Just Out of Curiosity???

I have not really pursued catfish since the early 80’s. I have to say I was intrigued watching In-Fisherman this morning. These guys were fishing deep – very deep. At one point the graph said 90′ of water, with the cats suspended at 80′. They were vertical trolling.
Being a deep water nut myself (in a bass application), how deep is deep for our local applications? Does a catfish have to be fizzed when coming up from deep water?
I am not being a wise guy, just wondering as I have had some very big fish break me off in 50’+ of water while drop-shotting with 6 to 8 lb line.
Thanks!!

Funny you should mention that- -just last week I was reading how to “fizz’ a catfish. In-Fisherman, Feb 2007 issue, article by Ned Kehde. I’m not even gonna go to the part about how great I am jerr

Hey Gregg,

I just noticed your post. Most of the guys hang in the Species Specific Cat/Sturgeon forum.

But to your question…

I didn’t see the show but I’m going to assume you were watching Blue Cats which we don’t have this far North. Now there’s going to be some that read this and will say BK’s full of BS, but the blues they’ve caught are actually Channel Cats that are in a blue or gray stage.

Back to your question.

Blues like Sturgeon have a physostomous swim bladder. That is, they can ‘ingest’ air to inflate the bladder and ‘burp’ air to deflate it. The other type of swim bladder is known as physoclistous, and those species like walleye/sauger ‘create’ the gas in the bladder.

A good example of this is when hooking a sturgeon in 30 ft of water and a few seconds later it’s rocketing out of the water…then as fast as you can say “holy crap”, it’s back down to 30 feet again.

For the flats and channels around here, I would say the majority of them are caught in 25 fow and more in much less.

I’ve never heard of fizzing flats or channels, but then I don’t get out much either.

I’ve caught channels out of 60+ FOW and have never had an issue with their swim bladders blowing up.

I am guesing if blues have a physmisawatta bladder, then so do flats and channels.

Can you find that someplace Pugsly?

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Can you find that someplace Pugsly?

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Yes, but you have to cut open the fish and you know I only CPR.

The reason I ask is because I haven’t seen a flat or channel burp like a sturgeon when it releases some air.

Trying to find a list of fish that have this duct is rather difficult…so far.

What is the deepest you have caught a flat or sturgeon? I doubt you’d see any burping on fish caught 20′ or less.

Seems to me that DNR Joel could help us out on this one.

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What is the deepest you have caught a flat or sturgeon?

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I’ve caught a couple of incidental flatheads out of 50 FOW. I don’t remember them burping, but I don’t remember them having any problems swimming off. Now, I can’t say the same for drum caught out of the same depth.

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Now, I can’t say the same for drum caught out of the same depth.

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Drum and crappies are the biggest wusses in this regard. I can’t believe how crappies basically fold up shop from 20ft of water. The get lock jaw and can’t move.

It’s a good thing they taste good

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The reason I ask is because I haven’t seen a flat or channel burp like a sturgeon when it releases some air.

Trying to find a list of fish that have this duct is rather difficult…so far.

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I’m not sure that this is a depth issue since mine were caught in less than 20FOW….
But I’ve had a couple larger flats that have let out a belch once in the boat, that would make one think it just downed a couple pitchers of beer!!! Never seen them do it in the water like sturgeon.
I may even have some video, I should check.

They sure DO belch. Not sure what the threshold is for depth or change of depth, but there are a couple of videos on YT of big blues letting out some burps that would make Booger on Revenge of the Nerds jealous.

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…burps that would make Booger on Revenge of the Nerds jealous.

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I’ve got a dog that does that, too

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…burps that would make Booger on Revenge of the Nerds jealous.

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I’ve got a dog that does that, too

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My dog belches like that too, Ryan but his comes out of the other end. You have to leave the room or the smell will kill you.

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My dog belches like that too, Ryan but his comes out of the other end. You have to leave the room or the smell will kill you.

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Sounds like Tuffy has a challenger!

Nothing funnier than hearing a dog fart or see one take off because they startled themselves. Tuffy likes to get up and turn around. He has no manners or self respect.

Thanks everyone!! Awesome answers! I am a bass guy when it comes to tournaments, but I was so intrigued when I saw those depths that I just had to get to the bottom (no pun intended) of it. When I get a chance to go fun fishing, it is always 50′ plus deep so I am looking for some more species to put in the boat.

Thanks again!

Burping Cat

Yeah, I couldn’t find anything on channels or flats either.

Always cool to set straight another bait fisherman.

The lake I fish here is sort of a resevoir. Max depth just under 80 feet and loaded with channel cats. I’ve never been able to get a bite deeper than 30 feet (until after turnover). In any system the predatory fish will be where the forage is. In summer time the oxygen in the water at depth is very low here. One of my bucket list trips is the James river which has giant blue cats and they are often deep there.

Maybe this will help…

http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/breeding/Ball_Understanding_Catfish.html

Looks like they can gulp air, however, the swim bladder is not connected to the gut like a sturgeon, so catfish have a physoclistous swim bladder. The Weberian apparatus is a key trait of the Siluriformes (Catfish)…it connects the swim bladder to the inner ear. I’m guessing that connection will keep the swim bladder in place and if it comes out of the catfish’s throat, I would think that cat is done for. I’m just guessing though, I’ve never seen it.

Joel