Camping and Outdoors Blog | Channel Catfish

Channel Catfish

By Justin on July 13, 2007

Under Fishing | Comments Off

Channel Catfish

Channel Catfish (Ictalurus punctatus)
“Channel Cat, Spotted Cat”

Range and Description:
One of the more common varieties of Catfish, Channel Catfish
prefer lakes and larger rivers with clear bottoms of sand, gravel
or stones, and mud flats but tend to stay away from weedy areas,
also lives in the deeper, slower pools of swift, clear-running
streams. In large reservoirs, they are often found below dams
where they feed on food swept down to them.

Identify:
Channel Cats have a sleek and slender body type with a defined
and forked tail. They’re bodies are usually a gray silver with
some blue hues, usually with many dark spots. This fish has an
upper jaw that is longer than the lower. And the most defining
aspect of the Catfish are the “Whiskers” or barbels to be
technical, which makes them resemble a cat.

Identify Male / Female:
Again physically identifying and distinguishing between male and
female fish is a hard thing to do and its no different when
looking at the Channel Catfish. One of way of figuring this out
though is to look at the head, males tend to have a larger broad
and muscular head, while females have a narrower and less
muscular one. Besides this the only way to determine the sex of
the fish would be looking at the genitals.

Fishing Tips:

• Channel Catfish prefer live bait over anything
  artificial.
• Most Catfish like other fish are not randomly positioned in
  lakes and streams but are in certain areas that must be sought
  out.
• You Can catch catfish year round.
• Live bait is best for catfish over 3 lbs
• Cheese is an alternative and effective bait for fish 10-16
  inches in length.

By Jesse G. Roland