The New Pennsylvania Record Flathead Catfish Weighs as Much as a Golden Retriever!

A state fishing record was just broken in Pennsylvania. Well, it wasn’t exactly broken. The old record was shattered! Mike Wherley, of Fayetteville, Pennsylvania, caught a 66-pound, 6.4-ounce flathead catfish in the Susquehanna River on May 14. For perspective, that is about the same weight as an adult golden retriever!

The previous record was held by a 56-pound, 3-ounce fish caught in 2020. Wherley’s fish bested the old record by ten pounds! If the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission accepts the documentation as is expected, Wherley’s monster catfish will be etched in the record book.

Catching a Record Catfish

Wherley was fishing from his boat near Safe Harbor Dam around 10:30 a.m. He was using a foot-long trout for bait. When he hooked into this behemoth catfish, he knew he had something special on the line. After hauling the fish into the boat, Wherley weighed it on his personal scale.

According to Lancaster Online, Wherley said, “I have a scale that goes to 50 pounds, and this one went right past that, so I thought I might have a state record fish.”

Knowing he would need official documentation to set a state record, Wherley sped off to Columbia Bait and Tackle. He knew there was a certified scale at this tackle shop.

Mike Musselman, the owner of the shop, weighed the fish. He said, “I knew it was the record as soon as I saw it. I see these big fish all the time, and this was the biggest.”

Wildlife officer Jeff Schmidt, of the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, was present when the fish was weighed. He measured and inspected the fish.

Releasing a Record-Setter

After all the measurements were recorded, Wherley returned the fish to his livewell and returned to the river. Wherley released the huge catfish back into the Susquehanna in a rare move among record-setting anglers. When asked why he released it, he said, “The fish got that big by living a long time, so I wanted him to keep on living.” He was certainly right about that. A flathead catfish of this size could easily be 40-50 years old.

Along with being a successful angler, Wherley is something of a prophet. He said, “I’ve told everybody in my family I was going to catch a state record someday, and here I did it. That’s incredible.”

Flathead catfish are not native to the Susquehanna River, though they are now well-established in those waters. Wherley reported his previous biggest flathead catch weighed 44 pounds. He caught that fish in the same spot as his probable record-setter.

Musselman, who weighed the massive flathead, has been hospitalized with an illness, so the paperwork has been delayed. Once it is submitted, there is every reason to believe Wherley’s fish will be the new Pennsylvania record for flathead catfish.

Flathead Catfish (Pylodictis olivaris)

These fish (sometimes known as shovelheads, yellow cats, or Mississippi cats) are native to the Mississippi, Missouri, and Ohio River basins, stretching south into Mexico. 

The fish features a large oval-shaped flat head, hence its name. The body is long, and the tail is slightly forked. Like the channel catfish, the most common catfish in the United States, the flathead catfish has eight barbels (whiskers) equipped with tastebuds that it uses to find food. Both channels and flatheads are smooth-skinned, scaleless fish with large dorsal and pectoral spines.

Flatheads grow faster than any other catfish except the blue catfish. Flatheads between three and eight years old can gain two to five pounds a year. In exceptional cases, a flathead may gain ten pounds in a year.

It is not uncommon for flatheads to grow in excess of 30 pounds, though they can grow quite a bit larger in the right conditions. The world record flathead catfish was caught in Kansas in 1998. That fish weighed an astonishing 123 pounds!

Unlike other catfish, flatheads are not scavengers. These predators prefer live fish. Anglers who use cut or live fish as bait tend to have the most success landing big flatheads.

Table Fare

Flathead catfish can make delicious table fare if caught in clean water. If not, the fish may have a “muddy” taste. However, if caught in quality water, flathead catfish fillets are among the best-tasting catfish available. Smaller flatheads are preferable for eating as there are few, if any, toxins in the meat. Fillets from older catfish can contain contaminants like polychlorinated biphenyls.

The photo featured at the top of this post is © Darryl Brooks/Shutterstock.com