White Catfish (Fork-Tail) Info?

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R

ryansti

Candiru
MFK Member
Dec 2, 2008
286
1
48
Sacramento
Does anyone on here have a white catfish? (Ameiurus Catus aka Fork-Tail Catfish) A group of us have been fishing the delta near Sacramento and we always catch little 5-7 inch white catfish. I have been looking for info about them but every website has different info LOL I searched on here but didn't find much. I'd like to know how large they can get, best food for them and any other info about keeping one. :)
 
Found this....

http://ucce.ucdavis.edu/datastore/datastoreview/showpage.cfm?usernumber=111&surveynumber=241


  • Stout body
  • Forked tail with rounded lobes (top lobe longer than bottom)
  • Terminal mouth with 1 dark barbel on either side and 4 white chin barbels
  • Gray-blue to blue-black on the back and sides and white on belly, occasionally mottled
  • Can be pale when found in very turbid waters
  • 5-6 soft rays in the dorsal fin
  • 22-25 rays in anal fin
  • 8-9 soft rays and a spine with 11-15 sharp teeth in pectoral fins
  • 18-21 gill rakers on first arch
  • Head disproportionately large in fish over 40 cm




White catfish can be found in deep lakes and reservoirs and the sluggish sections of river and streams. They can be found in salinities up to 14.5 ppt and prefer temperatures over 20°C, surviving in water up to 31°C. In rivers they stay more than 2 m deep throughout the day but move to shallow vegetation beds at night. In lakes and reservoirs they shift depth with the seasons. In late spring and early summer they stay together between 3 m and 10 m deep but disperse into deeper regions as the summer goes on and by the time winter arrives they are spread out between 17 m and 30 m deep. This will change slightly if the lake’s temperatures become stratified. In this case white catfish will seek out areas greater than 21°C.
White catfish are mostly carnivorous bottom feeders starting on amphipods, shrimp and insect larvae as juveniles before shifting their diet towards fish and large invertebrates as they get larger. It is also not uncommon for catfish to scavenge carrion or swim to the surface to feed on planktivorous fish. The focus of a population’s diet depends mainly on what is available in the area leading to some important differences in growth rates. Adults from the south-central San Joaquin-Sacramento Delta will still include amphipods and opossum shrimp as a major portion of their diet, leading to a slower growth rate than other populations feeding mainly on fish. By age 8 these fish will have reached only 27 cm in length while their Sacramento River counterparts are 9-10 cm longer and ClearLake catfish are another 3 cm longer than that.
Maturity is reached at 20-21 cm or approximately 3-4 years old in California. They begin spawning in June and July when water temperatures are greater than 21°C and can sometimes continue into September. Nests are built by males out of sand or gravel, near vegetative cover or rocky, cave-like areas. Females lay 2,000-3,000 eggs that hatch a week later when temperatures are between 24°C and 29°C. The young will stay together, protected by the male, for a short period after hatching until they are large enough to disperse on their own.
 
Which part of the delta have you been fishing in?

As for my experience or white catfish, they are normally a little lighter in color, ranging anywhere from dark gray to very pale gray. Sometimes it looks almost white in very clean water which is when they are in their true color form.

You'll be able to tell if its a white or channel just by looking it...recognizing your gamefish with your own eyes makes you a better fisherman without searching this and that :)

With the forked tail thing, don't believe in that...I've caught channels with very deep forked tail.
 
BIG_ONE;2921894; said:
Which part of the delta have you been fishing in?

As for my experience or white catfish, they are normally a little lighter in color, ranging anywhere from dark gray to very pale gray. Sometimes it looks almost white in very clean water which is when they are in their true color form.

You'll be able to tell if its a white or channel just by looking it...recognizing your gamefish with your own eyes makes you a better fisherman without searching this and that :)

With the forked tail thing, don't believe in that...I've caught channels with very deep forked tail.
Click to expand...

We have been fishing that sand beach at Steamboat slough :)

Got this little one yesterday...His tail is forked with rounded tips and he is about 5 inches


l_7720bae97bb4430bbb186692dda80125.jpg
 
It looks like a bullhead...dont see the tail very clearly.
 
Looks like a channel to me my friend...there's a lot of channel in the Delta/Sac River that contains the same exact coloration and with a round looking forked tail.

Here's a tip for you, white catfish have a rounded anal fin compared to channel that is pretty straight foward with a blunt short head. But at that age, its hard to tell by looking at the head as channel head at that stage are the same as white. Need to look at the anal fins to identify this one.
 
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