What is a Flathead Catfish and where do you usually find them?

The flathead catfish is a catfish that looks just like any other catfish besides the fact that it has a flat head, but there is more to the flathead catfish than meets the eye.

The flathead catfish has numerous nicknames that you may know the fish as, these names are Pied Cat, Mud Cat, Mississippi Cat, Shovelhead Cat, Yellow Cat, Opelousa Cat.

Overall the flathead catfish can grow to a good size, reaching between three to four feet in length (ninety centimetres to one hundred and twenty centimetres) and a staggering one hundred pounds plus (forty five kilograms) in weight.

One huge difference between the flathead catfish and other catfish is the fact that the flathead catfish is not a scavenger that feeds on dead fish, the flathead will only prey on live fish. The favourite prey for the flathead catfish are Carp, Sunfish and other Catfish….including their own species.

Flathead catfish can be found in deeper, cloudy waters that do not have strong currents from streams and rivers to lakes and reservoirs. Overall the flathead is found in Texas in the United States of America, the great lakes of the Mississippi river but can also be found as far away as the Gulf states.

Flathead catfish are one of the most prized fish to catch according to fishermen from Texas where catfish is the second most sought after species of fish by rod and reel (or pole) fishermen. Many other American states have tried introducing the flathead catfish in to fish stocks due to the fishes popularity with fishermen.

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