Tagged Channel Cat Report

On July 29th I caught a tagged 34 inch Channel Cat on the St Croix. I submitted the tag report on the MN DNR website and this is the report I received from Joel Stiras, Metro River Specialist. It is kind of interesting to be able to follow the history of a fish you have caught. The fish was released unharmed but it did show signs of bleeding near the Tag site which I reported. This was a beautiful big channel cat as you can see from the photo. Here is Joel’s Report:

Steve, Thanks for reporting that big channel cat you caught. I’m going to do my usual routine.

You reported catching a tagged channel catfish, tag number 94303, on 7/29/19. The fish was reported as 34 inches long and was released with the tag still in the fish. Assuming I don’t need to ask that all that information is correct. Did you happen to get a weight on that fish? I don’t need it for anything, I’m just curious. I’m guessing the bleeding at the tag site is just the unfortunate side effect of tagging it with a tag that has good retention. It is not uncommon for us to see some sores with those types of tags. Unfortunately those ones give us the best retention rates. Tag loss rates for other types of tags that do less damage have been reported to be over 25%. Our estimates for this type of tag is less than 5% tag loss.

It’s nice to finally see a big tagged channel cat reported, and one that actually seemed to grow. I caught that fish on 5/24/13 at the mouth of the Apple River, about a mile and a half upstream of where you caught it. I happened to be there targeting white bass for another tagging project and we stumbled across this one channel cat that day. It was 21.9 inches long at the time. Usually I don’t see a ton of growth on these tag returns but some of it has to do with the short time frame between captures and the uncertainty of angler measurements. To see 12 inches in 6 years, that is phenomenal growth. Maybe that fish has plateaued now, but good information. Wish I would have pulled a spine to age that one. On average, it would have been around 8 years old in 2013 and I’ve seen 22 inchers range from 7 to 16 years old. Biggest channel I aged from the St Croix was 33.1 inches long and was 18 years old.

Thanks again for the tag report. If you have any questions, let me know and I will do my best to answer them.
Joel Stiras
Metro River Specialist | Fish & Wildlife

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Love the tagging work our DNR is doing!

Awesome. Thanks for sharing.

I was not aware how seemingly slow channels grow (or how old decent sized ones are). We always release them with careful respect as they offer a great fight and are true predators. Their fight sure makes the next walleye feel even more like a wet sock.

We also caught an exact 34″ channel on the button last week on a crank on Pool 4. I’m convinced it was going to break the rod or holder trolling at 3.2mph before my partner was able to grab the rod. I would’ve never guessed it was as old as your response likely indicates a channel that size to be.

That cat is a beast! Got a better photo?

Good info, thanks for sharing man

buckybadger wrote:

Their fight sure makes the next walleye feel even more like a wet sock.

There was a post about this many years ago… “What’s the best fighting 10 pound fish?”. There was little disagreement that the channel was the winner. Even from the flathead guys.

Brian Klawitter wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>buckybadger wrote:</div>
Their fight sure makes the next <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>walleye feel even more like a wet sock.

There was a post about this many years ago… “What’s the best fighting 10 pound fish?”. There was little disagreement that the channel was the winner. Even from the flathead guys.

Yep, catch a channel above 10lb in current then come make your argument