Kill the Blue Catfish

[Hookman571]

This is Second Hand Information. I saw today that Maryland will allow Blue Cats of over 40" in the Maryland Fishing Challenge:

"Only if fish is in a sealed container or dead. Fish may not be released back in the water."

Now having quoted that and being of a conservation mind I will ask what you would do? I caught this fish last
Friday at Fort Washington. It weighed in at 61.3 lbs. It was 47.5 long and 32.75 girth.
Kill it for an award or set it free ?

[gliebig]

A pic is reward enough.

[martineta]

Picture and release.

[Salmo trutta]

They have a separate reward system and that is the Catch and release form. But if there is a specific statement that is must be killed, than it is what it is.

Basically they are trying to stop the threat of spreading this invasive fish elsewhere. It's pretty much set and thriving in the Potomac and may not be harming the ecosystem as a whole but if it were to populate smaller bodies of water, it could pretty much destroy them.

[Capt.Nick]

The DNR considers them detrimental to fish populations,especially menhadden & shad.They would prefer that every one that's caught be used but not thrown on the shore.

[chrisdetweiler]

That's a tough one. We now have blue cats in the susquehanna. They are an invasive species, so I think they should all be kept (and eaten) when caught. It's ironic that the species I'm most concerned for in the Susquehanna is the Smallmouth Bass, also an introduced species. Of course, they've been in the river so long that it's now the premier gamefish. I don't know how much damage these fish do to the existing native species, but in general, I feel that non-native species should be removed whenever possible. Just my 2 cents...

[Don Hershfeld]

By the time we have invasive blues achieving such dimensions, I'm not sure that the horse isn't already out of the barn.

[BBCroaker]

Trash Fish for some

[racn35]

LMAO finally we catfish lovers get our revenge ! for years and years people talked about catfish like they were bottom dwelling mud suckers... buzzards of the waterway.... NOW the tables are turned.... CATFISH are at the TOP TOP TOP of the food chain....

CATFISH eat BASS as SNACKS.... 90% Gizzard Shad.... thats what you get when HUMANS mess with MOTHER NATURE !

[Hookman571]

Don't it make you wonder how all of the other species (Smallmouth, Largemouth, Walleye, sauger, Yellow Perch, Drum, Sunfish, etc., etc)
exist in the Mississippi Drainage with both Blue Cats and Flatheads occuring naturally there? If they eat all of the other species wouldn't they be the only fish left? There are so many Shad in the Potomac and James that these fish don't need to hunt anything but. I don't doubt that they wouldn't eat an injured Bass though. Maryland regularly transfers fish and game to other parts of the State and even to other States. I think they bend to Lobbyists who think they are protecting Rock and Largemouth Bass. The James has had these fish longer than us and B.A.S.S. actually has tournaments on the James and produce Huge Bass. It's interesting how they want to protect on one page and do nothing as far as Sewage Treatment overflows on the other. Charge me $2.00 for a Catfish Stamp and be done with it. Of course the $2.00 would be used to further enhance the Natural Resources of the FREE STATE. I'm too old for this!