Blue Catfish Ford Dam

Minnesota River, Lac Qui Parle County

Hmmm…not a very big river in Lac Qui Parle County.

Seems a bit….odd, I think.

With all the commercial netting on Pepin/Pool4 and the St. Croix wouldn’t a blue pop up in one of those nets. These guys are river rats and I would think sooner or later someone would say..HEY! Look at all the rays on this channel cat!!

Just thinking out loud.

<Edit> of Browerville, Minn., poses with a 52-pound, 8-ounce blue catfish near Lac Qui Parle, Minn., Wednesday, May 22, 2002. Ness caught the fish on the Minnesota River using chicken liver for bait. Common in other areas of the nation, blue catfish are so rare in Minnesota that an official state record didn’t exist.

Photo Courtesy Department of Natural Resources

Public Records…

02/26/2003 Dept. Nat. Resources Converted Closed
POSS WILD ANIMAL UNLAWFUL MAKE FALSE AFFIDAVIT

Oppsy…back to no State Record.

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With all the commercial netting on Pepin/Pool4 and the St. Croix wouldn’t a blue pop up in one of those nets. These guys are river rats and I would think sooner or later someone would say..HEY! Look at all the rays on this channel cat!!

Just thinking out loud.

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Hey buddy Herb even farther south, how many did you net back in the old days ……I’m also not saying, just saying.

Hey Herb!

Did you see any Blues in the 1800’s?

Hey BK, any more story on that false one? Details?

Too busy to look any further. Too bad the DNR didn’t have Cuff’s and Collars back then…or did they?

You guys!

Channel catfish only turn blue come spawning time and they lose it after. I caught this blue in mid august which is some time after spawning. Don’t deny the facts people they are here.

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Channel catfish only turn blue come spawning time and they lose it after. I caught this blue in mid august which is some time after spawning. Don’t deny the facts people they are here.

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Which facts are those? That it was blue and caught in August and it had prominent teeth?

Unless you are a ichthyologist by trade or a biologist for the DNR, you won’t get any suckers, I mean believers.

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Channel catfish only turn blue come spawning time and they lose it after. I caught this blue in mid august which is some time after spawning. Don’t deny the facts people they are here.

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I guess we could take your word for it but that just makes it another “Fish Story”. I have a hard time believing your fish story. Your comment about the fish’s teeth makes me think you can’t tell a Blue Cat from a Bowfin.

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Your comment about the fish’s teeth makes me think you can’t tell a Blue Cat from a Bowfin.

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Now if a person doesn’t chuckle at that…you are dead inside

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Your comment about the fish’s teeth makes me think you can’t tell a Blue Cat from a Bowfin.

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Blue cat mouth?

Now who the ‘ell has a picture of a blue cats mouth on there computer!?

I’ve learned a long time ago never to say never about the river. Could there be blues? Yes.

With out proof, it’s going to be hard to find any die hard cat guy that’s spent 1000’s of hours on the river to believe it.

Even the Dnr will say that they’ve had many reports of blues and the ones they’ve been able to confirm were all channels.

I caught a cat last year that had much larger teeth that any other channel cat I had every caught so I went back and looked and without a doubt it was a channel cat. I have talked to many guys on the river who have caught blue cats but some of them told me they were catching stripped bass also claiming they get up to 50 plus pounds. I need a good picture.

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Channel

Channel

Channel

Channel

Invasive Species.

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Jesses an Invasive Species?

Is this the fish?

Dunno, I need to see it’s teeth.

Sorry, I just couldn’t help it.

That’s a Prairie Island Perch! I know because Brian has one growing out the side of his neck.

That would be blinky the three eye’d fish from Springfield by the nuclear plant. We all know he exist.

But we are talking the ford Dam here, I think the closes thing to a Blue Cat that far North is Blue Balls

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But we are talking the ford Dam here, I think the closes thing to a Blue Cat that far North is Blue Balls

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Indeed. It is about 5 miles from my house.

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But we are talking the ford Dam here, I think the closes thing to a Blue Cat that far North is Blue Balls

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Indeed. It is about 5 miles from my house.

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Been fishing with your brother Ron again?

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Been fishing with your brother Ron again?

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Brothers don’t talk about each others nuggets.

Ok, so the story on the 2002 blue cat record was the guy brought the fish over from another state to claim it as the MN state record. Somebody turned him in and his story kept changing. So he got pinched for lying on a state form and for transporting fish across state lines without a permit. Think he brought it over from South Dakota/Missouri River.

Blue cats may be here. If they are, they are rare. We are within their original native range but the lock and dams likely responsible for their decline. MNDNR stocked a few thousand small blue cats in the St Croix in the 70’s or 80’s. None were ever positively identified from that stocking.

If anyone ever catches one, get pictures or bring it in. Focus on the anal fin, don’t bother with the teeth.

Joel

Thanks Joel,

6000 blues according to an article written back then. A person would thing someone would have caught some, but I ‘spose those could have been mis IDed as channels.

One last thought…”Cheaters Never Prosper”.

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Thanks Joel,

6000 blues according to an article written back then. A person would thing someone would have caught some, but I ‘spose those could have been mis IDed as channels.

One last thought…”Cheaters Never Prosper”.

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I’m sure some were caught, miss-ID’d as channels and threw back or eaten. I know if I were to catch one I wouldnt have any idea how to tell them apart.

I’ve caught a few blue cats traveling to Illinois, Tennessee and Virginia fishing on the Potomac and the James rivers and I’ve had “cat rash” from blues and channels. I have to say there is no difference in the teeth between the two species. I would say it’s certainly possible that there could be some blues in the upper Mississippi especially since the MNDNR stocked some in the St. Croix but I agree that if people have caught them they probably just assumed they were channel cats. I think we should all be attentive to our catches and take pictures of any cats that seem questionable. Mudshark’s article really showed the difference in the anal fins. Most blue cats are quite pale colored too but color is a poor identifying characteristic.

After having read about the failed blue catfish stocking in 77, I often wondered if some of our channel cats we catch are hybridized, hence causing some confusion, since the species can interbreed.