My wife caught this channel while fishing for crappies in Carlyle Lake. It was close to 45 pounds and over 30 inches long. She caught it on a 2" minnow using 8 pound test line on a light action rod.

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Great fish, bet that was a fun fight?

thats awsome and some good eating

It took a while to get into the boat. We had to work as a team, and without the net it would still be in the lake. Yeah, it gave quite a fight. When I took it to Bruce Combs yesterday to get it mounted I noticed the hook is still firmly embedded in its lower lip. It'll still be there when Bruce gets done with it too. Gotta keep it looking real, right?

It seems we had a bit of an audience on shore by the time we got it in and they wanted to see it so I lifted it (above the livewell) by the leader. At that point the leader broke at the hook. We're sure glad that didn't happen earlier and that it was over the livewell.

Awesome. Wish i could've seen the look on your wife's face when she got it in.

Me too, but we were both so busy working it in we didn't have time to even think of what our expressions looked like.

Nice catch !

Not trying to hi-jack your thread but how is a catfish mounted ?

Are they freeze dried ?
I've always heard the best way to mount something like a catfish or anything with skin rather then scales was freeze dried, is that true ?

I don't know too much about the technique. I know he has to skin it and take everything out of the head too. Then he makes a foam body to put the skin over. Bruce Combs is mounting it for us. He's one of the sponsors of this website. He could tell you a lot more of what he has to do for catfish. He did say they're a lot more complicated that other fish. Getting it mounted is costing a few day's pay, but it's worth it to my wife. What makes her happy keeps me happy. ;-)

We can now vouch first hand for Bruce Comb's work. Remember to support your SILO sponsors.

Here's Bruce putting the final touch on Un Hui's flathead.

http://www.siloutdoors.com/imagehosting/42447f8415ca2d1d.jpg

Here's Un Hui posing with her flathead before bringing it home.

http://www.siloutdoors.com/imagehosting/42447f8415ec3b28.jpg

Here's Bruce and my wife with her flathead.

http://www.siloutdoors.com/imagehosting/42447f841b2dbd15.jpg

Un Hui got a chance this evening to tour Bruce's showroom/dining room. He's got some excellent deer, coyotes, and assorted fish on display. Now my wife wants me to go deer hunting so we can have a deer head hanging in the dining room too. :eek:

That looks really good!

Every time I went to carlyle, all I cought were drum and gar..........LOL

ummm flat head huh? nice fish?

Nice mount there Flat! do you have that hanging in your Living Room? bet your wife is proud!

Yep. It's got a very prominent spot in our living room. If I hadn't got it up on the wall last night I'd have heck to pay today.

Wow! Un Hui looks so happy and what a great thing for her to have on display! I had never thought about getting a catfish mounted..hmmm now I'll have to try for a monster to have mounted...
I'm sure when the monster hunting, cougar watching, catfishing, story telling crew meets this summer I'll have a pretty good chance!

Yes Gretchen, it's definitely got it's place of honor.

http://www.siloutdoors.com/imagehosting/42447fa2485eb795.jpg

http://www.siloutdoors.com/imagehosting/42447fa24871d5ff.jpg

Here's the #6 hook it was caught on. Originally the hook was embedded deep in the lip, but was taken out as part of the prep. Bruce used some monofiliment to tie the hook in position.

http://www.siloutdoors.com/imagehosting/42447fa248842af2.jpg

http://www.siloutdoors.com/imagehosting/42447fa248967bfe.jpg

Cool, looks like a great mount. Tell her congratulations for me.

Cool, looks like a great mount. Tell her congratulations for me.

Thanks. I'll do that.

Aww Life.......un hui congrats again!

That IS a wall hanger... GOOD JOB!!!

Actually I found out about SILO when looking for info on Bruce Combs. I found out about him from a recommendation from the bait shop west of NA. He was one of your sponsors last year.

http://www.siloutdoors.com/showthread.php?t=129

ummm i dont think that is a flathead. In fact, i am very positive that is not a flathead. not being mean just sayin. congrats on the catch though on a very nice cat.

this is what a flathead looks like. I believe yours is a male channel cat but kind of looks like a blue. hmmm.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f155/IL_duckboy870/072807_170223.jpg

It didn't have the spots a channel would have. I didn't know for sure what kind of cat it is, but our taxidermist said it's a flathead.

channels i believe lose their spots after they reach a certain age. Not all of them will, but the majority do.

Yeah, looks like you're probably right. http://www.kdwp.state.ks.us/content/download/7065/34353/file/ shows a good comparison and it does look more like the channel, especially looking at the anal fin.

yeah i thought it was a channel. i have been obscessing over flatheads for the last 5 years now. it took me 4 of those 5 to finally catch my first one! :mad: oh well i got the first one off my shoulders now the rest should be easy right ;) once again its a very nice cat.

I just looked in the 2008 Illinois fishing info guide and found the state record for a channel is only 45lb 4oz. If I'd known that I'd have gotten it weighed. I didn't have my scale with me, but it was about 35 - 40 lb. Not a new record, but may have come close to a record for the year.