St John's -Sat

[Phantom309]

Well, actually I was crappie fishin, and finally caught me a cat.
Am right in the middle of my crappie season, but always looking for cats. Eventually, when the crappie bite slacks off, I'll be targeting cats specifically.
Thought I'd post this pic/post just to keep the board active a bit.
Not a good pic of the cat but, he was a blue (I think) weight=2lbs 4oz.
Have a nice day
Danny

[Plowboy411]

thanks for posting the picture.Nice stringer you have there.:cool2:

[catfishcrazy256]

nice bunch of crappie :wink:

[Pirate Jerry]

Can't really say from the picture but i would almost be willing to bet you caught a baby channel cat. The St Johns river and Dunn's creek has some GREAT BIG CATS and some really big Bass. Fish the outside of a curve, use you fishfinder and find 15 to 25 feet deep with log type structure. drift a 5 or 6 inch bream free lined through it had hang on !!!

[reeftank]

nice fish its a channel cat or a white there is no blues or flats this far down in florida you have to go to thr pan handel for them that is a bad thing

[Phantom309]

Yep, I know nothing about ID'ng these things. I know the Bullheads (Yellow bellies/Butterballs) but the others, I'm lost.
How bout this, this cat had a few spots (like freckles) on it's sides. I've caught em with more. Folks call em "Speckled cats", but I find no reference as to what a speckled cat is, etc.
I would say a "Channel" would be a better guess for me.......

[goingfishin]

Nice stringer of crappie.

[Phantom309]

Yeah, I found it....


Channel Catfish (Ictalurus punctatus)
Other Common Names
spotted catfish, speckled catfish, silver catfish, fork-tailed catfish

[trnsmsn]

Yes it's definately a Channel Cat, I do catch Blues down here quite often.

Good luck & that's a nice bunch of Specks :big_smile:

[matt22va]

There's two ways I can tell if the fish is a channel or a blue:
1. When I grab the fish my hand is just behind his head, my thumb goes under one pectoral (I think)fin and the opposite pectoral sticks out between my index and middle so I have good control and don't get poked. With a blue up to about 10lbs, I will be holding the dorsal fin down under my hand, channel's dorsal fin sets further back and a 3lber's dorsal fin will be behind my hand.

2. The guaranteed way to be sure is to count the anal fin rays. If i want to know for sure i will spread the anal fin and let a buddy count the rays cause doing it by yourself with a few beers in ya, well let's just say you can get lost. A blue will always have at least 29 rays and a channel will never have more than 27 or 28 anal fin rays. I think the exact number is 27 at most.

[bad apple]

you defintely had a channel cat....nice mess of specks though...

[vacatfishin']

Thanks for the info.