Trophy Cats

[Catfish]

We went out Sat. to my normal spot -- There was a lot more traffic ther than I am used to -- Anyway we did not catch any large fish with the exception of about a dozen corn fed drum .. When I was out there - One fellow caught a 40# blue .. I do not know if he kept it or relased it and another group of guys (Older with beards -- Looked like Mountain men ... Anyway - they caught a 75# blue .. They were really set up for catching big cats in this type of water ... 20' or so wide aluminum boat with an inboard outboard motor ... I was very suprised and dissappointed to say the least that the Cat ended up in the middle of the boat and that is where it stayed -- I feel so helpless sometimes ...

[Hawkeye]

A coupla comments....
Speaking with a local sporting goods store owner last week, the topic of Blue Catfish in The James River came up. The Health Department (or someone like that) just issued an advisory about eating Catfish from the James River... bottom line is DON'T DO IT... they're loaded with PCBs, Mercury and few other really nice chemicals... Kepone, etc... While we were talking about the advisory, I commented that it might be good for the CPR (catch, photograph and release) concept, since eating the fish is supposed to be really bad for all of us now. This fellow tells me that the head Game Biologist for the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries told him that Blue Catfish are decimating the rest of the fishery... they are the Alpha preditory fish in the river and they are eating largemouth Bass...perch (white and yellow), shad and about everything else in the river.. eachother, channel cats, white cats.... you get my drift. This guy tells me that the head biologist told him to KEEP all the Blues you catch, even though you aren't supposed to eat them... he says toss 'em in the dump, but don't put 'em back in the river... I don't see me doing that anytime soon, but I find it to be very ironic that everyone is up in arms about "Snakeheads" being found in the Chesapeake Bay tributaries (I hear they make good Blue Catfish bait LOL), but they indescriminently RELEASED thousands of Blues into the James and other tributaries 30 years ago, and NO ONE *thought* about the "problems" that might be associated with turning loose a bunch of fish that can grow to (basically) fresh-water sharks, weighing in excess of 120 pounds, cabale of eathing anything and everything it can get in it's mouth?

I Know I posted a link a while back to the "new" state record (75+ pounds) caught about thirty miles from my house... the old record holder guides on the river and one of his clients caught a 70 pounder this week... so there appears to be a fairly high number of fish 50# and over in the river... there are commercial fishermen working the river (God only knows where and who they're selling these inedible fish to?), taking 1000-1500lbs. of catfish PER DAY, with no visible affect on the population.... When the state record fish was killed, Catmen screamed bloody murder. Now the BASS fishermen are whining about the downfall of the bass fishery due to the introduction of Blues into the river....

The moral to the story is that one man's gold is another man's bait... It's SAD that someone caught and kept a 75# fish, but I wonder how many of those fish are boated and killed that we never even hear about.... I Wonder how many huge blues are being taken out of the James daily? I wonder if the people who buy those fish have any idea that they're paying for Kepone, Mercury and PCB contaminated fish? I'm sure you're river is much less contaminated than The James is, but I have to question the logic behind keeping any catfish much larger than 20 pounds for a lot of reasons... they CAN'T taste good... They CAN'T be good for you to eat (bigger fish have more potential for toxins building up in their fatty tissue), and they're RARE as hen's teeth...

I encourage everyone to release catfish over 15#. I Know it's tempting to keep those huge fish... they impress the neighbors... real men catch big fish and all that... but it doesn't make any sense for a multitude of reasons... and I bet a lot of the bigger fish end up in the dump... and that would please the Bass Fishermen... reason enough to let all the blues go........ LOL

Sorry to hear about the death of that big fish. I'm NOT sorry to hear that you're getting to fish more frequently of late. It pleases me to see you and your Dad out fishing together. Every time I see a picture of you two in the boat, I get to thinking that I should have spent a lot more time with my Dad when I had the chance....

Tom

[NightTrain]

I couldn't have written that any better,nor would I change a word!!
Only can add that the people that eat these bigger,fatter fish on a consistent basis,can plan on their offspring being "a tad slow"...just 'cause the the fish looks healthy,they pay no heed to blatent warnings from government agencies.
As for the DGIF biologist,he's probably a b@$$ fisherman...and that explains itself.
As far as Bluecats eating up everything in the James River...''Scarf 'em down,big girls,scarf 'em down!!:D