Home » Tag Archives: Blue Catfish

Tag Archives: Blue Catfish

Big Cats!

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My buddy and co-blogger Greg Wagner posted a great blog on catch & release again last week.  I know a lot of people see his “stuff”, but I want to spread it around even more.  So, yes, again I am being lazy, Greg already did the work, all I am doing is suggesting you follow the link and READ IT! Release Big Catfish Unharmed Greg does a great job explaining why the release of fish, especially big fish is important.  …

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Summer Field Work

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I actually escaped the office a week or so ago and helped with some field work!  I got to smell fishy again! Mostly I just want to show you some pictures of the fish we were sampling, flathead catfish at Branched Oak Reservoir.  However, I realize there might be some who read this and want more information, so let me recommend a previous blog if you want to know why we were doing this sampling:  Branched Oak Flatheads. Once again …

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Catfish Rut

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A couple of weeks ago one of my many fishing contacts suggested that there are a lot of misconceptions about the spawn period for our big three catfish species, blue, channel and flathead.  He thought that might be a good topic for a blog post and I agree with him! Our large catfish species in Nebraska are definitely warm-water fish.  In fact, they are some of the slowest-growing fish in our waters because they are warm-water fish, and we are …

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Catfish ID

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Judging from the messages, e-mails, phone calls, and just general “chatter” I have heard this morning, I can tell you the channel cats are getting close to spawning.  Why do I say that?  Because every year about this time there are a bunch of mistaken identifications of “funny-looking” catfish.  Simply put, male channel cats get fat heads and darker colors during the spawn, and some folks not used to seeing that mistakenly believe those fish are “blue cats”.  So, if …

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What Lurks Beneath, June 2018

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It has been awhile since I have teased you with photos of some of the big fish that our field biologists have had their hands on.  Time to change that. . . . We do a lot of our fish population sampling in the fall, but there is also some that is done in the spring and summer.  Again let me say that when pointy-headed fisheries biologists are sampling fish they are NOT just trying to catch the biggest ones, …

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You Cannot Judge a Catfish by its Colors

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Happens every year about this time, I hear reports of folks catching “blue” catfish, here, there, lots of different waters.  Problem is, they really ain’t blue catfish.  They are just big ole male channel catfish getting ready to spawn.  So, if you will bear with me playing the role of pointy-headed fish biologist, again, for a bit, let me give a little lesson in fish identification. . . . We have three large catfish species in Nebraska waters, channel, blue …

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What Lurks Beneath, June 2017

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Once again I want to give you an update on the sampling activities of our Game & Parks Commission fisheries biologists and give you an idea of some of the fish they are seeing out there! You know my usual disclaimer, when fisheries biologists are sampling fish we do NOT necessarily go out and just try to collect the biggest fish.  Anglers as a group will see more big fish, and often the biggest fish because anglers target big fish. …

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What’s Biting? Blue Catfish!

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Wanna share with you some things I have been seeing on the interwebby lately.  Blue catfish are the coolest of our large catfish species.  When I say that I do not mean they wear shades, I mean they are the most active in cold water.  Sure, we get some excellent channel catfish fishing around Nebraska as soon as the ice is gone, and channels can be dried off through the ice too.  But, big predatory blue catfish are actually very …

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Motivation

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If you need it, there are all kinds of books, videos, and speakers available today to help you get motivated.  Motivated to do what?  I do not know, I guess motivated to do whatever you want to do, whoever you want to be. I want to catch big fish. Nothing motivates me more than some pictures or better yet, videos. . . . I know these videos have been present on the internet for at least a few days already, …

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State Record Update, May 2016

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I have a few state record applications laying on my desk; time for the first state record update of 2016! So far all of the applications have been for fish caught by rod & reel.  Let me tell you about them in the order in which they came in: Tiger Trout If you have not heard about the Tiger Trout being stocked in Nebraska waters by now, take a minute and review, Tigers.  We started recognizing state record Tiger Trout back …

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