fishing planet michigan blue catfish frome shore

Diet Size and Lifespanīlue catfish are voracious feeders, targeting prey like shad, crayfish, blue crabs, and mussels to reach weights of between 40 and over 100 pounds. These fish are silvery-blue in color with a white belly and four pairs of black whiskers or barrels around their mouth. They have smooth skin without any scales and a broad head with a dorsal hump, a high spot forward center of the head.

In other lakes, river systems, or reservoirs, people introduced this species in significant numbers, and since it can tolerate brackish water, it has colonized waterways along many coastal regions.īlue cats are heavy-bodied fish generally without spots and a deeply forked tail. In some areas, such as Virginia and particularly the Chesapeake Bay, blue catfish are considered an invasive species. Other common names for this fish species include forked-tailed cat, humpback blue, and chucklehead.Īpart from the Rio Grande species, which has dark spots on its back and sides, blue catfish generally have a slate blue coloration without spots and commonly exceed 100 pounds. Ictalurus in Greek means fish cat while Furcatus is Latin for forked.

This fish usually inhabits large rivers and reservoirs over mud, gravel, or sand.īlue catfish or Ictalurus Furcatus have a discernible forked tail fin, from which their scientific description is derived. This fish is a native of the Mississippi river basins, whose drainage includes the Tennessee, Rio Grande, Missouri, Arkansas, and Ohio river basins. With a typical length of 25 to 46 inches and living up to 20 years, the blue cat is the largest North American species of catfish. Blue catfish (Ictalurus furcatus) is a sizeable smooth-skinned fish species with a blue body and whiskers called barbels around its mouth.

Fishing planet michigan blue catfish frome shore