River monsters
As local waters grow cleaner, flathead catfish are growing bigger
Somewhere in the waters off Downtown live fish that swam past Three Rivers Stadium when Chuck Noll was coaching the Steelers.
Now they are more than 40 years old, 40 pounds-plus and pushing 50 inches — monster flathead catfish that have been straining fishing lines with increasing regularity for at least the past five years. Already in 2020, Pittsburgh-area catches have topped 50 pounds, and those who target flatheads believe the largest cats in these waters have not been caught.
East of the Alleghenies, a new Pennsylvania flathead record was caught and released two weeks ago on the Schuylkill River near Philadelphia. At 56.3 pounds, it smashed the previous record of 50 pounds 7 ounces set in 2019 on the Susquehanna River.
Shovelheads, so nicknamed because of their shape and size from gill to nose, are growing bigger in Pennsylvania.
“It’s something in the water,” said Tim Reddinger, a veteran flathead hunter and owner of Reddi Bait shop in Bridgewater, a narrow strip of streets and prime fishing water at the juncture of the Ohio and Beaver rivers. “The rivers are getting cleaner, that’s for sure.”
The Beaver County steelworker and Bridgewater mayor said improved water quality in the Ohio River system has had a dramatic impact on the population of freshwater shad, suckers, panfish and other species that the big cats eat in abundance. That and perhaps a few robust flathead spawns during the Steel Curtain era have resulted in catfish that live longer and grow bulkier than their forebears.
“I can prove it,” Mr. Reddinger said. “Five years ago, I saw one 40-pound flathead caught [in Pittsburgh waters]. It was big news in the cat world. The next year, two were caught less than 100 yards apart in Monaca. Every year since then more have been caught. So far this year it’s six or seven [flatheads in the 40-pound range].”
A recent rash of catches topping 40 inches has led him to believe in the successful year-class theory.
“I would say they would have to have come from a big year-class or two because I’m seeing so many caught within a few pounds of each other,” he said.
Native to the Great Lakes and Mississippi River drainage, flathead catfish might be the perfect fish for Western Pennsylvania waters; 15 million-year-old fossils from the Miocene Epoch are indistinguishable from modern flatheads. Submerged industrial structure and “potholes” — abrupt, deep pits on the river bottom — are common features of the Lower Allegheny and Ohio rivers and perfect flathead habitat.
Some are reeled in as accidental bycatches while fishing for another species, but the biggest flatheads are more often caught by flathead hunters who target only the biggest water monsters. They’re anglers like
Jesse St. Espri of Ambridge, who last week pulled a 41.2pound flathead from the Ohio River’s Beaver Valley. On June 6, Joe Granata of Monaca caught a 43-pound 9ounce flathead in the Al -legheny River in Pittsburgh. And in late May, Chuckie Russell of Beaver County broke the region’s long-sought 50-pound flathead barrier by boating a 50pound 13-ounce catfish in the Ohio River.
“And there’s more to come,” said Mr. Reddinger. “[Flatheads] are on a prespawn feeding frenzy.”
In early summer, the normally solitary adults pair up and build nests in wellprotected cave-like shelters in the river bank or in a cavity under a boulder, log or industrial structure. Females deposit gelatinous masses containing 4,000100,000 eggs and males guard the nest and fry. Aggressive feeding results in fast growth. Juvenile flatheads live in the riffles and eat larvae and nymphs. As they grow and their bodies require more protein, the menu changes to crayfish, minnows and anything they can catch.
Food sources grow in size as the flathead matures. In five years they’re about 15 inches in length, sexually mature and on the hunt for bigger food. To target the biggest cats, flathead hunters may bait up using suckers or trout stretching to 12 inches or more.
The registration period has expired for the annual Reddi Bait catfish challenge. At the time of its launch, the state was banning fishing contests as a COVID-19 precaution. Mr. Reddinger structured this year’s six-month event as a club with no cash payoff, just token belt buckles and bragging rights in the Big Fish Fight Club (facebook.com/ReddiBait).
If flatheads in the Ohio River drainage are getting bigger because of improved water quality, those in the Delaware and Susquehanna systems are growing through an ecological imbalance. Considered an invasive species east of Allegheny Mountains, flathead catfish have few challengers at the top of the aquatic food chain. With little competition, they’re devouring footlong prey and growing to unheard of sizes. The remarkable weight of the new state record flathead suggests that even bigger cats could be cruising those waters.