Blue Catfish Truth

[Fredrick]

If anyone is curious about the Blue catfish making their way up the Susky .

 

[afishinado]

Now populating the Susky in the last decade or so are blue catfish, flathead catfish (both which are predators and grow to huge sizes) and now snakeheads. It is very likely the River will be changed forever with more and more competing predator species being introduced.

The difference between Flatheads and Blue catfish is they are native to North America and have lived alongside many of the existing species in the River. While their presence may very well be disruptive (I believe they will be) snakeheads are found in Asia. There is no data on how they will effect populations of North American fish in streams and lakes and rivers on this continent. At this point all we can do is hope for the best.

Also, there's no logic in the argument that other species have been introduced so another one (snakeheads in this case) is okay. Two wrongs don't make a right.....as they say.

 

[Fredrick]

The river is definitely going to change , I remember how the bass fishing tanked on the Skuke after the flathead boom . I just hope the same doesn't happen to the susky .And with the pollution problems in the river right now those three species I believe are more tolerant to pollution. I think the state should move more of its efforts to clean the river. Telling everyone to kill the snakeheads and catfish isn't going to help much if the bass aren't able to thrive in the current pollution status of the river . When the new fish on the block are perfectly fine living in those conditions. I just looked at the consumption advisories for the river and it doesn't look like they were updated , so I'm guessing the State either knew about all the raw sewage in the river already, or they are kicking their feet around to update it .

 

[afishinado]

Fredrick wrote:
The river is definitely going to change , I remember how the bass fishing tanked on the Skuke after the flathead boom . I just hope the same doesn't happen to the susky .And with the pollution problems in the river right now those three species I believe are more tolerant to pollution. I think the state should move more of its efforts to clean the river. Telling everyone to kill the snakeheads and catfish isn't going to help much if the bass aren't able to thrive in the current pollution status of the river . When the new fish on the block are perfectly fine living in those conditions. I just looked at the consumption advisories for the river and it doesn't look like they were updated , so I'm guessing the State either knew about all the raw sewage in the river already, or they are kicking their feet around to update it .

^ Agree with all the the above.

And, not being a fisheries biologist either my guess is the snakeheads will be the least problem of the three species. But as i wrote above, it's anyone's guess and only time will tell.

 

[sarce]

Blue cats are the top predator in the Potomac these days. I think there's a strong correlation between their population explosion down here and the decline of yellow perch in the river. I haven't caught a yellow perch in a few years. I can't say I've noticed any change in other fish populations.

The good thing is the small ones are delicious. People are told to keep as many as they wish but they still make up 90% of the total fish biomass in some sections of the river. Part of the problem is they get so freaking big people don't want to keep them. Who wants to haul a 20+ lb catfish back to their vehicle? Not me. I release the big ones and fry up the 5 pounders.

 

[Fredrick]

If the 20 pounders taste just as good as the 5 pounders I'm walking back with at least two of them LOL. I may head over to the flats this year to try and catch some of these fish from the yak then have a fish fry .

 

[jifigz]

Without watching the videos, so blues are in the susky? That's wild. And yes, flatheads and blues will definitely change the river more than snakeheads.

 

[Mike]

The fish flesh contamination sampling in major rivers occurs periodically and has occurred for years.

As for combined stormwater/sewage discharges during storm events, such discharges are nothing new around the state. In fact, older systems were designed that way. Such systems have been around for a long time.

 

[Fredrick]

Mike wrote:
The fish flesh contamination sampling in major rivers occurs periodically and has occurred for years.

As for combined stormwater/sewage discharges during storm events, such discharges are nothing new around the state. In fact, older systems were designed that way. Such systems have been around for a long time.

So the state has known about these unsafe levels of fecal bacteria around the Harrisburg are some time now ?


https://www.pennlive.com/news/2019/08/feces-related-bacteria-abundant-in-harrisburg-waterways-due-to-sewage-overflows-environmentalists-claim.html

 

[TJones]

Are blues presence confirmed above Conowingo? If so, that’s some interesting info I didn’t know.

 

[Mike]

Yes...1 fish. It was caught in Lake Clark last year. Lake Clark is the impoundment that is formed by Safe Harbor Dam, 2 dams upstream from Conowingo Dam. Lake Clark is just down from Columbia, Lancaster Co and Wrightsville, York Co. It generally has a very good, lightly fished Walleye population and an abundance of Channel Cats. There are a few spots where SMB fishing could be good, but generally it is not a tremendous SMB impoundment and even that population has experienced a second substantial decline since problems in the River began in 2005.

 

[jifigz]

So how long do we think it will be before blues are established through the entire system?

 

[TJones]

Thanks for the update Mike! Interesting news.

my initial thoughts are that blues should do very well in the lower river, but not so great above maybe York Haven... Can’t imagine we have the right kind of forage base for big blues in the upper river, but I could be wrong. Im not a biologist, but I have stayed at holiday inn express a time or two, lol.