Thread: Small fish.....

That's a keeper blue cat, you have really big hands Craig.. : Very cool picture!!

Craig I here a lot of noise about Blue Cats competing with flatheads and adversely effecting flathead populations. What are your thoughts

Originally Posted by Blackdog40

Craig I here a lot of noise about Blue Cats competing with flatheads and adversely effecting flathead populations. What are your thoughts

While flatheads and blue cats do eat similar prey items, they usually occupy different habitats in a reservoir so there isn't a whole lot of overlap as they are not always in the same place at the same time. Blue cats prefer the middle to the lower portions of the upper reaches of Kansas reservoirs while flatheads are most numerous in the most upper reaches.

I can't say that I've ever heard concern over blues vs. flats. The more common question is the impact of blue catfish introduction on channel catfish populations. At El Dorado the channel catfish population has always been fair at best. An age and growth study at El Dorado showed that channel catfish growth was poor and densities were below desired levels. Blue catfish grow to much larger sizes than channel catfish, blues feed more actively than channels during winter thus extending fishing opportunities over more months, much higher trophy potential with blues, anglers find blue catfish very good table fare, and growing popularity of blue catfish angling were all positive reasons to consider stocking blues.

Not to mention they eat amazing amounts of zebra mussels.

A Coffey County 2# blue yielded 2/3 rds of a coffee cup-full amount of Z's!!
I closely examined many blues lately to determine they somehow "extract" the "soft goodies" from inside the Z-shells and eliminate the hard shells from their anal openings. Within 1/4" of the opening, the shells are still mostly intact --- and sharp! Blues must have very, very durable skin.

On the other hand, based on exploration of the intestional tract on a freshwater drum, while not as "full" of Z's, they seem to be able to grind the Z's into small bits.

All great info guys. It's always wild to me that fish actually eat Zebra Mussels. And to hear the drum do as well is good news. Now to just keep guys from keeping short blues...have seen a lot of them cleaned at the fish cleaning station...I try to educate every time that there is a difference between a channel and a blue...not just the species, but the length and creel limits as well.

We've been having smallmouths puking up zebra shells in our livewells lately too. The redears are packed full of them in the lakes where the two coexist. Hopefully they all keep eating the dang things.

Dont worry about just the shorts being taken. It worries me how many big blues are pulled from Milford early in the year when their biting good. You have any thoughts on this Craig?

Originally Posted by eatmorfish

Not to mention they eat amazing amounts of zebra mussels.

A Coffey County 2# blue yielded 2/3 rds of a coffee cup-full amount of Z's!!
I closely examined many blues lately to determine they somehow "extract" the "soft goodies" from inside the Z-shells and eliminate the hard shells from their anal openings. Within 1/4" of the opening, the shells are still mostly intact --- and sharp! Blues must have very, very durable skin.

On the other hand, based on exploration of the intestional tract on a freshwater drum, while not as "full" of Z's, they seem to be able to grind the Z's into small bits.

Yes, blue catfish will feed upon zebra mussels and quite heavily at times, usually during the summer months and returning to a more piscivorous diet in the winter. Blue catfish lack the pharyngeal teeth that common carp, freshwater drum, and redear sunfish possess that aid in grinding the zebra mussel shells in to small particles. The blue catfish digestive system digests the soft tissue from within the zebra mussel shells leaving only the partially opened shells to be passed from the digestive tract. Carp, drum, and redear are capable of crushing and grinding the shells in to much smaller pieces. You can look at a CDC post from a couple years ago for more info and pics on blues eating zebra mussels http://www.crappie.com/crappie/ask-t...zebra-mussels/ .

Here's two pics of the contents of a common carp that was feeding on zebra mussels. Notice how much smaller the pieces of shell are after the pharyngeal teeth crush the shells.



Redear sunfish were stocked in to El Dorado reservoir for three years in an attempt to establish another sportfish species that would utilize zebra mussels as a food item and also be desirable to anglers. The introduction project failed and after the release of nearly 1 million redear sunfish over the three year period the introduction project was discontinued. El Dorado Reservoir did not have enough of the habitat required by redear sunfish.

I've also seen freshwater drum packed full of zebra mussels. During the peak of zebra mussel density at El Dorado in 2006 it was hard to find a carp or drum that was NOT full of zebra mussels!

Although many of our Kansas fish will eat zebra mussels the fish cannot eat enough of them to have much of impact on the zebra mussel population as the reproduction rate is just too high.

Great observations on the fish you have been catching!!