Blue Catfish

How far up the Mississippi can you find Blue Catfish. Are there just none or just very few. I believe that there are some on pool 10. I was wondering if any one has caught them on any of the pools.

The farthest north they go is southern Iowa. Pool 10 might have a few channels that look blue but they are channels.

I’ve also heard that Blues only go as far north as southern Iowa but I have caught a few at Dubuque. My 14 year old daughter caught one a couple weeks ago that was a good 7 to 8 Lbs and was not a channel (much darker skin than a channel with no spots). I caught one around 1998 that went over 20Lbs. It’s skin was much darker and bluer than any channel cat I have seen and I don’t think I have ever caught or seen a channel cat over maybe 12 Lbs. These blues were caught on upper pool 12 at Dubuque.

Eyehunter

It’s not beyond the realm of possibility that you caught blues, but “darker without spots” doesn’t mean blue cat. Channels are rare at that size, but blues are more rare. The only true discriminator between the two species is anal fin ray count, but in general blues have a straighter anal fin and channels are more rounded. Color varies considerably within each species and overlaps, so it can’t be used to determine species.

I once caught a channel at Blackdog that could be best described as pink. Was it a Pink Catfish?

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I once caught a channel at Blackdog that could be best described as pink. Was it a Pink Catfish?

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how big was it? Sure it wasn’t a madtom?

About 7 pounds. Maybe I had a state record!!!

Maybe you have been suckin back on grandpa’s ol cough medicine?

There’s no maybe about it.

According to the Iowa DNR’s website at http://www.iowadnr.com, blue catfish have been documented only in the Missouri and lower Mississippi rivers in Iowa, and never above Dubuque. Another article I found at http://www.iowagameandfish.com/fishing/catfish-fishing/IA_0605_01/index1.html said this about the “blue catfish” reportedly caught in Iowa’s interior rivers:

“Blues are found only in the Mississippi and Missouri rivers in Iowa, and have never been documented in any of Iowa’s interior waterways.

“People tell me they caught a blue catfish from the Des Moines, or the Raccoon, or the Cedar, or the Iowa River, and every time we’ve checked, it’s been a male channel cat in spawning colors,” said Marion Conover, the IDNR’s chief of fisheries. “Male channel cats get dark, dark black during the spawn, almost a bluish-black. But folks like to think they caught something different than a regular channel cat — so I learned a long time ago to quit arguing and let them enjoy their ‘blue catfish.'”

I have caught some of these male channel cat–they get a deep blue-gray color with no spots, especially after the spawn. As the article said, people around Iowa City occasionally report catching “blue cats”, but they always turn out to be male channel cats. I have heard reports of “blue cats” as far north as the Twin Cities (someone just posted a fallacious “blue cat” report from Hastings), but there is no evidence that actual blue cats are now swimming anywhere in Minnesota. If you did catch an actual blue cat in Minnesota, let the DNR know, because it would be an automatic state record–Minnesota has no state record for blue catfish at this time.

So, it is possible that blue cats are caught as far up the Mississippi as Dubuque, but according to the IDNR there aren’t many of them anywhere in the Mississippi in Iowa. When in doubt about what you have caught, count the rays in the anal fin, as noted on the IDNR site.

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But folks like to think they caught something different than a regular channel cat — so I learned a long time ago to quit arguing and let them enjoy their ‘blue catfish.'”

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Yep. I have friends who will swear up and down that they caught blues on the Minnesota. One of them actually was a really pale blue, almost white. This is the only one that did not immediately scream ‘channel’ at me.

You can’t argue it though. Maybe if it had a name that didn’t include the color it would be different.

There are blue cats in Dubuque.

At least in the aquarium at the Mississippi River Museum!

I was just there a couple days ago and they have some dandies swimming around in there. One is about 50 pounds and another is 80 pounds easy.

Cabela’s in Owatonna has some huge blues in their tanks.

The blue cats have a tell tale sign in they have a hump on the top behind their head. It is called a dorsal hump. Still, the only sure way to differentiate the two species is the channel catfish has 24-29 rays on it’s anal fin while the blue cat has 30-35 rays.

Here is a channel cat. They may or may not have dark spots.

Here is a blue cat.

Hmmm… What ya think?

I think that’s a great example of the Great Red River of the North’s BLUE cats…

Not to be confused with a Blue Catfish…as those are channels.

Good Post Hanson! Thanks!

VERY nice cats guys. I think we need a cat braggen board page again as there are so many great looking huge cats. Think maybe we can talk Briank into doing a braggen board again with a sticky on it and post only cat pics.

Thanks, Bill

ps. this in no way is saying pics can be posted in only a braggin board thread. Post them anywhere you want to post em too. Keep em comin guys. They add ALOT to a thread. A pic says a 1000 words. [plus great to look at]

The first one is definitely a channel. The bottom one makes me want to say blue because of the straight anal fin and the dorsal hump. I don’t feel like counting the anal rays from the photo (can I say anal ray on here?).

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The bottom one makes me want to say blue because of the straight anal fin and the dorsal hump.

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It sure is! Good eye dude!

I spent awhile looking last night for a blue cat that was close in size to the Red River channels and also a similar pose with the fish. I’ve got a handful of pictures of Red River cats that are silver/bluish like that, as well as dark ones, and tan ones, and cats with pinkish fins too.

To the very untrained eye, they’d pass as the same fish. But you are right Ryan, that pronounced “dorsal hump” is evident on the blue, the anal fin is pretty obvious as well.

They do look very similar. The straight anal fin gave it away to me. I had never heard of the dorsal hump before, but after comparing the two, it is another good indicator. It might be tough to pick out if you weren’t comparing side-by-side, though.

Got me! Although I just figured they were both Red River cats…as I didn’t think you had a blue picture!

I thought that was your…son.