The Flathead Catfish
 This catfish, Pylodictis olivaris, has a number of common names. He is called flathead, shovelhead, yellow cat, mudcat, Morgan cat, and Goujon. Whatever he is called, he is identified easily. The head is always large, much-flattened. The lower jaw protrudes like a bulldog's. The adipose or flesh fin on the back is nearly as long as the anal fin and the caudal or tail fin is large and almost rounded, in contrast to the forked tail of the channel cats.
The angler can be practically certain his catfish is a flathead if it weighs over four pounds and has a rounded tail fin. Fish over ten pounds often are pot-bellied but smaller individuals usually are slender.
Fish weighing under five pounds are usually a much-mottled slate color with some brown or yellow. Larger fish are usually yellowish and may or may not be mottled
The flathead favors large, sluggish stretches of the river. It ranges throughout most of the Mississippi drainage from Minnesota south to the Gulf and in other large waters from Alabama to the Rio Grande and Mexico. Apparently the flathead finds the southern range more to its liking for it is more abundant in the southern states.
The life history of the flathead is not well known. Some fact-finding investigations have been made on certain aspects of its life history but much remains to be learned.
The age of a catfish is found by examination of a vertebra. The method is based on the fact that the vertebra grows each year by adding a layer of bone. The accumulated layers, which appear as growth rings, are counted to determine age. This is a proven method of age calculation for channel catfish and it probably will apply to flatheads.
Flatheads weighing 30 or 40 pounds are not uncommon, and there are records of fish in the 100-pound class. The blue cat is considered the largest of our catfishes because occasionally enormous individuals are reported. Yet the flathead, on the average, outweighs its forked-tail relative.
Virtually all trotline fishermen have decided opinions on proper flathead bait. Five- and six-inch creek chubs, carp, or goldfish are preferred bait fish. Moreover, experienced trotline fishermen select fishing areas as carefully as they select bait.
Apparently these cats have a homesite where they rest during the day and from which they journey on their nocturnal feeding forays. A submerged stump, a hollow log, a bank den of muskrat or beaver, a pile of boulders or an undercut ledge is an excellent resting site for an old flathead. If such cover is not available, large fish may rest in "wallows" as in mud bottoms. The successful trotliner knows these habits of the flathead and he fishes accordingly.
The flathead's habits of nesting and loafing in cavities makes this fish especially vulnerable to handfishing, or "noodling." This type of fishing has been outlawed. The fish has very little chance to escape the expert noodler and taking a spawning flathead from its nest is as destructive and unsporting as shooting a hen quail brooding her eggs.
A growing sport on our river is jug fishing. Jugging hits its peak when rivers are lowest. August is one of the most popular months. The jugger's gear consists of a gallon jug or oil can rigged with a two-to three-foot staging and a large hook. Blocks may be used instead of jugs. It is not difficult to imagine the anticipation of a pair of these modern Huckleberry Finns as they float a johnboat behind a flock of jugs, waiting for a big flathead to start a float bouncin'.
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