FishRook
Cecil County, Maryland angler Joshua Dixon just became the first person to hold the state record for flathead catfish, an invasive species. He caught the 57-pound, nearly 50-inch long fish on Dec. 27, 2020 while fishing near the Lapidum Boat Ramp on the Susquehanna River in Havre de Grace.
Flatheads were recently added to Maryland’s record books as part of the invasive species division. The other two species in the division are Northern snakehead and blue catfish.
Maryland Department of Natural Resources Recreational Fisheries Outreach Coordinator Erik Zlokovitz tells Bay Bulletin they created the division “to encourage anglers to target and ‘thin out’ these invasive species since they are highly aggressive and feed on native fish.”
Flathead catfish are native to the Mississippi, Missouri, and Ohio River basins and can grow up to five feet long and 120 pounds. They were introduced into Virginia and Pennsylvania waters in the 1970s and have since spread into the Susquehanna…
