19-year-old from Fredericksburg sets record for flathead catfish on Llano River
Earlier this year, 19-year-old Jacob Land from Fredericksburg knew he caught a big fish but didn’t know until later that he actually set a record at a Texas river.
Land tells MySA he landed a 31-pound, 41-inch flathead catfish while fishing at the Llano River on April 7. He says it’s the biggest one he’s ever caught, explaining how it was a little tough for him and his best friend/net guy Austin Scheider to get into his kayak.
“I saw it and said, ‘Oh my God’ to Austin. He didn’t believe me when I said it was huge,” Land says. “I knew it was a big one. It was pretty cool.”
After filling out the proper paperwork and taking the fish to a weight station, Texas Parks and Wildlife reached out this month to tell Land he set a waterbody record for flathead catfish.
“What a catch,” the Inland Fisheries San Antonio District-Texas Parks and Wildlife wrote on its Facebook page earlier this week. “Congratulations to Fredericksburg angler Jacob L. who caught this 30+ lbs. Flathead Catfish out of the Llano River. This fish set a new waterbody record!”
The Inland Fisheries San Antonio District tells MySA that it’s odd there wasn’t a previous waterbody record for the catfish. The district says it runs into that issue because no one submitted for a record, despite numerous people catching them over the years.
“Even without a previous record, this is still a very impressive flathead catfish,” the district says.
Land released the catfish so it can swim another day, he says.
In Texas, the species are the second largest sport fish after its cousin, the blue catfish. Typically, the largest fish are caught by trotlines, which land specimens in excess of 110 pounds, according to the TPWD. Flathead catfish reach a length of 3 to 4 feet.
Unlike other catfish which are scavengers, flatheads prey only on live fish. Young flathead catfish feed mostly on invertebrates such as worms, insects, and crayfish. When 10 inches or larger, their diet consists entirely of fish: shad, carp, suckers, sunfish, largemouth bass, and other catfish (including their own kind).
The species prefer deep pools of streams, rivers, canals, lakes and reservoirs, where the water is turbid (cloudy) and the currents are slow.
