Landed this fella Tuesday night while my wife and I were fishing for bluegills. 4 lb. test line, 5 ft ultralight, 1 lil' cricket.

Fought him for 1 hour and 5 minutes. He made 4-5 runs for deep water, just had to keep tightening and loosening my drag and finally wore him down enough for my wife to net him after we waded out about thigh-deep. My luck almost ran out though--I had just cut a long section of twisted line off the reel from the 3-lber my wife landed prior to this one--I may have had another 20 yards or so left on my reel.

Our 4-month old pup, a mini-dachshund, couldn't stand missing the action and jumped into the water and swam circles around us while we were trying to net the fish! She's never even been in the bathtub, lol.

Seems we just happened upon some males that were preparing the nests, as there were no eggs to be found when I cleaned them. We've had 3 fish frys from this guy so far this week--and will probably get 2 more!


Work has kept me from fishing most of this year, and this was a fun memory with my wife I won't soon forget. Thank you, Lord-for my wife, work, and fishing.

Nice catch, but the first pic is a blue 2nd is def, a channel

That's one mean lookin' dog!!

That's what I had thought initially, but there were a few spots further down the tail, and it had the rounded anal fin. TPWD website says channels have the rounded anal fins, while blues have a "squared" anal fin. Either can have that "slate blue" look to them as they mature... But I'm no biologist. It's so hard to tell sometimes.

Nice Catch. Good job on the ultra light.

both are channel cats, and both are very nice fish

Top is a blue bottom is a channel.

+1

Nice Dach....and great channels

wow that's nice catch i can see your puppy is curious about it :P I remember first time when i caught a bass my Jack Russel was trying to grab the fish off my rod .

Definitive way to tell is to count the rays on the anal fin. More than 30 or more is a blue. 29 or less is a channel.

And yes the top on is a channel also.

top is an op and the bottom is a speckled bullhead
The dog is a bull mastiff

What's the length measurement on your largest catfish? I can't tell from the picture with the ruler. I just caught a 25" channel as well but I don't have a digital scale. Mine felt like it was around 10 pounds I think.

Nice catches!