# 2014 Blue Cat stocking (Upper Ohio River)



## barillms (Aug 28, 2013)

The Southern Ohio portion of Ohio River along with the Kanawha has been stocked with blue catfish every year since 2005. The WV DNR has been doing this to reestablish their numbers, and its working. Many large blue cats are being caught, and they are thriving.

Well, until recent years, the upper-most portion of the Ohio River has not been stocked. The two northernmost pools are located just north of Wheeling, WV (Interstate 70), the Pike Island Pool (Yorkville, Rayland, Mingo Jct, Steubenville, Toronto, OH) and the New Cumberland Pool (Very tip top of WV panhandle near East Liverpool, OH) have been stocked in 2013 and 2014.

I do not know the stocking numbers from 2013, but I just spoke to a WV Fish Biologist and he filled me in on this info, which I'm sure many people, including myself, were not aware of.

2014:

Quote: "This year we stocked a total of 99,845 blue catfish into 3 different water bodies. Kanawha River received about 8,454 blue catfish and R.D. Bailey Lake received about 15,057 blue catfish.* Ohio River received the most blue catfish, with just over 76,000 being stocked.* This was the second year that the New Cumberland pool was stocked and it received about 14,000 blues.* We stocked just over 7,000 blues into Pike Island pool.* This was the first year that we stocked the Pike Island pool.* It is our hopes that the blues do as well in the upper pools of Ohio River as they are doing in the lower pools.* If you have any questions, please feel free to give me a call."

Thanks,
Dave


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## Fisherman 3234 (Sep 8, 2008)

Very good information, thanks for sharing.


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## barillms (Aug 28, 2013)

Locals say there aren't blue cats in the river up here... Well, that's not true. The fingerlings they stocked are 5-7" long. And they will grow fast, and in 5 years we should start seeing 20lb fish. Once mature, they will spawn and their numbers will increase. Plus this was not a 1 time thing... They are going to continue stocking every year.

I figure since this summer, they will have already been in for 2 years. I'm guessing we should start seeing 5-8lb fish caught soon. But in 5-10 years we should start seeing some big guys caught.

As of now, flatheads are all we fish for that have any size to them. How the blue cats will affect the flathead population I guess we'll have to see. The blues prefer the deeper water, so it might benefit us flathead fisherman.... It could possibly force the flatheads to move into new areas, shallower areas which could help shore fisherman. Both are top of the food chain predators, so they will compete for food. Whereas the blues will stay in the deep channels of the main river, it could force the flats up into the big feeder creeks to hunt other food sources. This is speculation, but its definitely going to affect the flatheads behavior.


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## Salmonid (Apr 14, 2004)

Barillms. I saw this on some other boards but thanks for posting it
Also wanted to let you know blues are not sexually mature until about 6-7 years old and are usually around 14-17 lbs. once they get to this size it is then that they can really put some weight on. Most folks dont realize a 30 lber might be anywhere from 10-15 years old

Salmonid


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## barillms (Aug 28, 2013)

Yeah, hopefully they make it to maturity. Their efforts will definitely boost the population, and make for better fishing for years to come. What's our chances of catching a 50lb blue? Who knows? That may take 20 years.
Apparently blues don't grow super fast when they're young... 

I found this interesting growth chart on www.flatheadcatfishhunters.com


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## jwfish (Jan 28, 2005)

Down in Virginia the have aged bluecats that were 15 years old and weighted over 60 lbs it all depends on the food source and in the james river there are tons of big gizzard shad and a lot of herring to get them big and fat.


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## barillms (Aug 28, 2013)

The blues & flats are top of the food chain predators, I don't know if the blues are more scavengers... But they seem like they'd be less aggressive that flats in terms of their prey. I would hate to see there be a food shortage and they fight over food sources.

We have high shad populations, but our flats up here are already generally thin.


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## GMR_Guy (Apr 10, 2004)

barillms said:


> Yeah, hopefully they make it to maturity. Their efforts will definitely boost the population, and make for better fishing for years to come. What's our chances of catching a 50lb blue? Who knows? That may take 20 years.
> Apparently blues don't grow super fast when they're young...
> 
> I found this interesting growth chart on www.flatheadcatfishhunters.com


Thanks for posting the graphs - I learned something. The bluecat growth chart really surprised me, it sort of goes against common sense, but it is apparently accurate.


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