Catfish Solution to Bullheads

[guywhofishes]

Catfish provide natural solution to bullhead problem in North Dakota study​

UND-Game and Fish Department research project offers encouraging results.​

UND graduate student Tyler Bennett scoops bullheads caught in a trap net May 14, 2024, at Sweet Briar Lake in North Dakota's Morton County.
Contributed / Tyler Bennett

By Brad Dokken

https://www.jamestownsun.com/sports..._f7a0NGS0rDtXUTw-bkxi8A&__vfz=medium=sharebar

 

[Shockwave]

Keep scooping! I did notice a little less catfish in Oahe after they took a bunch out and stocked them in Sweet Briar

 

[risingsun]

Sounds like a good way to handle the bullheads till they are about wiped out. But what happens when the cats get bigger, bigger appetites, and the bullheads are gone? Will they then eat fishermen's target fish?

 

[Trip McNeely]

Sounds like a good way to handle the bullheads till they are about wiped out. But what happens when the cats get bigger, bigger appetites, and the bullheads are gone? Will they then eat fishermen's target fish?

I guess we will find out….. if I had to venture a guess since catfish get a bit bigger there’s some value in eating them for a lot of people. Catfish is pretty good eating in my opinion. That may help keep the cat population in check.

 

[Jiffy]

Go to school for fisheries they said, it’s a fun job they said….

 

[Trip McNeely]

Go to school for fisheries they said, it’s a fun job they said….

I went to school for fisheries and wildlife management…. I did not choose that as a career path…..I also suck at fishing relative to any other profession Im aware of true story

 

[svnmag]

1. Bullheads are catfish.

B. I posted about this common sense solution on FBO in the early '00s for the Souris/Mouse/Darling System. The key is elimination of the black fingerling "balls" and harvest for fish-fry's or fertilizer.
I've seen channels herd fingerling bluegill into balls and slash through them like bonito (Teter Lake in the Hills). The Bullhead Derby from the FBO days was both hilarious and logical IMO.

3. Channel cat can be "bass fished" like walleye when perfectly isolated. I've caught them both on "topwater". The hit is not a "pop"; it's a "lunge" like a saltwater fish. Both aren't pleased when stuck
and run like a freakn' tarpon. No shit: Know this true when setting the drag.

That is all.

 

[KDM]

Bullheads are a very popular live bait for folks down south to catch very large blue, channel, and flat head cats on bank poles or trot lines so there is no doubt catfish pound on bullheads. I'm not sure if they will control a bullhead population, but any help on that front is welcome. Dump a couple thousand semi loads of channels in Ashtabula and lets find out. I think folks would prefer to tangle with 1 ten pound channel rather than 20 half pound bullheads, but I could be wrong.

 

[Trip McNeely]

Ive wrestled some pretty good 8-10lb cats at the tailrace and I enjoyed the fight as much as a walleye. Hard to mistake the rhythmic “roll” when you hook into one. Hooked up with a 10 or so pound cat at 90ft while fishing salmon off riggers once . They also like herring

 

[CatDaddy]

I am in favor of putting cats in Ashtabula. There's nothing like wrestling a 15+ lb cat....it seems likely that if introduced we could see a new state record come out of there with all the forage.

 

[svnmag]

AGAIN: THE most versatile crank ever been conceived. It's not the choice in the Tailrace(?):

Don't forget for either species :

 

[svnmag]

^^^^That shallow Rap could be marketed as a strict topwater bait. PB LM: GA; December 1995; 9.7lb: Thrown into a "commode flush" 20yds from the boat: Twitched "tip down" like a Zara Spook on a spinning rod. It wasn't a "pop" it was a definite "lunge":

FWIW: My best "POP" was on a buzzbait in Bank's Lake where "Gator" was filmed.

The majestic, stoic cypress trees preserved their cemetery silence within a cloak of insulating fog this early May morning...

Freakn' BAM!!! 9.2

 

[johnr]

I am pretty positive I have never caught a blue gill, nor a bullhead on lake Sakakawea.

It has bothered me zero.

 

[guywhofishes]

I am pretty positive I have never caught a blue gill, nor a bullhead on lake Sakakawea.

It has bothered me zero.

One has to wonder why bluegills don’t take hold in the back bays of Sakakawea.

 

[svnmag]

I've caught a few in the Tailrace.

 

[scrotcaster]

I've caught a few in the Tailrace.

Bullheads or bluegills ?

 

[Kurtr]

If anyone wants to catch cats get a shiny jigging rap come down by Mobridge find 30 ft of water on a ledge or some trees and start ripping. Have caught a couple hundred this winter already. They are fun but boy can they wreck shit

 

[KDM]

Deep fried catfish nuggets dunked in Mrs. KDM's three step egg with milk, corn flour, to corn meal with spices coating and you have a serious food coma on the horizon. Intergalactic good doesn't even scratch the surface with reality. Top it off with home made baked beans, cole slaw, and some from scratch oven baked bread......Oh My!!

 

[guywhofishes]

I enjoy catfish - but Red River catfish are oily/nasty. Can't figure out why.

Maybe it's because the Red runs through my back yard - and having tasty fish at my disposal would be too good to be true.

 

[SDMF]

I enjoy catfish - but Red River catfish are oily/nasty. Can't figure out why.

Maybe it's because the Red runs through my back yard - and having tasty fish at my disposal would be too good to be true.

Have you tried an overnight soak in buttermilk? Gotta get all the red meat and yellow fat out of the fillets as well.

Saw the English chef w/cooking show on outdoor channel (Mike Robinson) bleed, gut, and then tail-hang fish overnight on last night's episode. They were in way Northern Finland spearing cod and "flatfish" intending for Halibut but got a Plaice instead.

They talked about hanging fish from the tail in the "not-quite" freezing cold helping to "set-up" the fillets. The fillets sure looked nice and blood-free.

I bet that bleed-out and tail hang would work for any kind of fish. A deep/talll cooler with a little ice @ the bottom oughta do.