Home Fishing Freshwater Fishing Blue cat or channel? In blues, it's straight; in channels, it's rounded. Sign Up Now. Statewide NC. Next Catfishing on Lake Wylie. Deer Hunting. About Terry Madewell Articles.
Award-winning writer and photographer Terry Madewell of Ridgeway, S. Be the first to comment Leave a Reply Cancel reply You must be logged in to post a comment. Even a blue that weighs pounds will be rare. Blue catfish are very long fish. They can reach lengths of 60 inches or more. The belly of a blue catfish will be silvery-white. The rest is a grey or slate blue color, hence the name. They have a moderate but not deeply forked tail and flat dorsal fins.
There are four pairs of prominent whiskers around their mouths as well. Blue catfish are often found in freshwater rivers in channels.
They do well in deep water. They also enjoy swiftly moving water. They can adapt well to new habitats. In fact, they are invasive in parts of Virginia. Anglers introduced them to Virginia in the s. Now they are one of the dominant catfish species in the area.
You can find blue catfish in the Missouri, Mississippi, and Ohio rivers. Arguably, the most desirable American catfish is the blue. Fresh shad is an ideal bait for catching blue catfish. Science classifies blue catfish as opportunistic bottom-feeders. That means they eat almost anything. Their normal diet consists of anything from crabs to clams to vegetation. Flathead catfish are one of the most common species of cats in America.
They range from Canada down to Mexico. Flathead catfish are usually yellow to brown. As the name suggests, they have flat heads. Mottled and spotty ventral sides are common. Their underside is usually a creamy, pale yellow.
Unlike some species, a squared-off and flat tale is characteristic of the breed. The distinctive lower jaw protrudes further than the upper jaw. They have a short anal fin with 14 to 17 spines.
Flathead cats can reach up to four feet in length. A respectable weight would be around 40 pounds. Some will also exceed pounds. The largest ever caught weighed lbs. It was caught in Elk City Reservoir, Kansas. Flatheads prefer to live in large bodies of water. Things like reservoirs and ponds. They can also be found in large rivers and tributaries.
Unlike blue catfish, flathead catfish prefer slow-moving water. The geographic range includes the Mississippi River and the Great Lakes. You can catch them in Texas and most of the southern states. The Midwest is also home to a large population. Flathead catfish respond best to live bait. Smaller fish like perch, bluegill, and goldfish make great bait.
Despite their love of live bait, cut bait also works. Their natural diet consists of small fish and invertebrates. Worms, crayfish, and insects all feature in their diet. Channel catfish are the most abundant species of catfish in North America.
Millions of anglers go out in search of these fish every single year. Channel catfish are smaller species of catfish than blue catfish or flathead catfish.
Their weight rarely exceeds 40 pounds. Length is often around 24 inches. The largest channel catfish came from the Santee-Cooper Reservoir and weighed 58 lbs. Channel catfish have blue to greenish-grey skin with dark spots. Their bellies are often white or silvery.
They have a deeply forked tail. Like other types of catfish, they have four pairs of barbels around their mouths. You can find channel cats in the southern parts of Canada. They extend all the way down to Mexico. Channel cats are often found in streams and rivers, but also in ponds. In recent years, channel catfish have appeared in Europe.
They are one of the few types of catfish that are not considered invasive in most places. Channel cats are hearty eaters. In the wild, they feed on insects, crustaceans, and small fish. When fishing for them, a variety of baits work.
Worms and chicken livers are especially successful with channel cats. Channel catfish may be the most popular species for eating. The meat is white or yellow and mild-tasting. Channel catfish is also sold commercially. Eggs are laid in the bottom of the bests and the male fish guard the nest. Biologists have also noted that male channel catfish may actually eat some of the eggs if disturbed. Young channel catfish less than four inches in length feed primarily on smaller insects.
Adult channels are omnivorous feeding on mussels, crustaceans, fish, plants, and insects. Most channel catfish will reach sexual maturity in three to six years or when they reach about twelve inches in length.
Channel catfish are most abundant in large streams, rivers, lakes, and reservoirs with low or moderate current. Channel catfish are one of the most popular species of fish in the United States ranking second only to bass in many areas. Part of the reason for the popularity is that they obviously make excellent table fare but also because they are abundant and readily available in most lakes, rivers, and reservoirs.
Channel catfish can be caught with a variety of baits including natural baits like worms, baitfish, crawfish, or other natural baits but most popular is prepared catfish baits like punch baits, dip baits, and soap baits.
One popular technique used with prepared baits is chumming with soured grains like wheat or milo or using range cubes as chum. The flathead catfish is a popular species because there are populations in much of the United States and they are well known to grow to trophy class sizes, all in addition to being excellent table fare. The existing world record flathead catfish weighed in at lbs. The flathead catfish like other species of catfish has smooth skin no scales , whiskers around the mouth, and long sharp spines on the back dorsal fin and sides pectoral fins.
Flathead catfish can easily reach lengths of three to four feet and can easily exceed one hundred pounds in weight. They are typically pale yellow to light brown on their backs and sides and this coloring is also very mottled with additional coloring for black and brown. The underside is usually a much lighter cream color or pale yellow color. The young are often very dark brown.
The lower jaw projects out. Tail fins have a slight notch in them and are not deeply forked like the typical tails of blue and channel catfish. Unlike the channel and blue catfish that are scavengers or opportunistic predators flathead catfish prey only on live fish as a general rule. The young feed primarily on crayfish, worms, invertebrates, and crayfish. Once they grow larger the diet consists entirely of fish of any species including other catfish.
The spawning season runs typically from May through August when water temperatures are between seventy-five and eighty degrees. Once a nesting site is selected the male fish have also been known to improve the nesting sites by creating shallow depressions in the mud for the female to lay the eggs in.
Marine biologists have estimated in the past the female fish will lay eggs for every pound of her body weight which is why it is important to live release the larger fish back into the waters by practicing catch and release.
Adult flathead catfish are most often solitary fish known to pick out a favorite spot under a tree, log or undercut bank and remain alone in deeper water. At night the flathead catfish will move into shallow water areas to feed.
Their preferred habitat is deep pools of creeks where water is cloudy and currents are slow. Despite the fact that these catfish species are very different, they are often confused by anglers. Here are the key identifying characteristics of blue catfish and channel catfish and how you can tell the difference between these catfish species.
Blue Catfish Slate blue to white coloring The anal fin is flat when laid flat it forms a straight line The anal fin has between thirty and thirty-six rays. Go catch some fresh shad and get started fishing! To get more detailed and in-depth information to get on the fast track to locating and catching catfish check out the Catfish Edge products , all designed to help you catch more and bigger catfish.
Chad Ferguson is a pro catfish guide with over fifteen years experience fishing professionally for catfish, outdoor writer, photographer and noted authority on catfish fishing.
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