# Big cat fish on rod and reel



## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

I took a couple to go crappie fishing and the young lady landed this monster 81 pound opp on a 7" spinning rod with 20 pound power pro and a crappie hook.
It was an awesome fight that lasted about 10 minuets and she fought it like a pro!


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## RAYSOR (Apr 26, 2007)

Very nice!


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## Fishin' Soldier (Dec 25, 2007)

Got the email. Had to come get a look. Amazing that big ol fish ate that tiny minnow. Awesome! You da man Mr. Loy


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## saltylady (Jun 30, 2010)

*dang that's amazing, that is a yellow cat (flathead) isnt it?*
*congrats to the gal that pulled that in.*


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

saltylady said:


> *dang that's amazing, that is a yellow cat (flathead) isnt it?*
> *congrats to the gal that pulled that in.*


Yes it is a flat head, or yellow cat fish to some, opp, and shovel head are a couple of more names for them.
You can tell from the picture that it's mouth was huge, I bet it was eating crappie by the bushel basket at a time. 
I could put both of my hands in the center of it's mouth and still have more than a hands width free on either side.
When we first weighed it the scale was set to weigh in kilos and I did not know it, so we thought it was just not calibrated right, it is new and I've only used it a couple of times.
37.6 was the weight we got on it. We knew it was heavier than a sack of corn however, it was all I could do to lift it.

On the way home it hit me that it was weighing in kilos and figured it out to be over 81 pounds, 82.9 by conversion. 
Weighing a big fish like that is hard in a boat so I rounded down the weight a little to compensate.
We tried to weigh it on the Broken Arrow marina 50lb scale and broke it.

Not too long before she caught the fish her fish Dawn and Doug had told me about how recently she had caught a 49" red fish!!!
So I knew she could handle it!

Doug got on a good crappie hole and saved the day for us with the white perch.
We ended the day with 22 keepers.


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

A couple of pictures Doug sent me that were taken at Broken Arrow.


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## reeltimer (Feb 5, 2010)

Big ole yellow cat! wtg.


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## obiewan57 (Sep 14, 2005)

WOW, Loy great trip, you sure put smiles on those faces


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## FISHROADIE (Apr 2, 2010)

Good thing you guys got it out of the creek those crappie will be happy, you know good and well he was eating his fare share of those crappie.


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## RodBender54 (Aug 27, 2010)

What a fish! Nice mess of fish. WTG Loy.


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

You can go to the freshwater board and see the video of the last of the fight.

http://2coolfishing.com/ttmbforum/showthread.php?t=378462&page=2

Here is an amendment to the fishes weight.

Big Nauty did not start filming the fight until about 4 minuets or more into it.

At first she told us she had one on, and we both said 'Naw, your hung up", then the line started moving off. 
It took a lot of line right off and I realized I needed to pull anchor so it could pull the boat around. It was too strong to try and fight from a fixed spot and run the risk of it just swimming into the anchor line and breaking off.

So I got the anchor up and tilted the big motor out of the water so the fish would have nothing to break the line on.
We seem a little calm about the fight by the time he starts filming it because it has been going on for a while.

The video started after the fish had drug us all around the pool where Kickapoo meets Rocky for three or four trips in a big figure 8.
I worried for a while that it would find an old crappie structure someone had put down there and break off on it, but it stayed in the deep 18 to 20'+ water as much as it could.
The big cat was most likely trying to eat a crappie that was trying to eat the minnow that was on Dawn's gold hook.

It should be one of the best eating flatheads ever, as it has been munching on crappie for sometime in that spot is my guess.

It weighed 64 to 68 pounds after reviewing the facts.
The scale is set for kilos, I just checked it and changed it to pounds. I have been out of town and just got in and saw the video.
Good film job Big Nauty!!

The heavier weight was from the other attempts at weighing it in the boat and under the light pole at Broken Arrow marina, after we broke their scale we tried mine again.
Lifting that big ole fish was getting harder each time Doug and I lifted it up to weigh, especially those times it broke something or flopped off half way to being lifted.

So the weight bounced to a high weight, one that I also had got in the boat, but did not call out, as I usually just let those weights, the low & high ends, go by while looking for the middle # which was 32 to 34 both times I tried it on my scale set to K. which = 64 to 68 pounds.
It is the biggest cat fish ever caught on my boat! 
__________________


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## Fishin' Soldier (Dec 25, 2007)

I was gonna mention the fact of it maybe ate the crappie and inhaled the minnow as byproduct. That is an awesome fish. Also, landing it on the Gold aberdeen hook with out straightening it out. How close was it to straightening? Like you say Mr. Loy you dont know unless you go!


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## redfishlaw (Jul 23, 2008)

Now that is a bite!

http://fishcatchingtravel.com/


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## olsteve (Jul 20, 2008)

Man That is a nice OP and the Crappie look good too! How far is Conroe from you? A buddy of mine has run into a little financial situation and wants to sell his place there.
Maybe you,I, & firedog could go take a look at it?


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

Conroe is almost in another state from my perspective, lol! 
I stick with Livingston, less crowds and great fishing.
They do catch a lot of big cats and nice crappie there however.


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## Jasmillertime (Mar 23, 2010)

nice fish. how in the world is she holding that fish up byherself in that 2nd pic? i woulda been wore out


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## UT15314 (Dec 4, 2011)

Nice fish


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## crappieman (Dec 12, 2011)

WOW is right! Awesome flathead and the crappie are nice too!


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