Home » Tag Archives: Flathead Catfish (page 3)

Tag Archives: Flathead Catfish

Big Catfish Manifesto

Never in my outdoor life have I ever endured so much negativity, so much criticism, and taken so much flak for an action. It all was the result of a photo and video I shared recently on my personal social media accounts. Both were of a large, master angler-sized flathead catfish that I caught in an eastern Nebraska sandpit lake and then duly released back into it. Here are the photo and short video clip shot by my fishing partner, Rich Berggren of Waterloo, NE. Alright, I know what you’re thinking: “Nice fish, good job on the release,” …

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You Cannot Judge a Catfish by its Colors

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Happens every year about this time, I hear reports of folks catching “blue” catfish, here, there, lots of different waters.  Problem is, they really ain’t blue catfish.  They are just big ole male channel catfish getting ready to spawn.  So, if you will bear with me playing the role of pointy-headed fish biologist, again, for a bit, let me give a little lesson in fish identification. . . . We have three large catfish species in Nebraska waters, channel, blue …

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What Lurks Beneath, June 2017

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Once again I want to give you an update on the sampling activities of our Game & Parks Commission fisheries biologists and give you an idea of some of the fish they are seeing out there! You know my usual disclaimer, when fisheries biologists are sampling fish we do NOT necessarily go out and just try to collect the biggest fish.  Anglers as a group will see more big fish, and often the biggest fish because anglers target big fish. …

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Great Fall

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As I sit here “blogging”, I am pretty sure my open-water fishing for this season is done.  Sure you could still find a few areas of open-water and dry off some fish, you can all winter long if you wish, but most Nebraska anglers are going to be hitting the ice soon, very soon. So, that means it is time for me to give a report on my and my son’s fall fishing.  In recent weeks I have showed you …

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Fifty Shades of Flathead

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OK, you have to understand that biologists tend to think about things a little bit differently, maybe even a little bit warped.  Subjects and discussions that may be uncomfortable or turn the stomachs of some can be lunch break conversations for biologists.  For example, we tend to be fascinated by the mating habits of this species or that species–it is how the species is perpetuated, how life continues.  I have something interesting about fish mating habits to share in this blog post …

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Fall In Review, 2015

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Ran into a fellow pointy-headed fish biologist yesterday who has since moved on to bigger and better things in another state.  But, he stills comes back to Nebraska to do some hunting!  He asked me how my fall has been and that got me to thinking that I should give a little review.  It has been a good fall, mild, warm, long, lots of fish. . . . I love fall fishing.  I fish H-A-R-D in the fall; it is …

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Fall Fat Flatties

Over the past few years I have blogged several times about some of the research being done on Branched Oak flathead catfish; for example, Some Field Work, 71.6 On Your Radio Dial–All Flatheads All the Time!, Branched Oak Flatheads.  A large part of that research has been the tagging of flathead catfish in Branched Oak Reservoir; over 1500 flathead catfish in Branched Oak are swimming around with tags on them. About this time last year I was lamenting that even …

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Human Bobber

A week or so ago I got a fishing report from an old college buddy.  He catches some big catfish from Omaha area waters and recently landed another one.  This one was a flathead catfish, a 41-inch flathead catfish.  That fish was released after taking some pictures, but it would have weighed somewhere in the neighborhood of 30, maybe 35 pounds.  Although there are bigger flatheads caught from Nebraska waters every year, a 41-incher is a very respectable fish, plenty big …

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Stop the Presses, Big Fish!

I am going to share a photo of a big fish that was caught in Nebraska recently.  Yes, I realize that some of my blog readers will know all about this catch already, it has been making the rounds on the internet and that is where I got the photos and information.  But,  I want to blog about it because there are a lots of other folks who have not heard about it.  If there is one thing I have …

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“Shocking Flatheads”

The July 2014 issue of NEBRASKAland magazine is available on-line right now. It is way too early in the summer to find any of the gayfeather that is pictured on the cover, but inside you will find a variety of great stories, as usual. Of course I am going to point out a fish story on pages 42-45, “Shocking Flatheads”.  In that, NEBRASKAland editor Jeff Kurrus interviews Jordan Katt, the fisheries biologist in charge of the flathead catfish research that has …

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