20 lb. flathead on a zoom tube...ouch!!

[justlookingn]

I landed a flathead catfish that bumped the scales at 20 lbs. on a watermelon zoom tube while bass fishing on Herrington yesterday. Man what a battle!! The tube fishing for bass at Herrington has great over the last month but this cat tops it all. I spent nearly 20 minutes landing this leviathan on my medium action 6 ft. rod and reel spooled with 10 lb. mono. I swear my arms were aching!! Now I feel confident if I should ever hook a 20 lb. bass on this rod and reel that I can land it.....grin

[BanditMan]

Now that's a big fish sandwich.. WOW.

[DJD]

Herrington must have a decent population of flatheads because I have seen several caught on soft plastics. Man, I bet that was fun!

[davidsa]

I understand the fatique you mention. Most bass I catch last no more then a minute or so even though it feels like it takes longer. I foul hooked a 20# striper in the tail with a lipless crank last fall. Using a Medium Heavy rod, it took forever to land that fish. My left hand ached the remainder of the day. If that MH rod ever breaks, I will know it is something I did to stress the blank because it proved itself on that fish.