27kg Flathead!?!



Not a 27 kg Flathead (as we know it)

 A recent headline on a US fishing website screaming "60 Lb Flathead" sure caught our attention, but a quick read reminded us that this is just another example of different fish having different names throughout the world.

In Australia, the record weight for a flathead is reported to be one hooked by  Alan Strathearn of Richmond River NSW  who caught a  9.440 kg dusky flathead in July 1983. Dusky flathead are the largest of the many species of flathead found in Australia, and the most commonly caught, but dusky flathead have very rarely been caught at sizes up to 12–15 kg and lengths up to 1.5 metres and the average size and weight is reported to be 0.5–1.5 kg and 40–50 cm.

The 60 pound flathead in the story that caught our attention is actually a flathead catfish caught on Ohio's Seneca Lake by Bass fisherman Ken Hewitt. What a shame though, a 60lb lizard would have been one hell of a story.