Thread: Side effects of blue cats on local water?

and gar too!

Hard to say. There are several species already over crappie and bream on the food chain on the river. It may be a small effect or it could be massive. Do You know how the Blue cats got here?CF

Yes they eat them. Live bream is an excellent bait for big blues.

I cat fish in the James mostly in the winter time for the big blues. I can tell you that their main food source is gizzard shad which there's plenty of in our rivers. Bream are used mostly in the upper james for flatheads in shallower water.

Originally Posted by crappiefarmer

Hard to say. There are several species already over crappie and bream on the food chain on the river. It may be a small effect or it could be massive. Do You know how the Blue cats got here?CF

I wash told that ther were stock by the state. I dont know that for sure

I don't think the catfish populations on the Albemarle Sound and its Tributaries is affecting the overall fish population as much as the gar population. There ain't many places on the Perquimans river that you can stop without seeing em coming to the top. I know of several holes up river that they get so thick during the winter, that it's almost impossible to troll for stripers. They will black out your entire fishfinder sometimes. Not uncommon to hook two or three in the mouth and snag a handful more in an all day trip. As for the blue cats, I think the chowan river has more than the rest of the rivers, especially the larger ones. I know there are some 40+ lbers in there. I don't mind the blue cats, fun to catch and good eatin, but I would just as soon all the gar floated to the surface for good.

You are right about the PQ and the Chowan. There by far more on the Chowan to the sound bridge. Tried jiggin for stripers on the bridge and ended up with about 250lbs of cats. All caught on jigs. No stripers. Have you ever heard of that.

What are the gar eating? They can be eating too much with that tiny mouth.