Daniel Ambrose answers:

Flathead catfish ARE NOT pit bulls; they don’t have “lock jaw”.

Are you noodling for them? That’s the only reason why you would need to be putting your hand in a flathead’s mouth…

Daniel Ambrose answers:

I’ve never gotten a blue or flathead catfish, or a muskie for that matter, but I’ve gotten lots of channel cats, one I caught was nine-pounds when I was nine years old. Landed it all by myself. And a ten-pound channel cat is extremely fun on six-pound line. Muskies look fun to catch, I guess ’cause I like tossing big lures for big bass. But I think a fifty-pound blue cat or flathead would outfight a muskie of the same size, pound for pound, they’re a bigger fish. And a lot meatier.

Daniel Ambrose answers:

Yes they’re poisonus

Daniel Ambrose answers:

Having lived in Texas for 15 years and fishing every year for catfish and crappie, I never, ever kept any Flatheads that I caught. They are not even sold or farmed commercially.
Your temp and time were both a little high and long, but only partially contributed to the toughness. Anybody who has fished for catfish any amount of time will tell you to not even bother with flathead as they have earned the nickname “Mud Cat” for good reason.

Commercially, only Blue catfish and Channel catfish are farmed, and for good reason, because they have flaky flesh and are the best tasting, hands down.

Daniel Ambrose answers:

Nope.
Channel cat. But kinda’ skinny. Musta’ had a rough winter.

Daniel Ambrose answers:

Catfishing in general is better at night, so if you can fish anytime from sunset to sun rise but if your not a night person then day time works to. Live bluegill in by far the best bait to use when catfishing especially Flathead. Check out my favorite catfishing website on the bottom of the page.

Daniel Ambrose answers:

When they are spawning find the bed. If there’s dirty socks next to it, it’s a male. Seriously, the only way I know to tell is if the female still has eggs in her.

Daniel Ambrose answers:

Cut blue gill,or just bluegill heads

Daniel Ambrose answers:

Yes, they will pick at it for a few minutes, then the pole tip will be down, quaking a bit, then it will shoot back up, only to go right back down again. It will hold in the down position for 5-10 seconds, it’s actually pretty cool.

Daniel Ambrose answers:

Catfish are tough to tell, and without doing an autopsy, you can’t tell for sure (no matter what the “experts” tell you).

But, in the breding season, you can tell a female who is gravid because she will be very fat, obviously, when full of eggs.

During the rest of the season, females tend to be larger bodied and heavier than the males. Males tend to be more on the slender side…so you are left with a best guess.

Daniel Ambrose answers:

250 gallon minimum the flat head is very territorial

Daniel Ambrose answers:

I can only say for salmon because thats all i mostly fish.
Chinook – at least 50+ (50+ are easy i caught a 73lbs one last year)
Coho – at least 20+ (25 would be AMAZING)
Chum – 15+
Sockeye – 15+
Pink – 10+
Good luck!
~CapilanoPro

Daniel Ambrose answers:

Are there bluegill or pumpkin seed in the lake? If there are, catch one that is not too huge and hook it right behind the dorsal fin in the tail, and throw it out on a slip sinker rig. Use an appropriate sized circle or octopus hook. If there aren’t, you could use chunks of other baitfish but flathead prefer living prey. You might want to go to the deeper pools in the day and at night try the shallows.

Daniel Ambrose answers:

We caught a tuna fish off the coast of Gloucester, Mass and sold it to the Japanese for over 3,000.00 I think it was over 250 lbs, dressed. It took us about 4 hours to reel it in.

Daniel Ambrose answers:

Probably a grass carp, or very big channel catfish.

Pond channels can grow very big, very fast if they have an unlimited supply of forage food. If there are a lot of bluegill or crappie in the pond, then one could likely get that big no problem.

On the other hand, grass carp are very common in that size you described, they may also look gray while under water.