The flathead catfish are large North American freshwater catfish. Their native range includes a broad area west of the Appalachian Mountains encompassing large rivers of the Mississippi, Missouri, and Ohio basins. The range extends as far north as North Dakota, as far west as Arizona, and south to the Gulf of Mexico including northeastern Mexico.
Anglers target this species in a variety of waterways including small rivers (barely large enough for a canoe), large rivers (such as the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers), and reservoirs. A common element of flathead catfish location is submerged wood cover such as logs and rootwads which often collect at bends in rivers. A good flathead spot usually also includes relatively deep water compared to the rest of a particular section of river, a moderate amount of current, and access to plentiful baitfish such as river herring, shad, carp, drum, panfish, or suckers. Anglers targeting large flathead catfish usually use stout tackle such as medium-heavy or heavy action rods from 6–10 feet (1.8–3.0 meters) in length with large line-capacity reels and line ranging from 20–80 pound (90–360 N, 9–36 kgf) test breaking strength. Generally large live baits are preferred such as river herring, shad, sunfish (such as bluegill), suckers, carp, goldfish, drum, and bullheads ranging from 5–12 inches (12–30 cm) in length. Sometimes nearly as much time and effort is spent catching baitfish ahead of time as is spent fishing for flatheads. While not as numerous as other catfish species, catching a large flathead catfish (over 20 pounds) usually makes the effort worthwhile to an avid catfisher. Flathead catfishing often takes place at night either from a boat or from shore once a catfisher has identified a likely looking flathead spot.
The world record Flathead Catfish is standing at 123 pounds (56 kg).
The Flathead Catfish goes by other names such as yellow cat, opelousas, mud cat, shovelhead cat.
