By TAM Staff:
Catching giant flathead catfish might get to be old-hat for Jake Robinson, of Shakopee, Minn. In less than a year, he has broken the Minnesota state record for the species twice.
Minnesota keeps separate sets of records, one for weighed and certified state records and one for fish that are caught and released after length measurements are taken. Both of Robinson’s monster cats fall into that second record category.
On May 15, Robinson caught and released his latest record from the Minnesota River southwest of Minneapolis near Savage. With 100-pound test line, he hauled in the fish, which had a length of 49 inches and a girth of 33 ½ inches. Now, we ran the numbers through several of those online calculators that are supposed to estimate fish weight and came up with a wild variation, from 35 pounds up to 75 pounds. So, it’s up to you to guess at this one’s actual weight.
The weighed and certified Minnesota state record was caught back in 1970. It weighed 70 pounds and was caught from the St. Croix River. There is no record of that fish’s length and girth.
The IGFA world record flathead was caught from Elk City Reservoir in Kansas in 1998 by Ken Paulie. It weighed 123 pounds.
Maybe next time Robinson catches a big catfish he should weigh it. The one in the photo sure does look mighty big.