Interesting article from in fishermen about Blue Cat migration.

LINK

Good article. Backs up what I have observed about blues moving up out of a lake to spawn in the feeder creeks.

Never caught a Blue in Bridgeport for 18 years....the last two years have caught a couple of hundred at least. The first fish were youngsters in the cast net, probably from dumped fish. After the flood we are seeing some 10-15 pounders, certainly washed in

Yep, I have noticed that at BP as well. I have fished the upper end of that lake since the 80's for catfish and it was always channels and flatties. Here is my kid with one of the "accidental" blues caught while fishing for hybrids last summer. We caught several that day mostly 1 to 1.5 pounds.

Looks like a channel cat

From that pic yes, but rest assured it was a blue. I was as suprised as the next guy when they showed up in that lake.

I'm with Big Sam. That's a channel catfish. I'm 100% sure of it. That's a good picture. What makes you think it's a blue cat? I don't doubt they're in there. All it takes is one person to throw just a few in the lake, and blues will quickly and prolifically colonize a large lake becoming dominant.



Top fish is a Blue Catfish
Bottom fish is a Channel Catfish

Here is the pic of the catfish we caught that day when we got home. The fish he is holding in the boat is the one on the far right.

Hmm? Kind of weird? You've got me scratchin my head now? I mean really that fish in the first picture looks just like a channel cat. Picture of those on the table are definitely blues with couple of channel cat on the end. Yep, like you said blues are in the lake alright, and it looks like they're beginning to comprise most of your catch now. It doesn't take long for them to get a foot hold and dominate.Good lookin cats!

Tishomingo "govt blue" is a cross between a western blue and an eastern blue.



I saw a 90 pounder that came out of the Red River in the early 60's that looked like the bigger fish in this picture and to me it lacks the signature high fin like Cody Mullenix's fish, but it could be it is hanging in a vertical position making the dorsal fin sink in.
I have said all along that the blue catfish I came up seeing is different from the Humpback, Highfin or whatever it is referred to as.

That's a neat photo. Thanks for sharing it!

You hear about 2 kinds of Blues alot. I always thought the Highfin or Humpback was difference between a male and female Blue? The Highfin, or Humpback being the males. Not saying my thinking is correct, I could be wrong?

And then you have those genetically altered color variations. The leucistic, piebald(magpie), & albino's. It can be little confusing?

TPWD online sticking history only goes back to 1966 on Lewisville. The Lake Dallas dam was blon in the mid 1950s. So I figure there all multiple things at work:

1. Lake Dallas could have been stocked with blues.
2. There are stocking ponds that are still visible behind the Lewisville dam. I believe the feds stocked most of these lakes when they were impounded. You can find similar breeding ponds on sonar behind the Lake Dallas dam.
3. Stocking done prior to 1966 doesn't seem to have been recorded.
4. The fish were probably already in the creeks...but you mentioned this.

I imagine in the case of Ray Roberts, blues from Lake Lewisville swam up stream before the lake was impounded.

Blue cats are basically absent from Arlington. I keep on hoping that they will be pipeline imported along with all the yellow bass.

How hard do you think that old boy would hit you if you told him he should have released those fish?