# Potomac River - Blue Cats... Blue Cats... Blue Cats..... everywhere!



## DauntlessRV (Aug 15, 2012)

Hi! So I go down to one of the spots I like on the Tidal Potomac yesterday around 04:30 PM. Around Fort Washington area. There is a fellow there pulling blue cat after cat out of the river. Says he came down a day or two ago and pulled 17 decent sized cats out of the river and brought them home to DC in two buckets... handed them out. Now he is back and pulling cats out of the river yet again. I throw in a line with some shrimp on a hook. And sure enough there are blue cats there for me as well. I pull seven decent sized fish (say 20-26 inches or so out of the water). While I am dangling bait in the water with one rod, I am dragging lures through the water with another rod trying to get OTHER fish... NOT catfish. But there are NO other fish responding to my lures and when I turn around... my catfish rod is bending and moving again and I have to run back and attend to it. I stay from 04:30 P.M. till nearly 10:00 P.M. but just cats jumping on my line. 

So why are there soooo many blue Cats in the Potomac and where are all the other fish?


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## MetroMan (Mar 7, 2009)

Invasive species with a voracious appetite! Fun pullage!! I did a lot of catfishing further south (bushwood) earlier in the year from my kayak.


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## DauntlessRV (Aug 15, 2012)

They are weird fish! They look like they seriously need glasses. Look dumb as can be. I cast into the water and had them hit bait just after the splash. Like some kind of feeding bluefish or something. But I can't get a bite from other fish on my lures.


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## seemoreglass (Jul 19, 2012)

Thanks for the report. I may head down there soon and I was surprised to see that MD fish consumption says it's ok to eat 3 meals a month from blue cats out of the potomac. Looks like the other types of cats should be avoided though. Anyone know why its ok to eat blue cats and not others? Also, is there any easy way to spot a blue cat from the other species of catfish?


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## DauntlessRV (Aug 15, 2012)

Yes... On the consumption issue.... Blue Cats eat more and grow faster and probably are less likely to absorb whatever toxins are in the sediment, etc. They look very healthy coming out of the water, no sores or anything. Better than the channel cats! As to spotting them, they really are blue and also, their fin underneath is squared off and not rounded like a channel cat. If you go online and look it up, it will show you what fin I am talking about and the difference in appearance of the fin. But they are very, very blue!


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## DauntlessRV (Aug 15, 2012)

And they have bad vision and look stupid. Channel cats look a bit smarter.


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## bloodworm (Jan 5, 2007)

MetroMan said:


> Invasive species with a voracious appetite! Fun pullage!! I did a lot of catfishing further south (bushwood) earlier in the year from my kayak.


Are the blue cats plentiful there like Ft Washington. I never need to go there for croakers since I'm minutes away from Solomons but I might try going there since its closer of a drive for me and nothing much else bites besides cats and Crappie in the dead of winter


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## greasemonkey54 (May 12, 2010)

Are cats active all winter long or is this a limited time opportunity?


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## bigjim5589 (Jul 23, 2005)

Catfish can be very active in the winter, but like with any other fish they're cold bloodied, so it depends on the water temps. A friend, now passed, & I used to fish for Channel cats in some of the Eastern Shore rivers throughout the winter, and did very well sometimes. Warm days were always better than cold days, and the bite would often not get started until later in the day after the Sun got up good, but we caught cats all winter long. We used cut up chunks of fresh veal liver soaked in garlic powder for bait most of the time. The veal liver stays on the hook real good.


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## dallison (Oct 8, 2012)

I live in Richmond and thats about all I ever catch on the James River. They do bite well in the Winter. Put a chunk of gizzard shad on a big 8/0 circle hook with a heavy weight and you can catch 50 pounders...
There is a fish advisory for eating them on the James River...at least here in RVA. People eat them though. 
I'm going to give the Potomac a try soon. I fish year round so I'm always looking for good spots..
Maryland or Virginia


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## MetroMan (Mar 7, 2009)

bloodworm said:


> Are the blue cats plentiful there like Ft Washington. I never need to go there for croakers since I'm minutes away from Solomons but I might try going there since its closer of a drive for me and nothing much else bites besides cats and Crappie in the dead of winter


I honestly see more reports of bigger blue cats from the Ft Washington area. We went down there a few times and caught the good "eating size", most under 24".


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## DauntlessRV (Aug 15, 2012)

Someone pulled something like an 80lb cat out of the River around Fort Washington this Summer. Not that I want cats that big. As you indicate, 18" to 24" makese more sense if you are going to take them home. Although I did see a Philipino-American family go home with some huge cats from around Alexandria a month or two ago. They caught about five or six and the biggest was about 25 lbs or more I would say. I saw the fish and it was plenty big. They took them all home and must have been cleaning catfish for a good few hours into the night. And that was not on heavy tackle either.


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## MetroMan (Mar 7, 2009)

I bet that was a fun fight for them.


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## DauntlessRV (Aug 15, 2012)

Yes. They were one HAPPY family! Grandpa, Grandma, Pa, Ma, children... all taking home a huge plastic bag full of catfish! They had some good family eating that week.


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## seemoreglass (Jul 19, 2012)

So, I went out to my favorite spot for a few hours and boy am I glad I did!!!!!




























I caught 6 in total and had a few other misses. These are blues, right? Any guess on how big the big one is? I released him and kept a few 20 inchers for dinner. Here's the full album.


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## DauntlessRV (Aug 15, 2012)

Oh yes! Those are definitely Blue Cats! Where were you (approximately)? Potomac River? From MD shore? The big one looks like a 20-30 pounder to me. Good show!


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## seemoreglass (Jul 19, 2012)

Fort Washington area. Yeah, I was so excited about the catch that I didn't even notice the big guy had the rig in his mouth still! My personal best.


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## bolo (Sep 30, 2010)

*Congrats*

Looks like putting the time in is paying off.


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## RuddeDogg (Mar 20, 2004)

Nice work. Sounds like ya had a good time.


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## zam (Jun 16, 2004)

This is a story about the same charter capt that took me fishing for Blue cats. I caught 15 cats the day I went with him, 10 of them were citations over 30lbs
http://www.boatus.com/angler/magazine/2012/fall/tidal_river_cat_show.asp


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## MetroMan (Mar 7, 2009)

Excellent read zam, thanks for sharing that article.


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## DauntlessRV (Aug 15, 2012)

How did you catch ten cats over 30 lbs? Where did he take you? Back to some prehistoric time where there were monsters in the seas? Actually I am not doubting you.... just wondering where all these monsters are... Potomac? Did you eat all that catfish? That would be about 400 lbs of catfish (all fifteen). Dressed down to meat that would be about 250 lbs of meat. Did you clean your plate?


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## DauntlessRV (Aug 15, 2012)

New rule! Anyone who pulls a catfish out of the water.... MUST eat it!! That is the rules of Piers and Surf.com. Or else you are drummed out! And sent to North Korean Reeducation Camp.


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## MetroMan (Mar 7, 2009)

DauntlessRV said:


> How did you catch ten cats over 30 lbs? Where did he take you? Back to some prehistoric time where there were monsters in the seas? Actually I am not doubting you.... just wondering where all these monsters are... Potomac? Did you eat all that catfish? That would be about 400 lbs of catfish (all fifteen). Dressed down to meat that would be about 250 lbs of meat. Did you clean your plate?


Check out the charter captain's website toward the bottom of that article. Citation catfish are catch, photo & release on his trips.


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## zam (Jun 16, 2004)

DauntlessRV said:


> How did you catch ten cats over 30 lbs? Where did he take you? Back to some prehistoric time where there were monsters in the seas? Actually I am not doubting you.... just wondering where all these monsters are... Potomac? Did you eat all that catfish? That would be about 400 lbs of catfish (all fifteen). Dressed down to meat that would be about 250 lbs of meat. Did you clean your plate?


Capt Josh knows his stuff, he garrentees that you will catch a citation over 30lbs. he said a lot of people acuse him of lying, but he doesn't. I was lucky enough to have a trip on a better then average day, but he always gets big ones. I didn't want to eat any, I just wanted to catch a big one. my trip was on the James but he claims the potomac is even better. heres a story on my blog I did last year about the trip http://zamsfishing.blogspot.com/2012/01/river-monsters-james-river-catfish.html


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## DauntlessRV (Aug 15, 2012)

I am going to read your blog! No kidding. When I get out of work! And I was only joking and carrying on about eating all that catfish. 

Thanks. R-


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## jnmcknig (Jun 9, 2012)

I want to chime in on how great captain Josh is... I went on 3 trips with him (took my wife once, my brothers once, and a farewell-to-the-east-coast trip one time). On my first trip we got 12 fish over 30 pounds including a 42, 47, 55, and 64! Each time we caught more than 10 over 30 pounds - each time we caught at least 1 over 50 pounds. Over the 3 trips, we caught more than 40 fish >30 pounds (more than 10 were bigger than 40, 5 were 50 or larger, and one was a 64 pound beast). These trips were on the Potomac (in September, April, and July). 

After my first trip I bought myself some catfish gear and was regularly catching 20+ catfish from the bank... Still I kept going back out on Josh's boat (since I have no boat) and since I really wanted to support his guide service - he is just an amazing and fun guy and made my wife & brothers enjoy the fishing as much as I did. (I'll never forget watching my wife fight and pull in a 55 pound blue catfish). I wish I was still on the east coast to fish with him again. He knows exactly where the monsters live year-round.


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## greasemonkey54 (May 12, 2010)

I fished around the Ft Washington area today and I caught my 1st blue cat ever! It was a 21 inch fish on cut spot and boy did it fight! There was another guy who had 2 around 25inches and 10lbs each. I also caught one little channel cat.


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## finn74 (Jul 24, 2001)

I fished a little north of Fort Wash last Saturday with a couple of buddies. Baits were as follows: Night Crawler, shrimp, cut spot and beef liver. The bite was slow on a falling tide but we did manage to pull in 1 blue. It was also kind of chilly out on the water.


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## Windrift00 (Jun 4, 2011)

Man I didn't know Ft. Washington was hitting this hard on Cat. Anyone have a locaiton I should head too in Ft Washington? Can I get a tip! I have a 5 day weekend and would love to head over for some fishing action in between hunting trips.


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## gogorome (May 22, 2009)

Windrift00 said:


> Man I didn't know Ft. Washington was hitting this hard on Cat. Anyone have a locaiton I should head too in Ft Washington? Can I get a tip! I have a 5 day weekend and would love to head over for some fishing action in between hunting trips.


National colonial Farm in ft. wash, md.. theres a pier.. google as needed


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## gogorome (May 22, 2009)

Went out in ft. wash with some folk.. used some ol' frozen LY.. between all of us ended up with about 7 blue cats.. biggest being a 31 in. 13 lber .. all caught within 2 hr. span of the incoming.. 
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/rdwwTmanTRXScYAL4Sn2xgQtvnY1deCIGiRGSDVqShE?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-mwBoHsE9OQQ/UK470xJHOWI/AAAAAAAAAg0/2mS5HZCKdeQ/s144/firstfish.jpg" height="144" width="108" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/107220079597622087331/Fishing2012?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCJSwp63_mbm0zgE&feat=embedwebsite">Fishing 2012</a></td></tr></table>

<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/aDs_PPiGZO16dox8MXRRsAQtvnY1deCIGiRGSDVqShE?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-Zg0NnKEx4J0/UK49L4jTSnI/AAAAAAAAAhg/lyh3tXn3liw/s144/twentyfours.jpg" height="144" width="108" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/107220079597622087331/Fishing2012?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCJSwp63_mbm0zgE&feat=embedwebsite">Fishing 2012</a></td></tr></table>


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## Windrift00 (Jun 4, 2011)

gogorome said:


> National colonial Farm in ft. wash, md.. theres a pier.. google as needed


Awesome, thanks!


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