Catfish Diet

[admwndsr83]

Last Saturday I was paddling around Middle River, trolling a homemade crawfish plastic. Next thing I know, I'm fighting in a respectable 24 inch Catfish, who promptly went on the stringer for a dinner meal! (My first catch on a lure I made myself) I was amazed at the size of the stomach, and thought it was likely a spawning female. When I got it home to fillet, though, the stomach was not filled with roe, but with small fry. I didn't get a good picture of it, but I thought the fry looked like they could be small snakeheads. I remember hearing people say that nothing eats snakehead fry, but it sure seemed like this catfish had found itself an unguarded fry ball. Thought it may be interesting, and wanted to get your opinions!

[brianisoutside]

Bull minnows kind of look like mini snakeheads


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[CHOC]

Did you take a picture?

[admwndsr83]

No, by the time I got it cut open it was starting to get dark and the picture didn't turn out right. I wasn't paying enough attention at the time.

[CarsonNash]

I second Brian's guess of the bull minnow. (Pic for reference).

Last summer I would castnet bull minnows at the boat ramp, and they caught catfish better then any other bait. Live lined on a 7/0 barbless circle hook, it was like shooting fish in a barrel. I have pics somewhere.... caught a 9lber during the middle of the day.

But bull minnows make lots of sense, and catfish eat anything. download.jpeg

[admwndsr83]

I really wish that picture had come through. The fins were messed up and partially digested, but looked different than a minnow fin configuration. The fins seemed to be more elongated along the body, but that, again, was probably the digestion at work.

[nhunter344]

Early last spring, I caught about 10 catfish (blue, white) near Bushwood. All of their stomachs were full with some sort of tiny copepod/amphipod. They were only about 5mm in size.

[M_Duong60]

I've actually heard the opposite and that a lot of things eat snakehead fry. They lack the spiny dorsal fins that a lot of the species around here have so they are pretty desirable.

[admwndsr83]

Early last spring, I caught about 10 catfish (blue, white) near Bushwood. All of their stomachs were full with some sort of tiny copepod/amphipod. They were only about 5mm in size.

That's a lot of big words I'm gonna have to look up now.