CatFish Tournament

[Dizz410]

Catfish Tournament March 21, 2015. Any body going to attend? single person kayaks are in land based group and only pay entry fee of 35$ apposed to the 100$ fee for Boats!

Fishing Tournament.jpg

[Romo]

I'm a CCA member but I'm against this catch and kill tourney nonsense.

[Dizz410]

I'm a CCA member but I'm against this catch and kill tourney nonsense.

I don't see a problem with it. the catfish are to be cooked there and are to be donated to food shelters.. others are to be used for research to help maintain the species. to me i see it as good chance to get out on yak and do what we do with chance to win some money.

[Rockchaser]

I will be there. Hopefully the river ice clears up and I can get a few days of prefishing in to check out the area.

[HokieDJ]

I'm a CCA member but I'm against this catch and kill tourney nonsense.

The blue cat fish is an invasive species and probably more damaging than the Snakehead considering the MD record is 84 lbs. It eats more of the fish that bass compete for then the so called monster Snakeheads.

[Donsail68]

Small and large mouth bass are an invasive species in Maryland as well. Catfish has been around lot longer than snakeheads in Potomac River thus explains the weight and size. However snakeheads are getting bigger and bigger. It's my opinion catfish are more of a picky eater than the snakeheads. A friend of mine who is a hardcore cat fisherman did an experiment using bass as a bait. Guess what? not one bite from the monster cats. I really think we and myself included really don't understand the dynamics of marine life and the impact caused by our actions.

[Dizz410]

I will be there. Hopefully the river ice clears up and I can get a few days of prefishing in to check out the area.

Let me know when you go out i would like to join if you dont mind.

[Rockchaser]

Sure thing. I may just take a day off work next week if the weather gets better.

[Dizz410]

Sure thing. I may just take a day off work next week if the weather gets better.

Ah Wish i could do that! haha

[LoudounFisher]

Small and large mouth bass are an invasive species in Maryland as well. Catfish has been around lot longer than snakeheads in Potomac River thus explains the weight and size. However snakeheads are getting bigger and bigger. It's my opinion catfish are more of a picky eater than the snakeheads. A friend of mine who is a hardcore cat fisherman did an experiment using bass as a bait. Guess what? not one bite from the monster cats. I really think we and myself included really don't understand the dynamics of marine life and the impact caused by our actions.

You clearly haven't had the pleasure of being present when fisheries biologists like John Odenkirk (VA) and Dan Ryan (DC) have spoken about snakeheads and blue cats.

First of all bass have been around way longer than blue cats.

Both biologists agree that snakeheads are not proving to be much of an issue, but blue cats are. Once blue cats reach a certain size they become almost completely piscivorous. And the bigger they are the bigger the fish they can eat. Dan Ryan heavily encouraged removing blue cats from the Potomac.

Blue cats seem to be enough of an issue that this group was organized.
http://www.chesapeakebay.net/groups/...ish_task_force

[Snakehead Hunter]

You should check out the Potomac river advisory about eating catfish. Last time I check, you shouldn't eat any catfish longer than 18"

[kevinfry]

Dr. Ictalarus did his master's work on catfish and he certainly feels harvesting cats is good for the environment...and especially good for NATIVE catfish species like white catfish.
Per advisory.....food bank recipients won't eat enough over the course of their year to worry about. Looks like this tourney is south of HHB.....above the bridge there are greater cautions. This area of Potomac is important to spawning/fry survival of rockfish so it is a good place to target for a catch and kill tourney. though hardly likely to make a big dent in the population

[Photocat]

The blue cat fish is an invasive species and probably more damaging than the Snakehead considering the MD record is 84 lbs. It eats more of the fish that bass compete for then the so called monster Snakeheads.

The Blue catfish aren't an invasive species... They have been documented in the Potomac since the late 70's and early 80's. It's only the last 10 years when the records have reached over 60 lbs that they have drawn attention, they have been breeding in the Patuxent River since at least 2007, and it's only since people have been catching them in other tributaries that Tom O'Connell (the one leading the charge against them) has had a real problem with them and wanted to see them gone.

The irony of the whole "lets get rid of these invasive species" is that the state breeds and stocks fish that are also non native, that destroy the naturalized species in many lakes and rivers yearly. Brown trout are stocked by the thousands and were a European import in the first place but are voracious carnivores eating anything they can fit in their mouths. Rainbow Trout were imported from out west and they are repeatedly added to the waters because rarely do they last past the warm summers. Common Carp were also brought from Europe introduced into Roland Park in Baltimore, then transported across the country to increase interest in fishing and has become a nuisance pest to many, yet they aren't persecuted like the Blue Catfish, and many are encouraged to be fished for. Nor do they change the recommendations for the limits of what you should be eating of them, just to allow, and encourage, them to be taken and eaten... I don't know how you can go from recommending that people eat no more than 1 portion of catfish a month, to take and eat it all (well they want you to take it, and frown on wasting them by just throwing them in the trashs).

As far as size is concerned, Stripers and Black Drum both have the potential to get as big if not larger than the majority of the Blue Catfish in the Potomac. The Red Drum get as large as the average trophy Blue Catfish as well. There are also increasing numbers of Bull Sharks being reported further up into the Bay than I can ever remember and with them reaching nearly 9 ft for the largest ones that have been caught so far.

[kevinfry]

What is your point photocat.... ????

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