I am trying to catch baby catfish to put into my aqurium. I would really like to have a baby blue, baby channel, or a baby flathead but i dont know how to go about catching them. I love catfish and would like to study there behaivor and also there eating habits. Any ideas of how i can go about getting me some. I live down in south georgia and i would like to get one out of my local river system.
thanks
How to catch baby catfish
Started by
Guest_whiskerlipripper09_*
, Jun 16 2012 10:49 PM
10 replies to this topic
#2
Guest_gzeiger_*
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Posted 16 June 2012 - 11:54 PM
What are you going to do with them when they grow up? Those fish get BIG!
In South Carolina I've caught babies in areas where full sun has driven them into hiding in a relatively small area of vegetation. In one case it was a willow tree trailing branches in the water in the middle of an otherwise bare sand riverbank, and the other was a broad, shallow drainage ditch where I found an occasional young catfish among clumps of algae on the bottom. I think it's actually getting to be late in the year for these that far south - they should be growing fast now. I remember catching them in February/March I think. I'm not sure how much experience you have with these, but I actually found it difficult to identify very small ones in the net. Their fins, and sometimes even tails, stick flat against their sides so it's hard to even see that it's a fish. And they hide in the algae wad in the bottom of the net. Sift through the vegetation carefully before tossing it back.
It takes patience - they don't generally occur in great numbers in my experience.
In South Carolina I've caught babies in areas where full sun has driven them into hiding in a relatively small area of vegetation. In one case it was a willow tree trailing branches in the water in the middle of an otherwise bare sand riverbank, and the other was a broad, shallow drainage ditch where I found an occasional young catfish among clumps of algae on the bottom. I think it's actually getting to be late in the year for these that far south - they should be growing fast now. I remember catching them in February/March I think. I'm not sure how much experience you have with these, but I actually found it difficult to identify very small ones in the net. Their fins, and sometimes even tails, stick flat against their sides so it's hard to even see that it's a fish. And they hide in the algae wad in the bottom of the net. Sift through the vegetation carefully before tossing it back.
It takes patience - they don't generally occur in great numbers in my experience.
#3
Guest_whiskerlipripper09_*
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Posted 17 June 2012 - 08:01 AM
Thanks man i have experience noodling for catfish i have been doing that for a pretty good little while but never went and caught any babies. Ill have to start looking for em around march of next year. and well most fish that i have seen only grow as big as there enviroment is so i dont think they will get to terribly big. And whenever i have seen young catfish i never see em in great numbers when i noodled i would see one or two at the most together along the sides of the bank but never could catch em.
#4
Guest_joemueller_*
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Posted 17 June 2012 - 03:39 PM
Flatheads don't play nice in the aquarium with other fish. I had one once and it ripped the bullheads and channel catfish to shreds. sorta need a separate tank for it. I have caught baby bullheads and channels in minnow traps using hot dogs. I have caught a few small flatheads using a seining net in large creeks. Baby blue cats look exactly like baby channels (like 1 inch long) and its really hard to tell the difference.
#5
Guest_Draros_*
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Posted 17 June 2012 - 06:09 PM
Catfish, at least from my experience, are mainly active at night. I have two madtoms, and in the past have had a catfish.You really won't see much of them if you give them an option. They prefer to find a cave, or hole in your tank and stay there. As other people have mentioned they don't play well with others. If the other fish in the tank aren't bigger than them, don't expect them to live long. From my experience even the fish that are bigger tend to die. I'm not sure if it's because my Lepomis or my madtoms chase after them, but it's not pretty. When I go to feed my fish they typically eat about half of the 10 to 15 fish I put in there, and stress the other half to death, including the ones which are too big to fit in their mouths.
#6
Michael Wolfe
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Posted 17 June 2012 - 08:28 PM
I hate to be a kill-joy here, but I think you said you were in Georgia and, although I have not read the regulations recently on noodling, I do think that at least a couple fo the fish you mentioned may be considered game fish in Georgia and so have to be taken with a hook and line. There is no size limit on catfish as far as I can remember, but you cannot seine game fish. Again, I do not want to kill your conversaiton, but I do want us all to stay legal!
Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin
#7
Guest_exasperatus2002_*
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Posted 18 June 2012 - 10:45 AM
Edited by Drew, 18 June 2012 - 11:59 AM.
See Michael's post above...
#8
Guest_joemueller_*
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Posted 18 June 2012 - 07:34 PM
good to know. Would you happen to know the logic behind that law about seining game fish - just interested.I hate to be a kill-joy here, but I think you said you were in Georgia and, although I have not read the regulations recently on noodling, I do think that at least a couple fo the fish you mentioned may be considered game fish in Georgia and so have to be taken with a hook and line. There is no size limit on catfish as far as I can remember, but you cannot seine game fish. Again, I do not want to kill your conversaiton, but I do want us all to stay legal!
#9
Michael Wolfe
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Posted 19 June 2012 - 08:42 AM
I'm not totally familiar, but I would guess that it is considered a form of 'poaching'... if these are supposed to be game or sport fish... it would not be very sporting to round them up in large seines... the role of some state agencies is to support the rod and reel fishing sport. As such, they want to see these fish grow up to catchable size and provide the sport with fun-to-catch fish. In Georgia, this applies to fish such as largemouth bass as well as trout. They would not want to see someone seine a pond and remove every single fish for a huge fish fry. This is also the likely reason behind limits on the size and mesh of seines.
Many (maybe all) of our laws are not really aimed at what we do... they are aimed at regulating the hunting and fishing hobbies.
Many (maybe all) of our laws are not really aimed at what we do... they are aimed at regulating the hunting and fishing hobbies.
Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin
#10
Guest_Skipjack_*
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Posted 19 June 2012 - 09:09 AM
Every local hatchery sells channels. They can also be found frequently in aquarium stores. Madtoms would be a much better choice. Flatheads for instance grow to 100+ pounds. Their life span is generally regarded as up to 20 years. So this fish in the right conditions packs on a lot of size very quickly. Not what you want long term in a home aquarium.
#11
Guest_jblaylock_*
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Posted 20 June 2012 - 11:58 AM
I agree with Matt, Madtoms are the way to go in this situation if you want to study their behavior and eating habits.
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