull an all nighter fishing for cats. We're on locataion at about 7PM. Lots of live hybrid gills with us. I tried netting some shad as soon as I got there but I couldn't find them for the life of me. After being there for about an hour my friends clicker goes off. Reels in a 5lb flathead on live a live hybrid gill. This is good, I've been told by a member of the boards flatheads don't exsist in this body of water. Okay, so it's offical there are flatheads there. Okay now time to take some photos with my digital camera. Slide open the lense cover - nothing happens... My girlfriend then proceeds to tell me that she FORGOT to put the battery back in it!!!!! Wow, was I upset, not really mad, but just upset. This is because my friend is a writer and a photographer and has his 10 zillion dollar camera with him. No worries, if we catch a big fish I'll just have to wait for him to scan the slides then I can post the pictures. He snaps a few photos with no problems and we let the fish go.

About another hour passes, his girlfriend hooks up with a better fish on cut bait. This time a 10lb flathead. Interesting enough this fish was either getting ready to spawn or was coming off of spawn. It had the tell tale sores right above its dorsal where it had been rubbing. This fish was pretty skinny too. We snap a few photos with his camera with no problems and let it go.

A few more hours pass, I get I nice steady run on a live hybrid gill. I'll let him run a bit, lock it down, and set the hook with all the might I can muster. I stopped using circle hooks on live baits, I just don't have any faith in them in that department. Anways, when I set the hook it's like hooking into a tree, only I can sense movement. For once, I'm not burried in a tree! On top of this, from the hours past I had pretty much came to the conclusion that this area was pretty much devoid of snags. I know this fish it big though, my rods doubled over. This fish is going to beat 21lbs 1 oz no problem, now I just have to land it. Call me crazy, but I was litterally shaking. Not feeling rushed, I played the fish like they should be played and didn't just horse him in. Not that it was an option, he took me on several nice runs, but most of the time he just stayed where he wanted too. I got him close to the bank, and I started walking out in the water with my net (the water at the bank is an inch deep so theres no way you can stay dry here to land a big fish), I hand my friend the rod and tell him I'll gladly net my own fish this way if something goes wrong its my fault. As soon as I step into the water he surges off again. More fighting ensues. Again I get him close to the bank, back into the water I go and back off he goes. Once again I get him to the back, and at exactly 1AM this morning, I have officially caught my new personal best flathead :
42 lbs 9 oz

I bring the net ashore, open his mouth, touch the hook and it falls out. He wasn't hooked good, very easily could of been a loss. My friend gets out his camera to begin shooting. Mysteriously it doesn't work. He manages to get one shot off, then it stops working again. I wanted to cry (LOL), I wasn't going to get photos of this fish. He manages to convince his camera to take another shot. While this is taking place I'm periodically moving the fish back into the water to keep him healthy since it was taking a while for him to "convince" his camera. 

Just as I'm getting ready to let him go, it dawns on me that my cell phone has a camera on it. Apparently this thing does have a use! I appologize for the terrible quality, but it beats nothing 

I am so unbelievably happy to have caught this fish. I was after a 21lb 2oz flathead, anything that would beat my long standing 21lb 1oz fish. I more than doubled it tonight - amazing!










I'm off to bed, havn't slept in over 24 hours


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## Robocat

Congratulations ! That is one nice Flathead !!


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## TimJC

My god. That is a beast. What is Mellon gonna say about this? That is one nice fish. Maybe I should give up carping.


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## bill_gfish

nice fish Fishman. That one is gonna be hard to beat.

bill


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## Tee

WOW! Incredible fish! Congrats on doubling your PB! Awesome!


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## mrfishohio

Great, goes back to my theory about keeping a disposable camera in the glovebox too...one with a built-in flash. Great story...I'm jealous !!
I'm also going to try to improve your picture a little & repost it for you here if it comes out better.


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## mrfishohio

Great fish !!


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## flathunter

Awesome fish Tom, I bet you are one happy catfisherman.


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## mrfishohio

I can usually improve one with a little time, makes me wonder, I have another program that can work some miracles sometimes...


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## catking

FANTASTIC !!!! Man , you just skipped right over the "30" club...  Good for you ... Nice story also...... THE CATKING !!!


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## mrfishohio

Man, I'm good....


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## mrjbigfoot

Wow! Super fish, congratulations on catching a real monster! Were the girlfriends freaking out when they saw how big it was? I'm sure it was a real education for them, as to why you'll go fishing all night long!


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## Mean Morone

Nice fish! Was it a river fish?


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## GMR_Guy

That is a true pig!!!


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## mrfishohio

I'm guessing not a river, since he posted about this "body of water" not holding flatheads. So all the rivers in SW OH hold flatheads. Good question Mean Morone. Someone should call him at home, wake him up and force him to answer all our questions....Jacko ?? (jk...let him rest, we're going after your state record LM when he wakes !! joke man, joking !!)


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## Ol' Whiskers

Great Catch, Tom!

You didn't say if GF like the all-night fishing?


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## Cat Mazter

Nice fish, What a Pig !!! Congrats on beating your personal Best, I did the same thing this year, What a feeling Huh ? I waited 4 years in between a 39lb Cat & my current Best 55 Pounder I caught on the 18th. Congrats to you  :B


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## flatchaser87

that is one nice flathead congrats, but you've already given your spot away in a previous post. i always new that "body of water" had potential to hold flatheads i've just had trouble finding bank access. congratulations on the fish though.


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## Fishman

mrfishohio said:


> Great, goes back to my theory about keeping a disposable camera in the glovebox too


Ya no kidding. I use to do this, untill a little invention called "digital cameras" came around... rofl look what good that did me. I think I'm going to throw one a ziplock and throw it in my tackle bag.. sure beats using a 640x400 digital camera phone! Oh boy!

By the way Jim, thanks for the avatar, thats sure doesn't look like it came from my camera 



mrjbigfoot said:


> Were the girlfriends freaking out when they saw how big it was?


My girlfriend thought it was gross.. lol my friends girlfriend really loves wildlife. She probably would of held it I offered it to her. She was more than happy to hold her own fish, and even gave it baby talk. As far as the lack of sleep goes, lets just say I was the only one who didn't get any sleep last night.



Mean Morone said:


> Nice fish! Was it a river fish?


Nope



flatchaser87 said:


> but you've already given your spot away in a previous post


lol I wouldn't go so far as to say I've given away my spot... unless you can somehow see the back ground in my awsome camera phones quality.. lol  Now if your making reference to when I caught that blue cat last week and you can figure out exactly were I caught that fish you can have it! LOL that place is a absolute bear to walk too. In fact, I have no intentions of ever going back there again  

I forgot to mention in the story that my girlfriend ended up catching a small channel cat right before left this morning, so no one went home with out catching a fish.

Hopefully I'll have some better pictures of it no later than next week, provided my friends film turns out.


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## DavidWS10

Tom, that is a great fish. Congratulations on the new personal best.


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## flatchaser87

i know you didnt give your exact location away, but the body of water you were fishing. what made you decide to fish it for flatheads? i also have another question if you dont mind, how big were the hybrid bluegills you were using? thanks!


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## Rooster

Congratulations on breaking your PB..By a mere 21LB 8OZ! LOL 

That is an awesome fish!


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## Doctor

Man nice fish that thing sure does look bigger than 42 lbs. Keep it up your doing great!!!


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## Fishman

Doctor said:


> Man nice fish that thing sure does look bigger than 42 lbs. Keep it up your doing great!!!



Doc, people keep telling me some of the fish that I post look bigger than the actual size that I am reporting. I honestly wonder if my rapala digital scale is broke and giving me a lesser number?

For big fish do you guys use digital scales or a quality spring scale?

Here's a photo from a few weeks back that my friend jfout caught while I was fishing with him at one of my spots. My scale said it was 15# exactly. I personally think it looks a little bigger(high teens), as always though, the way the photo is taken can make the fish look bigger.


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## crappielooker

nice catch doood... she's huge!..


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## Fishman

flatchaser87 said:


> What made you decide to fish it for flatheads? i also have another question if you dont mind, how big were the hybrid bluegills you were using? thanks!


Someone from the boards told me there wasn't flatheads in the there. Mean while I had a friend who's a bass fisherman telling me it did. I love disproving myths  

The hybrid gills I was using were 6 inches. After seeing the mouth on that big fish, I would of MUCH rather had huge baits. Like small carp or something. Heck the little flathead we caught ate a bait of the same size.


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## bigjohn513

fishman take your scales to work and weight a bucket of water with your scale then the work scale ..i know the scales at the fish hatchery are checked yearly...my pb is 43.5# and your fish looks bigger


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## firecat

Great fish Tom. Just goes to show you what a little work or sometimes a lot of work will do to get you that big pig.

Larry


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## mrfishohio

I know why...


> sure does look bigger


 because of the catter's trick. Hold the fish out on extended arms  Same thing I do....
I think it looks just like what you said, a 43# flathead. 
We caught a 42# last year in the Ohio River. Here's a picture of me holding it, I was the net man  You can see how far my arms were extended...  









If you do it right, it's not obvious in the picture.


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## mrfishohio

Here's how I made it before I did the background and resized it for the avatar. Due to the lighting, your head appears smaller than maybe it would've in a good exposure.
Anyway, it's definitely a wonderful fish, bigger than any flat I've ever caught (or maybe I should say _landed_). I know you recently had some get away, it happens...
Anyway, that's what makes it so sweet when you do land one. 

It does look bigger, you have the exact correct angle for the picture. That's the perfect pose to hold a flathead. I have pictures from a trip where my buddy went to fish with Katfish & the same fish looks different depending upon the pose. if you can hold it so the width of the head & back are exposed with the belly...whalla !!


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## mrfishohio

Maybe it's about 80 #


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## Fishman

bigjohn513 said:


> fishman take your scales to work and weight a bucket of water with your scale then the work scale ..i know the scales at the fish hatchery are checked yearly...my pb is 43.5# and your fish looks bigger


Great thought John, all the scales there are certified, infact the Salter 50# scale that I have is certified also (its for work, lol I'm not carrying that into the woods) Either way I'll check on that, and then let you guys know the results.

I think your probably right Jim, but my arms are against my stomach, I probably arc my back though and don't even realize it. None the less, I'm still gonna take my scale to work, weight a bucket of water then put the bucket of water on my scale.

I do have 2 other picture on my camera, I'll upload them and see what they look like on a computer.


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## Fishman

mrfishohio said:


> Maybe it's about 80 #




bwahaha, really I don't care what it weighed even if my scale is off a pound or two. It's a big fish, and thats what I wanted


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## mrfishohio

The fish in my avatar was 62#...but I was leaning backwards & about to pass out from exhaustion  You can see how I cradled it, my arms were shot !  I had it pressed into my chest.
Maybe you have big hands and forearms. It's a huge fish and a 42# + flathead is a fish of a lifetime...congrats all over again, I'm still jealous, but I'll get over it. Wonderful to show you did your homework and it paid off. Took attention to details, hooks, knots, line, played it right. Live bait, didn't listen to the naysayser who said they weren't there, followed your own intuition. Everything but the checking the camera. How about your tape measure?? Keep a cloth one with your tackle  Length and girth are always nice too.
Anyway, you showed the right way to do it. A great specimen of a wild flathead. :B !!


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## truck

Congrats on your pb  I new it was only a matter of time for ya


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## sliprig

Jim, looks like "The French Navy" in the backround. Doctor'n pictures again  

Slip


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## CountryKat

Very nice. 


EWish me luck because I'm heading out tonight to best my channel cat record, 8.4lbs.


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## mrfishohio

> "The French Navy"


 I didn't want to give up your honey hole on the river


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## Doctor

It really doesn't matter if the scales are off that is a massive Flathead, I'd like to have 8 of them that size this coming weekend, again nice fish Tom


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## Tornichio

nice fish, I just noticed the thread. congratulations on a fish of a lifetime.


Marc


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## Fishman

Alright guys, here what I found from the results of a Rapala 50 #Digital Scale VS. a Certified scale of unknown capacity (we use it to weigh baitfish, so it goes into the into the several hundreds at least):

One flaw with this test is that I didn't put the Rapala scale in a stationary position. I felt this created a "real world" senario, since on a a bank or a boat, you are moving, and thus somewhat effecting the weight of the fish on the scale. The certified scale is flush with the floor, so that large carts of water/fish can be rolled onto it.

If someone would like to me, I have means of hanging the Rapala scale on a stationary object to see if they ever stop moving up and down weight wise. I suspect they wouldn't thought.

10lbs of water on a certified scale.
Ranged from 9 and a half to the low 10s on the Rapala Scale.

20lbs on a certified scale:
19.5 to mid 20's on Rapala Scale

30lbs on certified scale
Just under 29lbs to 30.5 lbs on Rapala Scale

42lbs 9oz on a certified scale
low end of 41lbs to mid 43 lbs

So as the weight gets heavier, either the scale gets worse, or the person holding it ability gets worse to steady it. How I report weights on fish I catch is aim at the middle of what the scale is reporting. So if I saw 10lb 1oz/11lb 3oz/10lb 7oz - I would report the 10lb 7oz weight. For bragging purposes a few ounces, or even a pound doesn't matter much, but I was really doing this for personal reasons because I'de like to know the most accurate weight, it was really a good idea brought up by John. Thanks 

When the flathead was weighted, I saw 41 something all the way up to 43lbs 15oz (lol of course i remember that to the "T". You could say it looked like this 41lbs 12oz/43lbs 15oz/42lbs 9oz.

I think for the safest bet, with a (could be a unit to unit thing though) Rapala scale that the highend minus 4-5 ounces is the way to get the most accurate reading.


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## H2O Mellon

Great fish


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## Fishman

Haha, that's all Mellon had to say! He must be all riled up after this weeks fishing fiasco for him 

Don't worry bud, you'll smoke me sooner or later


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## firecat

Sliprig I didn't even notice it but I think you are right that definitely looks like the french navy incident. I know that fish that jim was holding was not caught that day.


Larry


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## mrfishohio

So for the record...we'll just start a poll & vote for the weight !!
Nah....

I'm gonna call it "your 43# flathead".....
How soon before you get the other pictures back? Did you happen to get a tale of the tape? Length & girth? Man, it's going to be tough to beat that fish. Not to worry though, that's why it's called a "fish of a lifetime" :B


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## rustyfish

That is a great fish tom. I was stoked to hear about it so i cant even know how you feel. It is better than my 25 pounder (the wild one). But i have to think that it is larger than 42. I think it looks a lot larger than 40, but i guess it is not a big deal. At least if people are not going to agree with your scale, it is cool that they think it is larger.


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## Fishman

mrfishohio said:


> How soon before you get the other pictures back? Did you happen to get a tale of the tape? Length & girth? Man, it's going to be tough to beat that fish. Not to worry though, that's why it's called a "fish of a lifetime" :B



Nope I called my friend today and he hasn't gotten the film developed yet. It's on slide film which is what he is required to use most of the time to submit with his magazine articles. So once he gets the slides back, he'll have to scan them... by whatever means it takes to scan a slide  And with the way the camera was acting, who knows if the photos even really took 

I didn't get a tape measurement on it unfourtantly. I do carry one with me though that rolls into a small disc That counts for something right???!!!

Haha, in the future I'll definally get "the tale of the tape."

Fish of a life time? Nah, I can't stop here, I'm hunting on 1 ounce bigger now - what ever one ounce over may be. 42lb 10oz or 43 1 oz???  

I'll probably go out this Saturday night.


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## mrfishohio

Tell picture man to hurry...it's been 2 weeks.


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## Fishman

Calling him right now man!


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## Fishman

No answer! Left a message


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## Hook N Book

Now that, is one hideous looking beast.  
Congrats and Good job...!


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## TIGHTLINER

Tom, I don't know how I missed this one, but I've been off of the forums for awhile. Its good to see that your catfishing success is continuing on this season. Way to go on the 40 lber, I am totaly jealous.......TightLines!


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## H2O Mellon

I've been wondering where you were at.


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## Fishman

Thanks Tightliner.

Okay, I finally got a photo back from my friend. He said it looked terrible so I was assuming the worse seeing as how his camera was acting up that night, but here you have it.. much better than what came off my cell phone! I'm glad he at least got one shot of it, the other picture he took didn't take, so he only managed to get this one.


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