Catfish Tournament Beginning of April

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Blues and flatheads are considered invasive and the DNR request you kill them all in MD anyways no? not that I advocate just killing a fish to kill it but if they see a good reason for it Im sure there are ways to make use of it maybe as cut bait or something

Blues have been in the Potomac for 40 years, DNR's attack on them on the Potomac is unwarranted, it's the other rivers they are found in (like the Patuxent, Choptank, and upper Cheasapeake) that they are most concerned about, yet they don't have numbers on those rivers that would appease most people interested in tournaments (most would get skunked on trying to catch Blues in most of those rivers, Channel Catfish would be a different story, but those are native) so they aren't targeted on the rivers that they are "newly in" (Patuxent has had breeding populations since at least 2007) for tournaments.

Flatheads have been found in the Potomac and Susquehanna (with some reports from other upper bay tribs) and could be targeted in tournaments up there, but are rarely targeted. Flatheads have been in the upper Susquehanna for over 20 years, and below Conowingo for well over 10 years.

DNR is using both as scapegoats for fluctuating populations of various fish and crustaceans, with snakeheads only being a target because of media popularity of their spread. Never mentioned are Smallmouth Bass, Rainbow Trout, Brown Trout, Common Carp, or several other non native species that are now Chesapeake area residents.

What's also not mentioned by DNR is their relatively recent change in recommendations for consumption of catfish. These reduced and started disappearing as soon as they decided to recommend people started to keep the Flathead and Blue Catfish by some mystery.

I'm not saying some culling of the population isn't a bad thing, as controlling numbers, controls size to an extent, but I'm against an all out war on species that have been documented in MD waters for over 40 years when there isn't enough proof that they are as much of an issue as some believe.

And DNR calling them invasive is misleading in the first place. Other organizations, such as the Maryland Invasive Species Council does not consider them an invasive species (http://www.mdinvasivesp.org/Invasive...yland_MISC.pdf and http://www.mdinvasivesp.org/list_vertebrates.html). Certain DNR higher ranking officials have had issues with the Blue and Flathead catfish, and found ways to manipulate the system and try to turn public opinion against an already "trash" fish that doesn't bring in as much income for the state as other species.

[sega]

Yea it's definitely up in the air on the real impact they have. A kid I know is a biologist who does the shocking and all and says the figures they're pulling are still supporting the whole invasive species war. Who knows.

Regardless, for guys interested in doing this tournament, the super 8 I think it is in indian head is only like $60-$70 a night. We're staying the night up there beforehand so we have less of a drive in the morning.


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