![]() Recent electrofishing studies have documented capture rates in excess of 6,000 fish/hr, whereas studies from the native range show peak electrofishing capture rates of 700 fish/hr. Since their introduction in Virginia waters in the 1970s, blue catfish populations have exploded. Unfortunately, the relatively low mortality rate, large body size, wide range of species preyed upon, and success as a predator has resulted in the blue catfish being considered a problematic invasive species in Virginia. The ability of the blue catfish to tolerate a wide range of climates and brackish water has allowed it to thrive in Virginia's rivers, lakes, tributaries, and the Chesapeake Bay. īlue catfish skeleton ( Museum of Osteology) Blue catfish are one of the only species of fish in the Mississippi river basin able to eat adult Asian carp. Catching their prey becomes all the more easy if it is already wounded or dead, and blue catfish are noted for feeding beneath marauding schools of striped bass in open water in reservoirs or feeding on wounded baitfish that have been washed through dam spillways or power-generation turbines. Diet īlue catfish are opportunistic predators and eat any species of fish they can catch, along with crawfish, freshwater mussels, frogs, and other readily available aquatic food sources. Blue catfish also have barbels, a deeply forked tail, and a protruding upper jaw. A blue catfish has 30–36 rays, whereas a channel catfish has 25–29. The best way to tell the difference between a channel catfish and a blue catfish is to count the number of rays on the anal fin. Blue catfish are heavy bodied, blueish gray in color, and have a dorsal hump. Identification īlue catfish are often misidentified as channel catfish. The fish was caught in the Ohio River and weighed 104 lb. The Indiana record for a blue catfish was set in 1999 by Bruce Midkiff. The record-setting catfish was pulled in using a sausage with a circle hook. The catfish was pulled in on Jon the Potomac River. Įxtreme hand-lining expert Zachary Gustafson holds the record for hand-lining in a 107-lb blue catfish on 15-lb-test braided line. Cronley used a rod and reel, using skipjack herring bait. On April 7, 2022, Eugene Cronley of Brandon, Mississippi caught a 131 pound specimen near Natchez, Mississippi. This record broke the previous blue catfish record of 121.5 lb caught from Lake Texoma, Texas. The previous angling world record, 124 lb, was caught by Tim Pruitt on May 22, 2005, in the Mississippi River. Charles, helped land the world-record fish. Greg's girlfriend, Janet Momphard, a nurse from St. On July 20, 2010, a yet-to-be-certified new world record blue catfish was caught by Greg Bernal of Florissant, Missouri, on the Missouri River. The fish is the largest blue catfish ever weighed on a certified scale in South Carolina, but it is not eligible for state record certification because it was not caught on a rod and reel. On February 7, 2012, a 136-lb blue catfish was caught on a commercial-fishing trot line in Lake Moultrie, one of the two Santee Cooper lakes, near Cross, South Carolina. The fish had a length of 57 in (145 cm) and a girth of 47 in (120 cm). On June 22, 2011, the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries certified the blue catfish as the state's largest, setting a new state record. On June 18, 2011, Nick Anderson of Greenville, North Carolina reeled in a 143-lb blue catfish from John Kerr Reservoir, more commonly known as Buggs Island Lake, on the Virginia-North Carolina border. Blue catfish can tolerate brackish water, and thus can colonize along inland waterways of coastal regions. The fish is considered an invasive pest in some areas, particularly the Chesapeake Bay. This fish is also found in some lakes in Florida. These large catfish have also been introduced in a number of reservoirs and rivers, notably the Santee Cooper lakes of Lake Marion and Lake Moultrie in South Carolina, the James River in Virginia, Powerton Lake in Pekin, Illinois, and Lake Springfield in Springfield, Illinois. The native distribution of blue catfish is primarily in the Mississippi River drainage, including the Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee, and Arkansas Rivers, The Des Moines River in South Central Iowa, and the Rio Grande, and south along the Gulf Coast to Belize and Guatemala. ![]() The typical length is about 25–46 in (64–117 cm). The blue catfish ( Ictalurus furcatus) is the largest species of North American catfish, reaching a length of 165 cm (65 in) and a weight of 68 kg (150 lb). Native distribution of Ictalurus furcatus
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