Read the article with FishingTheSpot: the channel catfish
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See the fishing tripsThe Channel Catfish
Mars to May
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The Channel Catfish belongs to the Ictaluridae family. adults often weigh between 40 and 60 cm. The maximum weight recorded is 26.3 kg. It has a life span of 15 years. It breeds from May to July. The ideal time to fish them is from March to May, before the breeding season.
The body is elongated and flattened. The eyes are small and the mouth is lesser. They have eight sensory barbells, or "whiskers", around their mouths. Four whiskers are on the chin, two on the muzzle and one at both corners of the mouth. The tail is deeply forked with the edge of the rounded anal fin. The adult color is pale grey to olive on the back and white to yellowish on the belly. The young are generally light grey at the back and silvery on the sides. The sides have scattered dark spots.
The Channel catfish lifestyle
Adults eats small fish, aquatic invertebrates, including mollusks, crayfish, insect larvae and occasional aquatic vegetation. Adult catfish generally feed on the bottom and detect food by touch and smell. The eyes of the channel catfish are proportionally larger than those of other catfish species and are adapted to visual feeding. They actively feed from sunset until about midnight, at which time the water temperature is between 10 and 34.4°C. They are more active when water levels rise. In winter, they rarely feed. Young depend mainly on plankton and aquatic insect larvae.
They spawn from May to July, when the water temperature reaches about 23.9°C. Nesting sites include weed-infested areas near the shores of the lake, under rocky projections and in tunnels in submerged turf. Before breeding, the male cleans the nest site by energetically ventilating with his fins and body. Male heads are swollen above the eyes during the breeding season. They can also turn black or black blue with black lips while the lips and bodies of breeding females generally become lighter in color. The largest or oldest fish spawn first, with the remaining fish reproducing according to the age hierarchy. The spawning period lasts from 4 to 6 hours. Females can lay between 2,000 and 70,000 eggs per year, depending on their size. Once the female has released the eggs, the males take control of the nest and do not allow them to visit the eggs, as they will eat their own eggs. The minimum size of the young at hatching is about 6.4 mm. The young remain in the nest for about 7 days, followed by school behavior.
The Channel catfish habitat
Channel catfish prefer warm waters with an average temperature of 21.1°C and inhabit rivers, reservoirs, streams, marshes and rainbow lakes. It can be found from the Hudson Bay area, south of Florida and northern Mexico, north of New Mexico, Colorado and Montana to southern Manitoba. It has been broadly introduced into the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean watersheds.
The Channel Catfish angling
To catch the channel catfish you can use baits such as minnows, grasshoppers, worms, crayfish.
