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Unless you have done a ton of research concerning catfish many of the things youve been told or learned could be wrong.
The list of catfish myths is almost identical to the list of common knowledge about catfish.
Myth: Catfish Are Slow, Sluggish Fish
Catfish are impressive predators that can catpure prey with quickness and precision, much like bass, trout,
or walleyes. Like other gamefish, catfish also routinely move slowly and take food cautiously, but move with great speed when
its the most effective way to feed. Cats have sleek bodies built for speed; they're more streamlined than largemouth bass,
for example. A crankbait cant be retrieved too fast for a catfish to overtake it. This hardly sounds like a "slow" fish.
Myth: Catfish Are Stupid
Fish intelligence is difficult to measure, but catfish certainly do not have second-rate brains. In fact,
in one test of catfish learning ability, in a master's thesis by Gordon Farabee, catfish rated higher than other fish in learning
ability. Farabee rated fish in three catagories of learning ability. The slowest and poorest performers were famous sportfish:
rainbow trout and pike. The middle catagory (fish of average ability to learn) included bass, fish famous for learning to
avoid anglers. Catfish, bigmouth buffalo and carp learned the quickest and achieved the highest overall scores. And what fish
ranked at the top? The channel cat! Below is a brief summary of the tests performed by Gordon Farabee, fishery biologist.
Farabee performed a study on the learning abilty of each fish in the table. Fish in tanks were trained to
avoid a light source by administering a mild shock to them. After a training period, groups of fish of each species were scored
for correct responses. Farabee grouped the species into high, intermediate, and low catagories according to their average
scores.
Channel cats also demonstrated greater memory than other species. Farabee noted that the trout score might
not be comparable because rainbows appeared unsettled in test tanks. Because of their need for cold water, they were kept
in a different facility.
Myth: Catfish Are Primitave
Whats primitave about catfish? Catfish include slightly more than 2000 of the more than 20,000 fish species
known to science. Catfish inhabit six continents and many marine environments. Their diversity of size, form and behavior
are equalled by no other fish group. In terms of having a highly developed sensory system, catfish are the most advanced
gamefish in North America. The catfish in one huge swimming sensory organ, amazingly in tune with its habitat. It can sense
the presence of prey or predators not detected by other species. Primitive hardly fits and animal so intelligent, versitile,
and sensitive to its surroundings.
Myth: Catfish Are Bottom Feeders That Exist Mainly On Carrion
Catfish are omnivores, meaning they eat just about anything. The often feed on the bottom, as lake trout
and pike do, but also attack prey at mid-depths and even feed on the surface. Cats in most reservoirs primarily feed on shad.
They eat dead shad off the bottom when dead shad are available, but at other times will stalk and prey on free-swimming
shad. Commercial catfish "farmers" often feed floating pellets to catfish, which wouldnt make sense if cats fed only on the
bottom. In areas of the country where mulberry trees lean over rivers, catfish hang below the surface to snack on drifting
berries, just as rising trout might. Opportunist, thy name is catfish.
Myth: Catfish Are Crude Creatures Capable Of Living In The Poorest Water
Like most gamefish, catfish require adequate water quality. True, they can feed in turbid, flooded rivers
where other fish cant. And cats can tolerate lower dissolved oxygen levels as well as an unusually wide range of temperatures.
Those facts are misleading about the quality of water catfish need to thrive. Cats do best in clean water. Since bullheads,
close relatives of channel catfish are amazingly tolerant of marginal water, people mistakingly assume catfish also thrive
in foul water.
Myth: The Best Catfishing Occurs During The Heat Of Summer.
Catfish bite well in hot weather, especially at night or early morning, yet thats not always the best time
to catch them. Peak fishing times often are associated with cool water. North-country anglers occasionally catch catfish through
the ice.
Myth: The Best Bait For Catfish Is The Ripest, Smelliest Stinkbait
Rank, rotton baits catch catfish, but they usually arent best. Most favorite baits are no stinkier than
the baits commonly used for walleyes or pike. Anglers mistakingly assume that a bait foul smelling to humans is attactive
to catfish. The chemistry of the human sense of smell, however, is different from the chemistry that allows the catfish to
taste or smell a bait underwater.
Myth: Catfish Have Poison That Moves Through Their Spines And Infects
Careless Fisherman.
No poison gland or other source of poison exists in the catfish, though a few related fish possess them.
A small catfish called a madtom or "willow cat" has venom that can be painful. Bullheads and catfish have stiff, sharp pectoral
and dorsal spines with no venom. Get stabbed by these spines and the wound can be painful for the same reason any puncture
wound hurts-puncture wounds often become infected. Venom isnt involved!
Understand now why the catfish is one of the most misunderstood of all freshwater fish? Silly once you think about it
huh?
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