The Greatest North American Catfish of All Time

If there’s such a factor as an “everyman’s fish” on a worldwide scale, it will in all probability be the catfish. Hearty, adaptable, and non-discriminating on the subject of meals, catfish have given anglers immense enjoyable over time. Catfish are caught on every thing from dwell bluegills and night time crawlers to “stink baits,” scorching canines, and hen livers—to call only a few standbys. It doesn’t harm that the majority species might be ready in a spread methods for the dinner desk. Within the South, they’re a staple of yard fish fries.

Bullheads are within the same family as catfish. Additionally prized for his or her style, they’re the smaller cousins of species like blue cats and flatheads.

Here’s a take a look at a number of the greatest North American catfish ever caught, together with a number of different notable catches, as recorded by the International Gamefish Association.

Blue Catfish: 143 Kilos

Richard Nicholas Anderson has the all-tackle world record with a 143-pound monster caught in Virginia’s Kerr Lake on June 18, 2011. Anderson’s fish measured 57 inches lengthy with a portly 44-inch girth. He was fishing with a Shakespeare Ugly Stick geared up with a Daiwa reel. The road model and weight is unspecified. He was drifting a bit of hen when the massive fish hit.

Blue catfish are native to the Mississippi, Missouri, and Ohio River methods, however they’ve confirmed to be adept predators wherever launched, particularly in Virginia and North Carolina. You’ll find them as far north as Minnesota and as far south as Mexico and northern Guatemala.

Blue, channel, and white cats are the one United States’ catfish species which have distinctly forked tails. Flatheads have squarish tails. Blue cats are sometimes a blueish-gray colour, whereas channel cats typically have extra yellow and inexperienced, in addition to spots. White catfish typically have a blueish-silvery look and will present a extra distinct distinction between the darker again and white stomach.

Blue cats like clear, swift shifting waters, which is one cause they achieve this nicely in tidal rivers. The largest are sometimes caught by marking them in a deep gap after which drifting a bait in entrance of their nostril. Their meat is agency and white, with the youthful, smaller fish (underneath 5 kilos) offering the perfect desk fare.

Teen Landon N. Evans hauled in his 117-pound, 8-ounce blue cat on June 11, 2016, whereas fishing in North Carolina’s Lake Gaston. The beast was 55 inches lengthy with a 41-inch girth. Evans was pitching a minimize shad bait utilizing a Rapala Rod paired with a Shimano reel spooled with 30-pound Stren line.

Flathead Catfish: 123 Kilos

Ken Paulie has the present all-tackle world record, with a 123-pound flathead caught Could 19 1998, from Elk Metropolis Reservoir in Independence, Kansas. This flathead was 61 inches lengthy with a 43-inch girth. Paulie was fishing with a Zebco rod and Zebco 33 reel spooled with 14-pound Trilene. He caught the fish on a dwell minnow.

Flatheads are native to the big rivers of the Mississippi, Missouri, and Ohio basins. They vary from North Dakota to northern Mexico, overlaying a lot of the Mid-South to the Florida panhandle. They’ve been launched in different waters and, like nonnative blue catfish, are thriving in a number of tidal rivers, equivalent to Virginia’s James River.

Flatheads have a definite look. Their tails are squarish quite than forked. The pinnacle is vast and seems flattened, therefore the title. The decrease jaw extends past the higher jaw. Their coloring is everywhere in the board, from very darkish in some locales to brown, olive, and yellow. Like their blue cat cousins, the largest fish like to hang around in deep swimming pools of hard-bottomed rivers.

Channel Catfish: 58 Kilos

W. Whaley’s 58-pound channel cat, caught July 7 1964, in South Carolina’s Santee-Cooper Reservoir, is the all-tackle world report. The fish was 47.25 inches lengthy with a 29-inch girth. Whaley was wielding a Bronson Rod and reel rigged with Berkeley line. He caught the fish on an Atlantic Coast Bucktail.

Channel catfish are at the moment present in a lot of the United States, together with components of southern Canada and northern Mexico. They like clear bottoms of sand or gravel in bigger lakes and rivers. They prefer to eat at night time in swift water. In some areas the place blue cats have been launched, the larger blues are outcompeting the native channel cats in the principle waterways.   

Generally distinguished by their spots, male channel cats might be principally black or darkish blue on their higher physique throughout spawning season. Sometimes, some might be mild blue or silvery, resembling blue or white catfish. Channel cats are prized as strong fighters.

White Catfish: 19 Kilos, 5 Ounces

Russell D. Value has the all-tackle record with a 19-pound, 5-ounce white catfish caught on Could 7, 2005, in Oakdale, California. The gear particulars related to this report will not be listed.

White catfish are well-liked freshwater catfish used for stocking ponds and personal lakes. It’s native to Atlantic coastal states from Florida to New York however, because the report illustrates, white cats have been closely stocked from Texas to California.

These are the smallest of the 4 native catfish in america. Regardless that they’re referred to as white catfish, the higher our bodies might be silvery blue to bluish black. Their bellies are typically whiter than the opposite species. White catfish are simply caught on dwell bait.

The species might be distinguished from channels and blues by the variety of rays within the anal fin. White catfish have between 19 and 23 rays, channel catfish have 24 to 30, and blue catfish have the longest anal fin with 30 to 36 rays in complete.

Black Bullhead: 8 Kilos, 2 Ounces

Frank Piazza holds the all-tackle world report with an 8-pound, 2-ounce black bullhead that he caught August 8, 2015, in Massapequa Lake on Lengthy Island, New York. Piazza’s bullhead was 26.50 inches lengthy with a 13-inch girth. He was utilizing a St. Croix rod with a Shimano reel spooled with 10-pound Trilene. He was utilizing bread as bait.

The black bullhead is discovered from southern Ontario by means of the Nice Lakes and St. Lawrence River, south to the Gulf of Mexico. Heading west, its vary expands all the way in which to Montana. It has additionally been launched into Arizona, California, and different western states. Shade, regardless of the bullhead naming conference, isn’t the easiest way to determine these fish, which might vary from darkish inexperienced to olive- brown, yellowish-green and extra. Spawning males and really younger fish are strong black.

Black bullheads are recognized by the pectoral fins. Brown and yellow bullheads have the rear fringe of their pectoral fin backbone serrated with sharp tooth-like projections. These are weak or absent in black bullhead. Black bullheads even have darkish grey, black or black-spotted chin barbels. Additionally they have greater heads than different bullhead species.

Brown Bullhead: 7 Kilos, 6 Ounces

Glenn Collacuro is the all-tackle world record holder, with a fish weighing 7 kilos, 6 ounces, caught Aug. 1 2009, in New York’s Mahopac Lake. The bullhead measured 22 inches lengthy. Collacuro used a Quantum Snapshot rod with a Mitchell 308X reel. The road was 6-pound Trilene. He was bait fishing with a sawbellie, which is one other title for an alewife.

Brown bullheads are native to southern Canada and the japanese United States on either side of the Appalachians. They’re additionally a popular stocking fish and have been launched in lots of locales. They just like the deepest water of any bullhead species.

Their colour can fluctuate from yellow-brown or chocolate-brown to olive, grey, or bluish black with a yellow or white stomach. The perimeters could also be mottled with brown blotches. A brown bullhead’s barbels are nearly at all times darkish brown, practically black. The meat is reddish to pink and is taken into account glorious consuming.

Yellow Bullhead: 6 Kilos, 6 Ounces

John R. Irvin claims the all-tackle world record together with his 6-pound, 6-ounce yellow bullhead caught Could 27,2007, in Drexel, Missouri. That fish was 21 inches lengthy. Irvin used a Shakespeare rod, Quantum reel and 6-pound Maxima line to land the fish. The report doesn’t specify the sort bait he was utilizing.

Yellow bullhead are discovered all through a lot of the japanese and central United States, so far as western Texas. It likes weedy, shallow water.

The yellow bullhead is the one bullhead with chin barbels which are yellow, buff, or pale pink. The opposite species have darkish chin barbels. Their tail can be extra rounded than their cousins. Their meat is white or cream coloured.