Quote:
Originally Posted by BDj23
That's a fish over world record size, and winding up on a dinner plate isn't a fitting end to a once in a lifetime fish in my opinion. Plus it's genetics are gone forever. Flathead i believe grow 3-5lbs a year. There is a reason why you don't see many flatheads over 50lbs anymore, because the trophy ones are overfished and eaten all the time.
If you want to trot line and eat trophy catfish, knock yourself out.. I'm not going to stop you. But i don't agree with it.
Having a fish like this live for the sake of it being a monster makes perfect sense, because if it is truly 135lbs, it's 12 lbs bigger than the world record rod and reel flattie.
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Its genetics are gone? How do you figure; that thing has tossed its genetics all over the place in the decades it's been floatin' about. Now its time for it to get dead so the next round of its genetics can move up in the world.
Would you prefer it just wash up on shore as a carcass?
This isn't a 50 lb fish that still has a ton runway in front of it. I can see some frustration in things like that. We have a tendency to pass on good bucks when hunting in the hopes of them turning into great bucks. Putting a 70 lb fish back in the water may make some sense there. But that fish IS that great buck. And it's almost certainly near the end of its useful life.
20+ years and it's not been caught; that's plenty of time for one of those rod and reelers to have gotten it. Now it's pretty much on the way out either way so why you'd have a preference for it ending up hooked over just keeling over and washing up onshore somewhere is a bit of a mystery to me.