I don't see how you can get too upset if people are keeping these big fish legally. Legally being the keyword here. I've never caught anything bigger than a 22 lbs flathead. I kept it. The next time I catch one bigger, I'm going to keep that one too, and enjoy every ounce of it. If anyone else on their high horse tells me I shouldn't do that, well they can enjoy the fish they buy at HEB I guess.

With all the new fishermen here and all the pressure we need to do something Its our future for us fishermen The white bass need to fall under this to Maybe just cut the limits back

I'm with you on this, anyone that has thrown a hook into twok knows the catfish population is anything but suffering. Unless it's a fish under 12" those seem hard to come by. I'm sure one of the guides or a city client of theirs will tell everyone otherwise. I'm also glad they removed the photos. After this I wouldn't dare post photos of one of our trinity river yellow cat runs!

There are states enacting length limits with a possession of one per day bigger than 30 inch,38 inch and 40 inch depending on the state .(Ohio, West Virginia, Tennessee, Virginia, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, South Carolina, Nebraska)

The study below came from the state of Oklahoma and is based on data collected and not on any one OPINION.

I thought the info on the age of state record and growth rate was interesting!

REGULATIONS ON BLUE CATFISH

Angler interest in catching "trophy-sized" blue catfish has been increasing nationwide. A survey of blue catfish anglers indicated that 75% of anglers were in favor of developing trophy fisheries but only 2% of management agencies managed for trophy fisheries. Increasing popularity of "trophy" fisheries has lead to formation of catfish tournaments and out-of-state anglers traveling to Oklahoma to fish for large blue catfish. Due to increased angling pressure on large blue catfish, the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation initiated research studies on the status of blue catfish populations in reservoirs.

� Biologists collected population information over a 5-year period on 13 reservoirs statewide. Results of these studies indicate:
o blue catfish growth rates are slow statewide: 13-16 years to reach 30 inches; 10 years to reach 25 inches (6 lbs.)
o growth rates are highly variable; the largest fish aged (Texoma) was 102 lbs and 29 years old; the oldest fish aged (R.S. Kerr) was 34 years old and weighed 6 lbs
o numbers of fish are high in most reservoirs but the populations are dominated by small fish (less than 5 lbs); less than 1% of the blue catfish in Oklahoma lakes are 30 inches or larger
� Game Wardens conducted a 2-year statewide creel survey to determine the numbers and sizes of blue catfish being harvested by Oklahoma anglers. Current statewide regulations are15 channel and/or blue catfish, in aggregate, with no size restriction.
o blue catfish outnumbered channel catfish harvested 3:1
o less than 2% of catfish anglers caught their daily creel limit (15)
o only 1 in 5 anglers catching blue catfish caught one over 30 inches
o over 50% of the anglers that caught blue catfish over 30 inches caught more than 1 fish over 30 inches
o 8% of the blue catfish harvested were greater than 30 inches (as compared to less than 1% in the population)
In efforts to maintain the quality of catfish angling in Oklahoma and maintain the numbers of large catfish in the state's lakes, the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation felt the need to restrict the harvest of blue catfish over 30 inches in length to 1 per angler per day. At the current rate of harvest (large blue catfish being removed at a rate 16 times higher than the abundance in the lakes) biologists feel that we will not be able to maintain the high quality catfish angling currently available to the state's anglers. This regulation still allows catfish anglers to keep a large number of fish (15) less than 30 inches and, in a good day of fishing, anglers can keep more than 50 lbs of filets.

Do you all really think throwing a big one back is a bad thing?

I think it would be interesting to see the stocking reports from those lakes in correlation to that data as well.

One thing to remember is that Tawakoni had no Blue Catfish in the lake before 1989. You can look at the stocking report at http://tpwd.texas.gov/fishboat/fish/action/stock_bywater.php?WB_code=0714 . The fishing should be better and larger fish should be caught each year on Tawakoni because we know they can live much longer than 26 years.

Tawakoni most definitely had blue cats in it prior to 1989. My dad has dozens of old pics of Tawakoni Blues dating well before 1989.

That is silly, what does the method of catch have to do with it? I only catfish with jugs and I only do it for the fun have never kept a catfish over 5 lbs. So I am hurting the fish population because I let some jugs soak while I Crappie fish with rod & reel?

And how many hooks are you allowed to put out jug or trot lining ??????

5 hooks per jug, total of 100 hooks per licensed fisherperson. Have no clue about trotlines. You didn't answer my question. How does the method of catch affect population?

100 hooks out ??? think about it

1 hook or a 100 hooks, the limit is the same.

Thats true but the odds are whole lot greater that your gonna catch more I see whats it done to our lake

If you catch 25 on R&R, and I catch 25 on trotline, whet is the difference? Twenty five is twenty five.

Thats true but like I said the odds are whole lot greater when you fish with all them

What odds are greater? One fish , one hook. Just because someone catches his limit quicker than you makes absolutely no difference.