Everything about The Blue Catfish totally explained
The
blue catfish,
Ictalurus furcatus, is one of the largest species of
North American
catfish. Blue catfish are distributed primarily in the
Mississippi River drainage including the
Missouri,
Ohio,
Tennessee, and
Arkansas rivers. 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 and the
James River in
Virginia also in Powerton Lake in Pekin Illinois. The current angling world record is 124 pounds and was caught by Tim Pruitt on
May 22,
2005, in the
Mississippi River.
Blue catfish are opportunistic
predators and will eat any species of fish they can catch, along with
crayfish, freshwater
mussels,
frogs, and other readily available aquatic food sources (some blue catfish have reportedly attacked
scuba divers.) Catching their prey becomes all the more easy if it's already wounded or dead, and blue cats 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.
Due to their opportunistic nature, blue catfish will usually take advantage of readily accessible food in a variety of situations, which from the angler's perspective makes
cutbaits,
deadbaits, and even
stinkbaits an excellent choice to target these fish. Blue cats will also respond well to livebaits, with live river
herring and
shad usually a top choice followed by large shiner
minnows,
sunfish,
suckers, and
carp. All of the above baits can be used as fresh cutbaits with good success and freshwater drum also work well in this capacity. Generally a fairly large piece of cutbait (4-12 inches long) on a fairly large hook (3/0 to 9/0) is a good choice in rivers or reservoirs where large blue cats (20 pounds and up) are a possibility. Depending on current conditions sinkers ranging from 1/2 to 6 or 8 oz. may be required with 1-2 oz. a good choice for many situations. To catch large blue catfish in rivers the more current the better usually, although fishing along current edges and breaks is often a good option. Blue catfish tend to favor deeper water in larger rivers and reservoirs, but will make feeding and spawning forays into relatively shallow water.
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