A couple weeks ago I caught a 50+ pound flathead catfish on a square bill crankbait.   I was fishing on Lake Wylie  (NC/SC).   I was planning on fishing until 1PM as I had other things that I needed to do.  At 1PM I told myself "this is my last cast".  I caught a 2 pound bass, so I decided to fish 15 more minutes.  I saw what I thought was a log on my side view sonar.  I casts a little past where I thought the log was.  When the fish hit I thought I had snagged the log....... then it took off toward the main channel.   It was going into the wind away from the bank.  I followed it with my trolling motor to keep it from taking all my line.  It took me ~40 minutes or so to land it.   I was at least 1/4 mile away from the spot I hooked it when I finally got it in the boat.  It was 45 inches long.  My 50 pound mechanical scale was bottomed out with several inches of it's tail still on the boat.   I've caught an occasional catfish while bass fishing but never one like this.   

I'd take that over a bass anyday haha

Nice catch! I bet your drag was singing with that one.

Bazinga ! 

Deja vu.

 

I was out kayak fishing on Oconee today and caught a 20+ pound flathead on an underspin with a small paddletail.

 

Not only was I surprised it hit that bait, but it also surprised me because I was fishing in 2 feet of water along some riprap that normally hold bass. When it took the bait I thought, "Good - a decent bass." But then I started reeling in and it barely moved. At that point I knew it wasn't a largemouth, and it didn't fight like a striper - it just sat there daring me to reel it in. But it did pull me towards shore. Thankfully, it didn't take me 40 minutes like it took you to reel in your monster. Heck, mine was a baby compared to yours.

 

Once I got it up to the kayak I saw what it was and quickly grabbed it with my fish gripper and started to pick it up. That's when I realized it was probably too big to bring aboard with my pedal unit, fish finder, and some gear on my deck. I was in luck because I hooked it in the lip and it didn't inhale the bait and it was an easy release.

 

But I did catch a decent 4 pound LMB and some small ones today, so all in all it was a good day.

 

Yours was a monster - but I can't imagine those record 100+ pounders.