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Sometimes small fish can be more exciting than BIG fish!
We found another young of the year blue catfish at El Dorado a couple of weeks ago. Finding YOY fish tells us that a species is successfully spawning and producing year classes within the lake. When these YOY fish result from a sportfish introduction project it is certainly GOOD NEWS!!
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That's a keeper blue cat, you have really big hands Craig.. :Rofl:biggrin:Rofl: Very cool picture!!
Craig I here a lot of noise about Blue Cats competing with flatheads and adversely effecting flathead populations. What are your thoughts
While flatheads and blue cats do eat similar prey items, they usually occupy different habitats in a reservoir so there isn't a whole lot of overlap as they are not always in the same place at the same time. Blue cats prefer the middle to the lower portions of the upper reaches of Kansas reservoirs while flatheads are most numerous in the most upper reaches.Quote:
Originally Posted by Blackdog40
I can't say that I've ever heard concern over blues vs. flats. The more common question is the impact of blue catfish introduction on channel catfish populations. At El Dorado the channel catfish population has always been fair at best. An age and growth study at El Dorado showed that channel catfish growth was poor and densities were below desired levels. Blue catfish grow to much larger sizes than channel catfish, blues feed more actively than channels during winter thus extending fishing opportunities over more months, much higher trophy potential with blues, anglers find blue catfish very good table fare, and growing popularity of blue catfish angling were all positive reasons to consider stocking blues.
Not to mention they eat amazing amounts of zebra mussels.
A Coffey County 2# blue yielded 2/3 rds of a coffee cup-full amount of Z's!!
I closely examined many blues lately to determine they somehow "extract" the "soft goodies" from inside the Z-shells and eliminate the hard shells from their anal openings. Within 1/4" of the opening, the shells are still mostly intact --- and sharp! Blues must have very, very durable skin.
On the other hand, based on exploration of the intestional tract on a freshwater drum, while not as "full" of Z's, they seem to be able to grind the Z's into small bits.
All great info guys. It's always wild to me that fish actually eat Zebra Mussels. And to hear the drum do as well is good news. Now to just keep guys from keeping short blues...have seen a lot of them cleaned at the fish cleaning station...I try to educate every time that there is a difference between a channel and a blue...not just the species, but the length and creel limits as well.
We've been having smallmouths puking up zebra shells in our livewells lately too. The redears are packed full of them in the lakes where the two coexist. Hopefully they all keep eating the dang things.
Dont worry about just the shorts being taken. It worries me how many big blues are pulled from Milford early in the year when their biting good. You have any thoughts on this Craig?
Yes, blue catfish will feed upon zebra mussels and quite heavily at times, usually during the summer months and returning to a more piscivorous diet in the winter. Blue catfish lack the pharyngeal teeth that common carp, freshwater drum, and redear sunfish possess that aid in grinding the zebra mussel shells in to small particles. The blue catfish digestive system digests the soft tissue from within the zebra mussel shells leaving only the partially opened shells to be passed from the digestive tract. Carp, drum, and redear are capable of crushing and grinding the shells in to much smaller pieces. You can look at a CDC post from a couple years ago for more info and pics on blues eating zebra mussels http://www.crappie.com/crappie/ask-t...zebra-mussels/ .Quote:
Originally Posted by eatmorfish
Here's two pics of the contents of a common carp that was feeding on zebra mussels. Notice how much smaller the pieces of shell are after the pharyngeal teeth crush the shells.
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Redear sunfish were stocked in to El Dorado reservoir for three years in an attempt to establish another sportfish species that would utilize zebra mussels as a food item and also be desirable to anglers. The introduction project failed and after the release of nearly 1 million redear sunfish over the three year period the introduction project was discontinued. El Dorado Reservoir did not have enough of the habitat required by redear sunfish.
I've also seen freshwater drum packed full of zebra mussels. During the peak of zebra mussel density at El Dorado in 2006 it was hard to find a carp or drum that was NOT full of zebra mussels!
Although many of our Kansas fish will eat zebra mussels the fish cannot eat enough of them to have much of impact on the zebra mussel population as the reproduction rate is just too high.
Great observations on the fish you have been catching!!
Tyson,Quote:
Originally Posted by tdinges
Thanks for your educational efforts at the fish cleaning station.
You can also call the Law Enforcement or Parks divisions of KDWPT when you see violations if you need assistance in your efforts.
drakewoodie,Quote:
Originally Posted by drakewoodie
I don't have access to all the sampling data and harvest data for blues at Milford so I won't make any wild assumptions.
The daily creel limit on blues at Milford was dropped from 10/day to 5/day several years ago which obviously limits number of blues that can be harvested but doesn't have any impact on the size of fish that can be harvested. Some states, such as Oklahoma, have gone to "one over limits" on blue catfish as part of the daily creel limits. An example of this type of limit would be "one fish over 30-inches per angler per day" which would spread out the harvest of those larger fish.
El Dorado Reservoir currently has the 35-inch minimum length limit in place on blues. This regulation was put in to place in 2005 to protect the young population from angler harvest until it was mature enough for natural recruitment. The regulation has worked well and the blues are now producing good year classes and will soon be able to withstand some angler harvest without suffering ill effects. The 35-inch length limit will be repealed to allow harvest of the smaller fish. In order to further assist in the development of the trophy potential of blue catfish at the lake, harvest regulation options such as the 'one over limits' are being explored. This type of limit would allow for the harvest of smaller fish while protecting the larger, older, more valuable fish so they may be caught multiple times before being harvested giving additional anglers the thrill of catching a trophy sized fish in Kansas water.
bluebasser86,Quote:
Originally Posted by bluebasser86
I've not seen any smallies with zebra mussels in them and I haven't had any puke up zebra shells in my livewells so this is a new one to me. Makes me wonder if they are eating the zebra mussels intentionally or if the ingestion of the shells is a cost of feeding on the bottom on crayfish or other critter. What lake were you fishing? During the peak density of zebra mussels at El Dorado, it was nearly impossible to get in the water and NOT eat a zebra mussel as they were EVERYWHERE!!!
So what habitat was El Dorado lacking for the Red ears?
I wondered the same about them getting the zebra mussels as a byproduct of feeding on something that was on/near the bottom. I don't know how much zebras may open and close like a freshwater mussel, but any small movement can attract a curious smallmouth. The main reason I don't think it was incidental was there was a few dozen shells in the livewell with an 18 1/4" and a 20" smallmouth, seems like that's a lot of shells if it was accidental. This happened at Melvern this past April, one of these two fish or maybe both.Quote:
Originally Posted by Craig Johnson
http://i1136.photobucket.com/albums/...psf34c3476.jpg
Sorry for the slow reply, zummy!Quote:
Originally Posted by zummy
Redear sunfish prefer deep, clear, weedy water. El Dorado has pretty good areas of water willow along shorelines but not much in the way of offshore weedbeds that would be beneficial to the redear. Even though the redear are found more offshore than the bluegill, they weren't able to establish a population during our 3-year stocking effort.
bluebasser86,Quote:
Originally Posted by bluebasser86
Were the shells open or closed? Were they live zebra mussels or just the shells? Single shells or still connected to the other half? Sorry for all the questions! If they were live zebra mussels, then more often than not they are firmly attached to the substrate meaning they are rather difficult to pull off. If the shells don't contain a live zebra mussel then they aren't usually attached and can sometimes be found in large piles of loose dead shells which would be really easy to inhale a few while snapping a crawdad off the bottom. If the regurgitated zebra mussels were still alive then the smallies could have been targetting the zebra mussels as they would have to expend some energy to dislodge the attached zeebs from the bottom. Again, sorry for all the questions! I've not seen any sign of the El Dorado smallies eating zeebs so hearing of your trip has my interest!
Great looking smallmouth! I bet those were a BLAST to catch!
Have they ever thought about Coffey County? That lake is deep. It also has had an explosion of zebra mussels, and a coinciding explosion in offshore weed beds. Sounds like it could be a prime candidate.Quote:
Originally Posted by Craig Johnson
Had a mix of all of it, some were half shells, some both halfs and empty, some must have been recently eaten and were still closed. Smallies can clamp down pretty hard for a bass and in areas on Melvern the zebras get stacked on top of each other and are easier to pull loose in clumps. Maybe the bass are starting to recognize those as easy targets? I don't eat smallmouths and this is the first time I've put one in the livewell at Melvern and only did so because it was a tournament so I'm not sure if it's a regular occurance or if I just caught a couple oddballs. Yes, they were both a blast to catch too, the big one went 4.80lbs and won big bass for the tournament.Quote:
Originally Posted by Craig Johnson