How to get a blue cat?

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Blue cats, historically, achieved wels-like size. There are reliable reports on shipping manifests (which would benefit from downplaying the size of the fish) and from naturalists of 300+ pound fish in the late 1800s! Ictalurus furcatus is a victim of commerical overfishing. A wild fish is lucky to make it 2-3 years before being harvested in most watersheds.

I have kept them before. I absolutely adore them! Blue cats are incredibly active and aware for catfish. They don't sit on the bottom all day like most do; they're always out patrolling. The LOVE current. The more and the stronger, the better. I've found that at tropical temperatures, these fish are voracious predators and honestly, quite dangerous to keep with your expensive tropicals. Their predatory aggression is second to none, though at temperate temps of around 70*, this isn't as much of a problem. It goes hand in hand with their voracious spring and summer feeding.

These fish will be trouble unless you're ready for them. They grow like a RTC, have a temperament like a jau, an appetite like a wels and they swim like an IDS. They may be one of the best secrets of the fishkeeping community, but honestly, its probably for the best that it stays that way.

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Chicxulub said:
Blue cats, historically, achieved wels-like size. There are reliable reports on shipping manifests (which would benefit from downplaying the size of the fish) and from naturalists of 300+ pound fish in the late 1800s! Ictalurus furcatus is a victim of commerical overfishing. A wild fish is lucky to make it 2-3 years before being harvested in most watersheds.

I have kept them before. I absolutely adore them! Blue cats are incredibly active and aware for catfish. They don't sit on the bottom all day like most do; they're always out patrolling. The LOVE current. The more and the stronger, the better. I've found that at tropical temperatures, these fish are voracious predators and honestly, quite dangerous to keep with your expensive tropicals. Their predatory aggression is second to none, though at temperate temps of around 70*, this isn't as much of a problem. It goes hand in hand with their voracious spring and summer feeding.

These fish will be trouble unless you're ready for them. They grow like a RTC, have a temperament like a jau, an appetite like a wels and they swim like an IDS. They may be one of the best secrets of the fishkeeping community, but honestly, its probably for the best that it stays that way.

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wow, so the 143lb'er was only half-grown? insane. Why is it that fishermen recommend cut-bait over live bait as opposed to Flatheads? Have you also heard such monstrous sizes achieved by Flatheads as well?

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I know i'm forgetting some major players when it comes to owning big catfish.....help me out guys, who'd I forget to alert?
 
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Looking at it objectively, blue cats have been in essence artificially bred for two centuries for smaller size. Both fisherman and the commercial fisheries based around these fish target the biggest specimens that they can aquire; slot limits didn't exist back then. It is a destinct possibility that after two centuries of incredibly heavy fishing pressure, the genetic potential for a blue to get that large may not even exist anymore. I certainly hope that's not the case, and that there are some true monsters lurking in a reservoir somewhere.

I've never seen historical reports of flatties of similar size to the historical blues.

As to the feeding behavior of blues vs flatties, one must consider their preferred habitat and feeding behavior. First and foremost, both fish are apex predators in their environment. The way that their habitats affect their feeding behavior is where we get the differences in their bait.

When dealing with flatties, we have fish that prefer highly turbid backwaters and lakes with still water. These fish tend to inhabit logs and other structure, hiding in wait for a live fish to swim by. They're classic sit-and-wait ambush hunters, feeling for the vibration and scent of their live prey. So for a flattie, cut bait smells nice, but lacks the vibrations that trigger a strike in still water.

Blues are effectively the opposite. They inhabit the channels of large rivers, in the places with the highest dissolved oxygen and flow. They tend to hang out right behind a rock or bridge pylon or something in the leeward part of the flow, but as soon as they smell something go by, they dart out, grab it and go back to their lee. So for a blue hiding out in violently flowing water, smell is more important than the vibrations. Think of it as on fish living in a quite place listening for something quiet, while the other lives in a noisy factory. It relies on another means to accomplish the same ends.
 
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My experience in fishing for both, I have never caught a blue anywhere besides the MO river. I have never caught a flathead in it, but others catch them. I have caught many flats in the slow, quiet Platte river but never a blue. Both have only been caught on sunfish I catch in the pond at a local park.
 
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Chicxulub said:
Great resource, Viktor! :D

I really want to do a write up on US native cats too I think.
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I'd be interested in knowing the relation between Blue and Channel cats and why they are soooooo similar in everything except size and how close are they REALLY related?....like can they hybridize or what? And why are there different variations of Channel cats.....like from your LFS the "Blue Channel Catfish".....I know it's a Channel and not a Blue, but where did this terminology come from? And what about the other "__________ Channel catfish" variants?
 
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