Blue Cats? The real menace of the Deep!?!?

[Aaron O]

Listening to Rob's last podcast and one of the guys was mentioning that the Blue Cat is more invasive and detrimental to the local waters than the Snakehead.  Is this true?  Should we be killing them with abandon?  What about the channel cats?  are they also as invasive? (I dont think they are but I have no real knowledge or facts to back it up). 

 

 I know Rob mentioned about the idea about encouraging the consumption of them even though I know he was half joking about it.  I have some concerns about eating a fish that large considering that they probably have much higher levels of toxins compared to the smaller species.  The other option is to kill it  and leave it for the birds and other fish to eat. 

 

 

 Lets hear your thoughts,

 

 

[Ernie]

Aaron,

When the NSH first came on the scene, there was outrage. Many now consider them a sport and they are great to eat.

The LMB and SMB were an introduced species to the Potomac River. How did they know back then that this would be a good thing?

Stripers were introduced out west, taken there by train. There are many more examples like this.

A channel cat is delicious to eat. So is the blue cat. Of course, one should use caution as to how much to eat. And...they are a blast to catch! I want to hear from someone who has caught a blue monster on a fly!

In my humble opinion, leaving a fish out on the open to decay is unethical.

My fear is that when "we", fishermen/women, conservationists etc, take these matters on our own, "we" may not really be doing so in a responsible manner. I am not saying that the scientists and officials have it right but nature seems to take its course even with our help (pollution, runoff etc).

Let's go catch some fish!

Ernie
 

[Aaron O]

Hey Ernie,

 

Thanks for your thoughts.  I will tell you that I hooked up a blue cat over at chainbridge last year.  I thought I got it caught on the rock at first. no fight at all, the line just stopped moving.  It was not until the line started to move on it's own that I realized I had something.  It was like hauling a rock up the water.   no fight but constant pressure.  I got it to the water level and then it snapped my tippet.  Not sure the size but it was big and bent my 7 wt. rod pretty well while on the line.

[Ernie]

That must have been a nice tug.....they like to roll and slime up your line.

Ernie

[Lucas Rudd]

No, It's the 100+ flatheads that you need to worry about, They are really strong and bad.

[Matthew Longley]

On the Maine Ice Shanty forum there was a 15+ page argument about folks leaving pike out on the ice for the eagles, which a lot of folks do in shared fisheries to keep pressure off trout and bass.  Not really sure how I land on that, I don't do it myself but that eagle is gonna be killing something that day anyway.  But of course on the forum everyone is either Hitler or a Hippie peacenik...  

Cats are supposed to be the worst thing to eat out of polluted waters (tied with eels I believe) because of their high-fat content, bottom eating tendencies, and age/size.  So I would absolutely not eat one of those bad boys.  But in the past I've always found that if I land a cat in the Potomac, there is undoubtedly someone else along the bank who is happy to take it off my hands.

[Aaron O]

Hey Matt,

 

      I do hear what your saying and I normally am a catch and release guy.   I don't disagree with you about the health concerns with eating bottom feeding fish out of poluted waters (I live near the anacostia and I am aware of all of the concerns with that waterway).  On the same note I would feel guilty knowing all of this and giving a fish I would not eat to someone else to eat.  If I were to give it to someone, I would have to informed him/her about my concerns and let him/her decide to take it anyway. 

 

       I imaging one of the concerns with leaving a fish carcus on land is that the birds would not take the entire carcus and they we have a dried out stinky fly breeding skeleton on the banks.  One other option could be to kill the cat fish, cut it up and put the carcus back in the water instead of leaving it on dry land.  We know there are plenty of fish and organisms in the water to break it down.  I know this is a messy and time consuming idea but if you broke the body down in/under the water after your done fishing, the fish would be consumed faster and not leave a mess on our banks. 

 

     Just a thought.  I honestly down know how many people other than me that would feel comfortable and safe breaking down a fish at river bank.  For that matter how many people would even care to put that much effort into it.

[Josh Cohn]

I just cut em up and recycle em for bait, those blue cats are cannibals they eat anything you drop down their i've found