Channel Catfish Facts
Common Names – spotted cat, blue channel cat, river catfish
Description – Channel catfish closely resemble blue catfish. Both have deeply forked tails. However, channels have a rounded anal fin with 24-29 rays and scattered black spots along their back and sides. They have a small, narrow head. The back is blue-gray with light blue to silvery-gray sides and a white belly. Larger channels lose the black spots and also take on a blue-black coloration on the back which shades to white on the belly. Males also become very dark during spawning season and develop a thickened pad on their head.
Subspecies – There are no recognized subspecies. However, on rare occasions, they hybridize with blue and flathead catfish. Aquaculturists recognize numerous hatchery stocks and create a variety of hybrids to improve their culture characteristics.
Habitat – Most common in big rivers and streams. Prefers some current, and deep water with sand, gravel or rubble bottoms. Channel catfish also inhabit lakes, reservoirs and ponds. They adapt well in standing water where stocked.
Spawning Habits – Spawning occurs mostly in rivers and streams in the spring and early summer when waters warm to 70 to 85 degrees. They also will spawn in larger lakes where suitable habitat is available. Eggs are deposited in nests secluded under banks or logs or over open bottom. The male selects the site, often a natural cavern or hole, clears the nest and guards the eggs and young. A female may lay 2,000 to 21,000 eggs that hatch in six to 10 days depending on water temperature. Males protect the fry until they leave the nest in about a week.
Feeding Habits – Feeds primarily at night using taste buds in the sensitive barbels and throughout the skin to locate prey. Although they normally feed on the bottom, channels also will feed at the surface and at mid-depth. Major foods are aquatic insects, crayfish, mollusks, crustaceans and fishes. Small channels consume invertebrates, but larger ones may eat fish. Contrary to popular belief, carrion is not their normal food.
Age and Growth – Maximum size attained in Florida is about 45 pounds. The fish’s weight generally averages two to four pounds. Studies indicate 14 years as the maximum age, but some fish probably live 15 to 20 years.
Sporting Qualities – Most channels are caught by bottom fishing with baits such as dried chicken blood, chicken livers or gizzards, and nightcrawlers. They prefer dead or prepared stinkbaits to live bait, but at times will take live minnows and lures such as spinners and jigs. Strong fighters with good endurance, they are frequently caught on trotlines. Since channel catfish can also be taken by commercial fishermen, except where stocked by the Commission, they are not legally classified as sportfish.
Eating Quality – Considered one of the best-eating freshwater fish. The meat is white, tender and sweet when taken from clean water. Florida aquaculturists and commercial anglers provide these fish to markets and seafood restaurants throughout the state.
Records – World Record: 58 pounds, caught in the Santee-Cooper Reservoir, South Carolina, in 1964.
Courtesy of floridaconservation.org
Biggest Catfish Caught With Rod/Reel and On Video
This is the biggest catfish I have seen caught on video. A great day for this angler.
World Record Blue Catfish
From the IGFA
DANIA BEACH, Fla. — The International Game Fish Association (IGFA), the organization which among its many duties maintains world records for both freshwater and saltwater game fishes, has approved a 124 pound blue catfish caught in mid May by Tim Pruitt of Alton, Ill.
Pruitt and the catfish, which was caught in the Mississippi River, received a great deal of media attention throughout the nation and internationally as well.
Using cut herring for bait, Pruitt took 40 minutes to land the catfish. Efforts were made to keep it alive for a new home in a glass tank for public display but it died several days later. According to June newspaper reports, Pruitt hoped to have it mounted and put on loan to the nearby National Great Rivers Museum in East Alton, Ill.
Two weeks after the catch, Pruitt sent in the required IGFA application, which included certified weight documentation, witness statements, photographs and line sample.
The IGFA certified Pruitt’s catfish for two new records; an all-tackle world record for the heaviest species caught and a freshwater 50 pound line class. Pruitt’s fish broke the all-tackle record by three pounds over a 121 pound blue catfish caught in Lake Texoma, Texas, by Cody Mullennix in January, 2004. His 50 pound line class record bested a blue catfish caught in 1999 by Bruce Midkiff at the Cannelton Dam on the Ohio River in Kentucky.
If Pruitt’s catch stands through 2005 it will be further recognized in the IGFA’s World Record Game Fishes annual which will be released worldwide in January, 2006.
Founded in 1939, the IGFA is a not-for-profit organization committed to the conservation of game fish and promotion of responsible, ethical angling practices through science, education, rule making and record keeping. IGFA members are located in over 125 countries and territories. The IGFA welcomes visitors to its 60,000-sq.ft. interactive Fishing Hall of Fame and Museum at its headquarters in Dania Beach. The IGFA web site is www.igfa.org.