I have access to some San Saba river property, that I lived on until I was 18. When I was a kid my brothers and I fished a lot and we caught plenty of channels, some blues and occasional yellow.

Now I am older and many of the holes are pretty much untouched (some new neighbors keep the others fished to death) and catching yellow cats is a given now. Seems the population recovered from our over harvest. If I do not want to repeat my mistakes should I keep only big yellow cats, say 20 and over or turn them loose and keep the barely legals to keep a population going? Any thoughts are very welcome, but this is one of the few places I don't share the location, I have 3 boys 11 years and under and it is good to have a steady place they can catch fish.

This is not to start a debate about CPR.

It would be better to release the mature large cats and keep the young/smaller one. However, you can keep or toss whatever size is legal. Also, think of the fun the boys will have catching the large ones multiple times.

From what I read recently, the yellow cats will stay in the same general each year. The research showed that would actually return to the same log jam, deep hole, etc. This research monitored the migration pattern thru the year in one of the large rivers. In the winter time they would migrate to deeper water then come spring migrate back to the same spawn area. After spawning they returned to their favorite spot.

I don't recall where I read this.

The big ones are your breeder fish. Keep the small ones and the big ones will make more jmo

Easy answer is to figure out what over fishing is and do less.Really hard to control what's out of your control.Keep enough to eat,release others.As long as your not greedy and limit out frequently, things will be fine.As far as how to manage for yellow cats such as you asked,just do your best to ensure that others that are fishing nearby follow the law and that's the best thing you can do.A lot of times its not what you do but what others do that affects the fisheries.Yellow cats can cover a lot of ground between where they live and spawn.And people still keep more than their limits and fish trap and over harvest on rivers with private access.Still fun to catch a big fish on trotline or limbline and with these smart phones you can click a pic,and send it to your friends before you get the hook out of its mouth and release it. Some say the only releasing they will do with a catfish is into grease.That can be a problem.

YellowCats are a different breed from Blues & Channels. They are very methodical. Almost predictable in a sense. They also are very terratorial (sp?). If you catch one of 30 pounds or more in weight, chances are that another will move in to "sublet" their "apartment". How qwik may be dependent upon how many are in the area. It could be in a hole, under a shelf, under a log, beside a stump, and so on. Yellows for the most part, are huge vaccuum cleaners, as they simply have enough suction to breathe in their meals. They are tremendously swift when or if they have to lunge out to grab or I should say "inhale" their prey.

And yet sometimes they are very finnicky & very cautious as to their feeding if they encounter something suspicious. Yet at other times, that caution is thrown to the wind in disregard. Who knows, maybe hunger or greed gets the best of them.

As to using set lines (such as a trotline), if they are in, or cross a yellowcat path, you will tend to catch Yellows in that particular area or spot on your line. It could also be their hole or "apartment". The way you can tell which it is, is by the following yellowcat catches. If its a path, you will still catch Yellows constantly as they tend to run the same paths. If there are intervals or spaces of time between catching another Yellow, then you have your line set in or near an
"apartment", so you have to wait for another to move into the vacated area. This could be a day or so, or it could be a week, a month or more. I have not researched this angle as to how they fill the "vacancies". It could be recognition by sight (that one is realized to be "missing" enough to constitute that there is a "vacancy".

On the rivers, a Yellow runs different strategies than in a lake. Their survival depends on it. For instance, when a river rises, they run their "escape route". Yes, Yellows must escape raging river currents that may be on the horizon. They can easily drown facing either direction if stuck in too swift of waters. Their gills are way too flexible compared to Blues, Channels, or Bullheads. If they face upriver, their gills can be clamped shut due to strong currents. If facing downriver, they can be flared open to where the current runs thru their gills backwards. Yellows have a built in mechanism to escape their doom by running these "escape routes' as the river signals a rise. Since most rivers are slightly or fairly narrow, that means they will run basically up or down the sides until they encounter their protective shelves or holes or some type of shelter. Or until the rising river opens access to a side stream or creek that gets them out of the main swift waters.


As to regards on the fishing out of an area, that is hard to say, as you truly do not know just how many are stationed in that area. Only over time could you tell if you have fished it out for a season or so.

As to sizes, that too is debatable, as you never know as to one's demise. You may toss back a 50 pound Yellow, only that it might die even due to natural causes or a larger predator a week later. Or perhaps a flood the next week drowns it or turns silt over which depletes oxygen, in turn creating a given area "a fish kill". You just never know. This is the unpredictability of life. If it is legal, and you keep it, so be it. If it is legal, and you release it, so be it.


For instance, we are currently after one I have nicknamed "the Giant". I estimate this Op at well over a 100+ pounds. If I catch it, as well as James (JS), Jeff's son, either of us plans to harvest it. Some of you may gasp at that. However, you cannot even comprehend how much this monster consumes or inhales. This thing could inhale a 30 pound Blue easily. This thing moves without fear, as it is King of its vast estate, of which it would consume, if allowed to. Only James (JS) has seen its head & tail, but not the rest of its body. I have had it several times on my lines to know its power & such. Plus I have been keeping tabs of where I have encountered it, as well as James (JS) & Jeff have encountered it. So I know its main path. By knowing this, I hope to soon catch this possible lake record. I think the record is now 107# for Lake Limestone for YellowCat on a throwline. In Lake Livingston, I think it is 113# for YellowCat on a trotline.

As a rule of thumb, a Yellow can grow at a phenomenal rate. Somewhere I have those figures written down. Their breeding is somewhat under par compared to Blues & Channels, so therefore the greater restriction on daily bag limits. But once they cross a certain weight, they are truly what one might call a predator. And they can consume vast amounts of food (which are other fish). So, in a sense, as they get too big, they are a vast drain in the eco-system, knocking down populations of other fish as they "vaccuum" the depths.

Also, Yellows do tend to migrate some in their spawning. When I first fished Limestone starting in 2002, several campers at Running Branch Marina ran lines set out at the bridge at the north of the lake to catch Yellows heading up river to spawn. Of course some spawn up in the creeks, such as Big Creek (a known YellowCat haven near the north end) and up in the No Wake Zone of the Running Branch fork.

So this is what I am understanding.

If a person wants to maintain a yellowcat population, releasing large fish will help because these fish are the best breeders. Makes sense as other large/long lived fish work in the same manner. Large old fish produce more eggs than many barely legal fish. (cool with me, I prefer the small fish for the table)

If a person keeps the large yellows, this reduces the number of other fish eaten by predation and a possible increase in channel cats may occur. Probably what I experienced as a kid in the same river. We never considered any kind of management or were taught any. We just knew poor people like us could save money by catching their own food, we wasted none of it.

Last it is obvious there has been a large philosophical debate over the ethics of keeping or releasing catfish, especially large ones. ;-)

Supporting some of Lynn's thoughts.
The last two large yellows (not monsters these were 20-45 pounds) I caught actually ate channels already hooked. The drop lines were both within 5 feet of the same stump (opposite sides). I did keep one because the poor guy choked to death on the channel cat.

Thank you for the thoughts guys and I would welcome others.

I vote in small bodies of water it would be better to keep the bigger ones and let the smaller ones go.

hmmm now red, dont go an make problems in my decision making paradigm! However, I do see the thinking behind that. Thinking more about when I was a kid we also caught many crappie from the river. Now crappie are few and far between, I happen to know they make good bait for yellowcats...an older now deceased gentlemen proved it to me. I wonder if the return of the yellowcats has been the demise of the crappie population?

Couple more things.
Lynn mentioned yellows grow fast. I always assumed they were slow growing because they are long lived. How long do yellows need to be before they start spawning? how long does it take them to get that long? I know that is going to vary on availability of food.

I should be working...been fishing addicted all my life

PM sent.

according to the research ive done yellas will spawn once they reach 30 or so inches or approx. 10 lbs.

I don't know the size of the body of water your fishing, but my grandma owns a place with a live spring fed creek on it, not a big body of water, but always had water. It did it a lot of good to get the larger predatory fish out of there every so often.

The + points of big females spawning is you are hoping they will produce more eggs and genetics for large fish. In your environment your genetics are limited and you don't necessarily need enough eggs to restock a 30k acre lake, its a small river/big creek that doesn't hold that many fish to begin with.

I think its not really gonna matter what you keep, its the numbers you keep them in that will make or break you.

thanks guys, still thinking through this

Thinking like an aquarium: Each body of water supports so many inches or pounds of fish. Leaving large fish reduces the total number of fish because they represent a larger share of the inches or pounds, but quality is better.

Removing them increases the number of fish being each fish represents a smaller percent of the inches or pounds.

red I appreciate the thoughts on spawning size. If a person wants to leave fish long enough to spawn, then the state minimum wont cut it. These holes can be fished pretty clean in a summer if a person doesnt watch what they are doing.

These holes are small, some only the size of cement reservoir and others maybe a couple acres total. I really appreciate the comments.

Keep in mind that yellows eat trash fish first.Carp,buffalo,gou,mud cat,then to shad,perch etc.It is an ecosystem. Take out the big predators and the junk may rise until more predators comes in.Left alone it will balance itself.Just obey the law and enjoy.We stocked a few black bass not because we like them,it balances the ecosystem in our ponds.

YellowCats eat bass. They eat anything they want.

To give you an idea of how hungry & fearless they are. One 57 pound Op taught me plenty. I had her tied on one line with one of my loop stakes on one side of the boat at Running Branch. I had a 13 or 16# Op on another stake out a little ways past the boat on the other side to make sure they could not tangle. Or the big one decide to eat the smaller one. Some kids wanted to see the smaller one, so I pulled it out & held it up for them. Then I tossed it out. Naturally, it not only made a big noise, but a big cannonball type splash. The 57 pounder came flying out from under the boat at lightning speed. I know because I saw the 1/4" nylon rope. Then she suddenly stopped, either because it felt it was at the end of the rope, or something akin to "Oh, it's you". But that tells me she was not afraid of such a big splash & was ready to collect her lunch. And it also showed me just how fast those big ones are. I am talking from a standing start. So I have a lot of respect for big Yellows/Ops.

If I recall, A Yellow can grow to 10 pounds in 4 years & 20 pounds in 8 years. I always thought that was high when I first got that info (late 1970s) until I started researching them. My conclusion is that they very well can grow that qwik.

A 50lb flat will carry about 8lbs of eggs. Thats alot of catfish. I watched a friend clean a 45lb yellow, when he gutted it, there were 7 keeper Sandbass and 2 Gar in its stomach. Guess thats why they grow so fast. We used to throw back anything under 20lbs because of the percentage of meat that was left,after cleaning and trimming didnt justify keeping the smaller ones in my opinion. I think the 20 to 40lb range is best for eating