A flathead catfish balanced on a tree limb. (c)Eric Engbretson |
A
few years ago while taking pictures in Missouri’s sprawling Table Rock Lake, I
noticed quite a few flathead catfish around trees and other sunken timber. What I found unusual was that many of the
catfish were not lying on the lake bottom underneath the trees as you
might expect. Instead they were balanced
on top of tree branches often several
feet above the bottom. In short-they seemed to be perched in trees the same way you might
see squirrels or birds. One flathead was
lying in a tree at least 10 feet off the lake bottom. I had been looking for catfish around the
base of the trees and under sunken timber, but as began looking higher into the
water column and “off the bottom” I noticed more catfish in the trees.
It
wouldn’t be accurate to say they were suspended. They seemed to be inactive and they were
resting very still on the higher branches that had a horizontal slant to them. (See above photo) The channel catfish I also saw
around trees were always near the bottom, but I encountered many
flathead catfish perched higher in the trees.
It
was an interesting discovery that puzzled me.
Why would these flathead catfish be so far off the bottom in a
tree? Clearly there must be some advantage or benefit
that makes sense to the catfish that I wasn’t aware of. I did a web search looking for flathead
catfish in trees and couldn’t find any mention of this specific action. For the time being, this peculiar behavior
remains a mystery. You can view more pictures of flathead catfish in trees here.
I use livescope for fishing. I've been getting my line broke from something big that is sitting on tree branches. I'm pretty sure it's flathead catfish.
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