Ohio's flathead record, why has it not been broken?

yes....i had that fish this past summer on the muskingum river that i thought might of been the record this thing was to big for my net that was 60 pound cappable and swam right throw it pissed me off but there is always anouther day.....i ended the year in augest with a 44 incher i didnt have a scale but im rounding off at about 47 pounds

 

I think you nailed the answer in your post. There is a lot more people fishing for the big flats now and they take a good deal of time to grow in our smaller river systems.

 

Jack,
My perdiction is that someone is going to break the Flathead record this year. They are just few and far between. I think by the time a flathead reaches that size it has also learned quite a bit about fishermen also. I have not heard any reports of large flats being found dead floating in a lake, so let's go catch them this year.

Jeff

 

It could also be that with all the information out there that if someone has caught it they did a Catch Photo Release. Just reading about how much crap you have to go thur to get one certified if I ever did come close to catching a record I dont know if I would try to certify it due to the stress on the fish.

 

that is a nice flat head:wink:

 

thank you for helping me neocats

 

that is a nice shirt i hope you kill michigan this year:smile2:

 

big flat head:wink:

 

yes jack we have had bigger than normall fish on. we have been broke off 4-5 times in the last 4 years. we use 40# big game.

 

in the last couple of years fish in the mid-60lb class have been caught in the mcwd lakes.the record is gonna fall soon.

 

They are out there. Just not as many as we would like. I guess that is what makes it exciting to hunt for them. Every time I go, I have the expectation of hooking the next record size flathead. We have some very good catmen on here, and soon we will have one caught. Hell Riverking was only 8 pounds from tying the record with his big flathead lol. Keep at it boys.

 

I'll have my OH license this year so it'll be broken...:crazy::wink::smile2:

 

Why has the record not been broken???? Maybe because I haven't been able to fish Ohio. Maybe I will come up and break it for ya'll.......LOL just kidding. It might very well be broke this year with all the BOC brethren targeting large flatheads. I sure wouldn't want to be a flathead swimming in Ohio waters....everybody gunning for me and all them tempting bluegils swimming around with hooks in them. Make a fish want to switch his diet to....Livers or hotdogs or something.........Goodluck to all you Buckeyes in your quest for the New State record Flathead. We'll be after the Kentucky record this year.:smile2:

 

I'm sure fish large enough to beat the current record have been caught over the years. Bad thing is in the areas that they were probably caught they became dinner before they made it to the scales.

 

I am not familiar with the location of the lake where the record flathead was caught in '76, what part of Ohio are we talking about?

I fish primarily in Caesar's Creek Lake in SW Ohio, and the Flatheads being caught here are getting considerably bigger year by year. And I must say, I liked Gary's point about certifying a record flathead. They take so long to grow to that size, and if you love catfish, you wouldn't want to risk killing the poor old guy, and I do love catfish

I don't know what certifying a record involves, but if anyone would like to fill me in with some info, I'd really appreciate it!

I am itching to get back out there guys, I'm due for a 30 pounder or more this season!

 

the only way i would go through the lengths is if they were able to certify it right there on the water without having to transport the fish even from the spot to the ramp. They more less would have to come to the honey hole lol..it will be broken, its a matter of time. there were a couple hooked last year that i would like to see that got off! my buddy had a hold of one of them...oooh: rollo

 

MAKES GOOD SENSE TO ME.

ELWOOD

 

Angie, here is a link to the application for an Ohio record fish, at the bottom are the rules.

http://www.outdoorwritersofohio.com/attach/StateRecordFishApplication.pdf