Catfishing

By Jeff Berti
The scent of something to eat suddenly catches the fish’s attention. It approaches the source of the appealing scent. The bait is taken and the fish begins to swim off. At the same time, on the bank above, an angler notices the bite, sets the hook, and reels in the prize. The chunky channel catfish is admired for a moment and then placed on a stringer to be enjoyed later at the dinner table. Scenes like this are repeated thousands of times each year by the many Missouri anglers who pursue catfish.
Fifteen species of catfish occur in Missouri. The most popular of these are channel, flathead, blue and bullheads. Other, less known and smaller catfishes are the mad toms, which include nine of the fifteen species.
Catfish earned their name because of the presence of four pairs of long, slender barbels near the fish’s mouth, which resemble a cat’s whiskers. These barbels contain most, but not all, of the taste buds that enable the fish to find food. Taste buds can also be found all along the fish’s body.
Other physical differences that catfish have from many other species of fish include smooth or scaleless skin and the presence of an additional fin located just ahead of the tail fin. This extra fin is known as the “adipose” fin. Trout are the only other Missouri fish to share the adipose fin characteristic.
Catfish are also excellent parents. Most often, the male will pick out a nest, usually in a cavity such as a hollow log or under a rock. The male will then prepare the nest for the female to lay her eggs. After the eggs have been laid and fertilized, one or both parents guard the eggs until they hatch.
This trait among catfish makes them easy to capture by hand-fishing, an illegal method in which a person’s hands or feet are used to feel out holes in an attempt to find a parent fish guarding the nest. When such a fish is found, all escape routes are blocked and the fish is grabbed by the mouth or gills. After the parent fish is removed, the eggs are silted over and die, killing thousands of eggs at a time. Hand-fishing spoils the opportunities for legal anglers, and SHOULD NOT be tolerated.
Legal fishing techniques for catfish include rod and reel, bank-lines, trot-lines and throw-lines. In all methods, except rod and reel, bait is placed out and left unattended for up to 24 hours. Many anglers enjoy this type of fishing and most of the truly large fish are taken by these methods.
When fishing for catfish, many different types of bait are used. Old standbys for channel catfish include stink baits, worms, crawfish, liver, shad, minnows and frogs. Flathead catfish require a different type of bait because they prefer something that is alive and kicking. The most popular baits for flatheads include green sunfish, bluegills, carp, minnows, golden shiners and goldfish. Blue cats feed on items similar to what flatheads and large channel catfish eat. Fish and crawfish are your best bet on blues. When pursuing bullheads, there’s no better bait than nightcrawlers, although bubble gum has taken a fair number of “mud cats”.
Catfish and the people who pursue them are commonplace in Missouri. If you haven’t taken the time to try your luck at catfishing, you’re missing out on some excellent sport and some good eating.