# FYI Blue Catfish - Threat To Upper Bay



## catman (May 28, 2001)

While taking seine samples for the young of the year yellow perch this spring, biologists for the first time found blue catfish in their samples at the mouth of the Susky. The blue cat is an apex predator meaning it's at the top of the food chain. If it swims this brute will eat it making the snakehead seem like a pussy cat. Biologists are very concerened about the long term outcome since rock, largemouth bass, blue gills, yellow perch, shad, and herring spawn there.


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## Tommy Robinson (Feb 3, 2005)

Potomac has them. No problem catching a variety of big fish there including snakeheads. I say it's more bang for your buck.


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## ReelDeal (May 28, 2011)

I will welcome them!... if they make it this far. though the flatheads can grow to the size of a blue.


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## chesapeakecarper (Aug 22, 2003)

Some good reading here, lots of questions being asked and research being conducted by the fisheries folks. Damaging or not, spreading populations of introduced blue and flathead catfish in the Chesapeake add yet another factor in developing science-based fishery and management strategies along with land use and other watershed-wide circumstances.

http://www.vims.edu/people/latour_rj/pubs/Schloesser_et_al_2011.pdf
http://www.bayjournal.com/article.cfm?article=3658
http://archive.chesapeakebay.net/pubs/calendar/49012_06-07-11_Presentation_3_11322.pdf


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## chesapeakecarper (Aug 22, 2003)

catman said:


> Biologists are very concerened about the long term outcome since rock, largemouth bass, blue gills, yellow perch, shad, and herring spawn there.


The articles ask the same questions that popped into my head...do these catfish habits and seasonal patterns overlap the vulnerable spawning periods of some of these valuable species?
Regardless the answer it DOES add more possibilities to what the heck is peeling line off my reel :fishing:


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## zam (Jun 16, 2004)

Im kind of torn on this. on one hand it may be cool to have a bunch of big Blue cats around. I fished the James a couple weeks ago and caught Blues all day long, 10 of them were citations over 30lbs. But another thing I noticed on some of the james river forums is people complaining that catching shad for bait has become much harder to do and other species like channel cats have disapeared, when you see the size of those fish and the high numbers, they must be eating an incredible amount of fish to sustain themselves. theres a good chance many species of fish will disapear in the upper bay, including Stripers
But like I said, it may be cool to catch fish like this every day, from what the guide was telling me, he gets them a lot bigger then this one


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## 9 rock (Nov 30, 2008)

zam said:


> Im kind of torn on this. on one hand it may be cool to have a bunch of big Blue cats around. I fished the James a couple weeks ago and caught Blues all day long, 10 of them were citations over 30lbs. But another thing I noticed on some of the james river forums is people complaining that catching shad for bait has become much harder to do and other species like channel cats have disapeared, when you see the size of those fish and the high numbers, they must be eating an incredible amount of fish to sustain themselves. theres a good chance many species of fish will disapear in the upper bay, including Stripers
> But like I said, it may be cool to catch fish like this every day, from what the guide was telling me, he gets them a lot bigger then this one


There has been blue cats in the potomac for yrs and it has yet to effect any population of fish that I know of,, I think there are many more things to worry about before
the blue cat


9


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## zam (Jun 16, 2004)

Theres a good possibility there would be no problems, but every area is different. look at the asian carp for instance, for years they were in river systems like the Mississippi and people thought they were harmless, then almost over night there was a population explosion. even rivers like the potomac and even the james the fish really are still new to the waters, it could just take the right conditions and theres no telling what could happen


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## chesapeakecarper (Aug 22, 2003)

9 rock said:


> There has been blue cats in the potomac for yrs and it has yet to effect any population of fish that I know of,, I think there are many more things to worry about before
> the blue cat
> 
> 
> 9


I hafta agree with ya here to a point 9. Looking at the Chesapeake estuary (big scale) and the Susky watershed (smaller scale) there are other factors possibly more important than the presence of blue cats such as land use patterns, habitat destruction, quality of runoff and sedimentation and pollution loads and the like. These are over riding factors that determine if any fish at all can survive living in the Bay in the first place. Once we get over the QUANTITY of fish hump we can simultaneously explore the QUALITY of fish issue, and this IS different watershed to watershed because no two bodies of water are alike. But make no mistake, this is no strict linear relationship, its all interconnected in the ecosystem matrix with us opportunistic anglers at the top rung of the ladder, enjoying catching huge fish like in your pic.


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## fishnuttz (Jun 27, 2008)

zam said:


> Im kind of torn on this. on one hand it may be cool to have a bunch of big Blue cats around. I fished the James a couple weeks ago and caught Blues all day long, 10 of them were citations over 30lbs. But another thing I noticed on some of the James river forums is people complaining that catching shad for bait has become much harder to do and other species like channel cats have disappeared, when you see the size of those fish and the high numbers, they must be eating an incredible amount of fish to sustain themselves. theres a good chance many species of fish will disapear in the upper bay, including Stripers
> But like I said, it may be cool to catch fish like this every day, from what the guide was telling me, he gets them a lot bigger then this one


 I live here at the mouth of the Appomattox on the James and can tell you first hand that we can catch slobs like that all day. The problem is they are not a native specie. They in fact were brought too the James on purpose back in 1977 the year I was born. I have fished these and surrounding rivers all my life. I have witnessed the depletion of many species. The James river held consecutive Bass Master Classics They don't anymore because the bass are few and farther between. I remember catching 45 bass in 1 hr 45 min all between 2 and 6#s now Were lucky to catch 10 1# fish. So would I be cautious About welcoming all these non native fish? ( Ie snake heads/blue cats) Yes I am! Nobody eats these big cats It's also recommended not to eat them over 32 inches ( pcb's and other nasty stuff dumped in our water) So the bigguns just lie around eating .They need to have a predator and they don't . Every year just getting bigger and bigger eating more and more and multiplying.Just check they VA state record . And Yes bait is less abundant We also have more cat fisherman using gill nets instead of throw nets .(just an observation)


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## bloodworm (Jan 5, 2007)

They were put in the Potomac river years ago from what I heard from DNR


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## dena (Jun 20, 2010)

If anglers started harvesting those big slobs on sight, like we do the Snakeheads, Would it be enough to help the native fish?

It would be a shame to kill a big fish like that and not eat it, but it might come to that.


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## fishnuttz (Jun 27, 2008)

dena said:


> If anglers started harvesting those big slobs on sight, like we do the Snakeheads, Would it be enough to help the native fish?
> 
> It would be a shame to kill a big fish like that and not eat it, but it might come to that.


 I am Not saying we should start killing all or wasting any. I am just concerned about No predators . Will they eat all in the river than die off? Doughtful . Will they be the vast majority in the river probaly one day. I release all myself unless a bank fisherman will Eat it. Than I don't mind giving one away .  They are not Endangered around here :fishing:


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## Stink-bait (May 14, 2011)

dena said:


> If anglers started harvesting those big slobs on sight, like we do the Snakeheads, Would it be enough to help the native fish?
> 
> It would be a shame to kill a big fish like that and not eat it, but it might come to that.


That's what I was thinking. Something has to be the predator, you can always use it for fertilizer.


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## catman (May 28, 2001)

There are those in the marine environmental community that advocate killing them rather than releasing. I'm sorry but I couldn't kill something if I wasn't going to eat it. If & when they do get a foot hold in the cleaner upper bay waters I'd have no trouble eating them but definitely not from the Patomac


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## ReelDeal (May 28, 2011)

We caught a blue that weighted in at 75 pounds infront of Ft Washington... do they have any idea how old a blue cat of that size is? 

Any I too hear they brought the blues in to reduce the oyster population.... so what do they bring in to reduce the blues?? Let nature take its course.


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## 9 rock (Nov 30, 2008)

I would also like to point out that lets see how that looks in a couple of yrs ,, I know living here in chesapeake beach ,mid bay, there were alot of cat fish caught off the pier last yr
the amoont of fresh water dumped in from a record yr in rain fall aided in that


9


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## fishhead (Oct 18, 2004)

Eat them! They are tasty, as well as the flathead cats. Carve out the meat from the sides soon after catching them, then skin them. If you like fish at all then you will like these guys. If not, find someone to give the meat to ... it's a renewable resource, so make the best of it. If you're concerned about the fact that they are "bottom feeders", don't be too concerned, as these guys are gamefish in disguise and will attack swimming fish moreso than a lot of the other members of the cat family.


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