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So, I live in Northern Illinois, about 15 minutes north of downtown Chicago. There is a golf course near my house with a pond, and I fish there quite often. Yesterday, I took my son, 2 nephews and 2 nieces out there to fish. My one niece had your basic bobber,weight, hook,worm set up fishing in about 6 feet of water. The hook was about 1ft below the bobber. On one cast, she saw her bobber go down, and reeled and reeled. She caught a catfish. It had a black back and yellow underside, I think it's called a yellow catfish. Is it normal for catfish to come up that high to feed? Is it specific to that type of catfish?
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Sure, especially in only 6' of water. I've caught channel cats on beetle spins along banks and above structure. Catfish are not the lazy scavengers that many anglers associate them to be. They are actually aggressive predators. [cool]
I bet your niece had a ball with that cat fish. Yellow and bullhead catfish are common in small ponds too, and are a blast to catch on ultra light tackle as she found out. Glad to see you getting the kids out on the water. [  ]
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[quote Tarpon4me]Sure, especially in only 6' of water. I've caught channel cats on beetle spins along banks and above structure. Catfish are not the lazy scavengers that many anglers associate them to be. They are actually aggressive predators. [cool]
[/quote]
This is true, ive actually caught a channel cat on a rooster tail once, surprised the hell out of me.
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Yeah, she was very excited. We just cut the line right above the hook when we brought the fish in and let it fall back into the water. I don't think he was very big for a catfish, because yesterday we were out there and saw what appeared to be a 3ft gray bullhead swim across the pond just under the surface. He was a monster. It had a flat head, a body similar to that of a lake sturgeon, and a tail that looked like the tail of a burbot catfish.
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If it was 3' long, it wasn't a bullhead. They don't get very big at all. I would guess a channel catfish, if you are in the continental US. Flatheads and Blue's wouldn't be probable, as they would pretty much reap havoc in a small pond, and eat every live fish in it. [sly] But, you never know. Hard to say with out a picture.
If I were you, i'd try to catch it and take a picture. [ ] Then, we'll know for sure. Now you have a homework project for the youngsters. Go forth and do research.
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[quote Tarpon4me]If it was 3' long, it wasn't a bullhead. They don't get very big at all. I would guess a channel catfish, if you are in the continental US. Flatheads and Blue's wouldn't be probable, as they would pretty much reap havoc in a small pond, and eat every live fish in it. [sly] But, you never know. Hard to say with out a picture.
If I were you, i'd try to catch it and take a picture. [ ] Then, we'll know for sure. Now you have a homework project for the youngsters. Go forth and do research.[/quote] What she caught was a little flathead..And I just based my guess off of pictures I've seen of bullhead catfish. The fish was underwater and about 20ft from shore, so I couldn't really tell, and I know almost nothing about catfish.
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Just how big is this "pond?" Flatheads are about as ugly as they come, you'd know one if you saw one. I was just going by your original post, and what made sense. Great eating under 20 pounds.
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It's pretty big, probably 1/8 mile around. And her catfish had a black back and a yellow underside. What is that?
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Black back doesn't sound like a flathead. More than likely, it was a Bullhead. Below is the description of a Yellow Bullhead catfish, from wikipedia. See if it fits the bill.
"The yellow bullhead, (Ameiurus natalis) is a species of [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullhead_catfish"][#0645ad]bullhead catfish[/#0645ad][/url]. Yellow bullhead are typically yellow-olive to slatey-black on the back and sometimes mottled depending on habitat. The sides are lighter and more yellowish while the underside of the head and body are bright yellow, yellow white, or bright white. The rear edge of its [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caudal_fin"][#0645ad]caudal fin[/#0645ad][/url] may be rounded or nearly straight. The yellow bullhead is distinguished from the brown bullhead and black bullhead by its white barbels."
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Fit like a glove. Thanks man.
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Anytime. that's what we're here for. [cool]
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