I fish for Flatheads on the Schuykill River in the Philadelphia area. Our river regularly produces 40-50+ fish and they’ve been established here for around 25 years. I haven’t noticed any meaningful impact on the populations of native fish. In fact since they’ve been around the river has continued to become healthier and livelier for all species. The smallmouth/channel cat population is extremely healthy and we’ve had a rebound of Musky and Walleye. This isn’t due to the Flathead but rather the efforts of the Philadelphia Water Department and state environmental agencies. The Schuykill of the 70s-90s was desolate and extremely polluted. They’ve done an outstanding job and cleaning up the river and turning it into a great fishery. It’ll be interesting to see the impact of the Flathead as time goes by. Still hoping for a 40+ this year. Awesome video.
I live in east Texas, flatheads are native here. we have something similar to mud puppies , a couple types of salamander and lesser sirens. there are less of them now than there were back in the 70s and 80s when I was a kid. but I think its chemicals and other pollutants rather than the flatheads. we also have madtoms, but ive only ever seen them in small creeks where the flatheads rarely are.
Yes it would appear that forage species that have co evolved with flatheads possess the instinctual knowledge of evading them. The problem with the east coast is those creatures haven't developed those skills and behaviors. All of those species or their ecological equivalent you mentioned exist along flatheads in their native range.
My question is were stripers introduced into the waters of the lakes in the area? They run up the rivers when they are up and eat whatever is small enough
That is an excellent question. Coastal rivers and their tributaries are migration paths for most stripers. Typically stripers are stocked in most reservoirs by wildlife agencies being that they can survive in freshwater year round.
I was born and raised where the Wabash river and Tippecanoe river are only 15 minutes away from each other (not to mention the Eel river as well as the lake and dams) Flatheads are my favorite to fish for. Yeah I've had nights of nothing. Ive also had great nights (as well as days I work night so I'm use to the schedule) of large fish with a great fight. The challenge of fishing them is all part of the game. The learning of the "do's and don'ts " were nothing more than free knowledge to teach and share with future generations.
So gill netting, hoop netting, and electroshock fishing by the wildlife agencies have been sampling for decades and no flatheads have ever been described by science in these places. They can with relative ease track the expansion of flatheads and trace them back to a time period. The disappearance of native species in the same time frame as these fish first started to appear is another way. In some cases, these fish were intentionally stocked by state agencies that are later considered invasive. I probably should have done a better job explaining that. As well as distinguishing between invasive and non-native. Those mean different things.
@daveallover I dunno man. Just did a quick google and found flathead catfish were described out of the Ohio river in 1818 by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. I mean the Ohio river literally starts in Pittsburgh. Not sure if susquehanna river is connected in some way or not.... but it's awful close . Maybe during some eras species decline in numbers for various reasons .
@@daveallover I think this guy‘s beef with flathead is he’s a bass fisherman a lot of bass fisherman have prejudiced against the flathead because they eat largemouth and smallmouth
This is when i usaully do my best on flatheads. Been out once so fat. Not happy about that. Im heading to the mouth of the embarrass and wabash. 36 lber on this same date last yr. Got some lively greenies ready for action
Blue cats are gluten fish. They will literally eat till they are out of room in the stomach. I've caught some many blue cats with fish hanging out of their mouth.
Flatheads are native to nw pa we get 40-50lb fish from spring-october and they have not hurt the native fish. I use 10-14" crappie as bait and catch way more than using any other bait and we have a massive crappie population. We broke the state record 54.9lbs b4 the newest record never turned it in because we dont want 5million idiots fishing the river we fish in nw pa. My son is 9 and caught a 49.5" flathead never got a weight on her scale was dead. The next pa state record will come from nw pa
@@daveallover np! i thought it was cool. that lake that it was caught on has wild brown trout so thats one reason trout work there. and trout is legal in pa to use as bait
So in the western portion of PA, according to my research, yes. There are watersheds they are native. Perhaps you know more about that than I being as you're from there. I was quick to specify in the video that we were talking about the susquehanna and its tributaries specifically
I fish for Flatheads on the Schuykill River in the Philadelphia area. Our river regularly produces 40-50+ fish and they’ve been established here for around 25 years.
I haven’t noticed any meaningful impact on the populations of native fish. In fact since they’ve been around the river has continued to become healthier and livelier for all species. The smallmouth/channel cat population is extremely healthy and we’ve had a rebound of Musky and Walleye.
This isn’t due to the Flathead but rather the efforts of the Philadelphia Water Department and state environmental agencies. The Schuykill of the 70s-90s was desolate and extremely polluted. They’ve done an outstanding job and cleaning up the river and turning it into a great fishery.
It’ll be interesting to see the impact of the Flathead as time goes by. Still hoping for a 40+ this year.
Awesome video.
I live in east Texas, flatheads are native here. we have something similar to mud puppies , a couple types of salamander and lesser sirens. there are less of them now than there were back in the 70s and 80s when I was a kid.
but I think its chemicals and other pollutants rather than the flatheads.
we also have madtoms, but ive only ever seen them in small creeks where the flatheads rarely are.
Yes it would appear that forage species that have co evolved with flatheads possess the instinctual knowledge of evading them. The problem with the east coast is those creatures haven't developed those skills and behaviors. All of those species or their ecological equivalent you mentioned exist along flatheads in their native range.
My question is were stripers introduced into the waters of the lakes in the area? They run up the rivers when they are up and eat whatever is small enough
That is an excellent question. Coastal rivers and their tributaries are migration paths for most stripers. Typically stripers are stocked in most reservoirs by wildlife agencies being that they can survive in freshwater year round.
I was born and raised where the Wabash river and Tippecanoe river are only 15 minutes away from each other (not to mention the Eel river as well as the lake and dams) Flatheads are my favorite to fish for. Yeah I've had nights of nothing. Ive also had great nights (as well as days I work night so I'm use to the schedule) of large fish with a great fight. The challenge of fishing them is all part of the game. The learning of the "do's and don'ts " were nothing more than free knowledge to teach and share with future generations.
Thanks for sharing!
How can one say with certainty that flathead native to north america had not been in these places in the past. Amd why get rid of them.
So gill netting, hoop netting, and electroshock fishing by the wildlife agencies have been sampling for decades and no flatheads have ever been described by science in these places. They can with relative ease track the expansion of flatheads and trace them back to a time period. The disappearance of native species in the same time frame as these fish first started to appear is another way. In some cases, these fish were intentionally stocked by state agencies that are later considered invasive.
I probably should have done a better job explaining that. As well as distinguishing between invasive and non-native. Those mean different things.
@daveallover I dunno man. Just did a quick google and found flathead catfish were described out of the Ohio river in 1818 by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. I mean the Ohio river literally starts in Pittsburgh. Not sure if susquehanna river is connected in some way or not.... but it's awful close . Maybe during some eras species decline in numbers for various reasons .
@hobsonschoice8649 yeah that's the ohio river. They are native there.
Google up thames river ontario. They're in Canada, too, now. Quite something.
Thanks for sharing! Flats are definately in Lake Fork,Texas. Fun to catch.
Didn't know they were considering invasive, I live in Illinois we love them some of the best eating catfish in the river and fun to catch
Virtually everywhere east of the Appalachian mountains and in a few rivers west of the rockies.
You’re gonna want the flathead in Pennsylvania because of the introduction of Asian carp.
Are they in the susquehanna?
@@daveallover yeah
@@daveallover I think this guy‘s beef with flathead is he’s a bass fisherman a lot of bass fisherman have prejudiced against the flathead because they eat largemouth and smallmouth
@@benwatts4060 how the hell did they get in there?
@@benwatts4060 what guy?
This is when i usaully do my best on flatheads. Been out once so fat. Not happy about that. Im heading to the mouth of the embarrass and wabash. 36 lber on this same date last yr. Got some lively greenies ready for action
Hey man! Sounds like you're ready to go.
@@daveallover
I was just waiting for your video.
Its go time
@@naildrvr2047 they'll be coming more often now
Blue cats are gluten fish. They will literally eat till they are out of room in the stomach. I've caught some many blue cats with fish hanging out of their mouth.
They are ravenous
SO WUT YOUR ? Sayin IS LETS FEED THE ON SLOT? THAT WE CANNOT STOP? MITE AS WELL ? ONLY TROPHY CAT NEED APPLY ! Thank You
Im foR THAT?
WELL SAID MY BROTHER!@
Well SAID MY BROTHER
I'm not sure what you're saying lol
@@daveallover WUT I SAID IS WUT I SAID ITS THE
@@JasonChristy-y5i lol OK man
Flatheads are native to nw pa we get 40-50lb fish from spring-october and they have not hurt the native fish. I use 10-14" crappie as bait and catch way more than using any other bait and we have a massive crappie population. We broke the state record 54.9lbs b4 the newest record never turned it in because we dont want 5million idiots fishing the river we fish in nw pa. My son is 9 and caught a 49.5" flathead never got a weight on her scale was dead. The next pa state record will come from nw pa
@pyrodave6407 that's amazing! Hope you break it again!
Great info!!
Catch, clean and cook. No size or bag limit . Help deplete this invader and enjoy yourself at the same time..
That PA state record catfish was caught on a rainbow trout
That brings a smile to my face you can't imagine lol, thank you
@@daveallover np! i thought it was cool. that lake that it was caught on has wild brown trout so thats one reason trout work there. and trout is legal in pa to use as bait
Flathead catfish are one of the most predatory fish towards Asian carp.
Yes they are! Another reason to conserve them.
Flatheads are fun to catch and great to eat but they will eat anything that they can catch
You're absolutely right
Best money spent. Will be spent on Asian carp and snakeheads.
Let's hope so!
They’ve always been here they are a top predator and the best tasting catfish.
So in the western portion of PA, according to my research, yes. There are watersheds they are native. Perhaps you know more about that than I being as you're from there. I was quick to specify in the video that we were talking about the susquehanna and its tributaries specifically