I hear a lot of you speak of a bullhead catfish. All I want to know is that the same as a polywog as we call them in East Texas. In our lakes we have channel cat,oppalusa or flathead,Highfin blue cats, and what we call bullhead blues. Our pollywogs are usually small and have a yellow belly and kinda look like a big salamander with a rounded tail,not v-tailed. Anyone have a picture of what ya'll are calling a bullhead?
Bullheads are catfish. Pollywog usually refers to a tadpole which is the immature stage of a frog. There are various species of bullhead catfish.
https://www.sara-tx.org/public_resources/field_guide/detail.php?id=621http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ameiurus
So far that first picture of a yellow bullhead cat is what we call a pollywog catfish.I know what a "real" pollywog salamander is. I think our good ol boy backwoods east Texans just call them pollywog cats. I think sometimes they are referred to as just a yellow cat. They are considered a trash fish here. Whenever we catch them we turn them around and hook them on a trotline hook by the tail in hopes of catching a big flathead oppalusa cat.
There are lots of common names used regionally. We have some of those too. My dad always calls deer flies, strawberry flies, that is why scientists always add a genus and species name when discussing species with various common names. Most consider bullheads a trash fish and try to keep them out of their ponds. Glad to see that I am not the only early riser.
Buddy, I was up at 4:30. Its quiet time for me. Get the weather report and a large cup of coffee. Read the computer.Dont get a newspaper here. Watch daylight break and see what the day brings me. I am a ham radio operator and will sometimes check on friends on the radio if I don't think it will wake the wife too early. I have a very good friend of mine in Indiana. He is a captain in a large fire dept. there. Not sure what town. Thanks for helping me with the mudcat, pollwog i.d.
You beat me by almost an hour (if you are on ET). My normal up time is 5:20 AM, but I slept in this morning:) Glad to be of assistance on the fish. This is really a great forum and I have learned a lot. It will be raining and snowing today, so I am starting my second cup of joe.
I have been sitting here watching the snow fly. High wind today. Nothing like a good cup a joe and reading your guys discussion on good old bullheads. When I was a kid, that was the only catfish in BOWs within bike riding distance. Ate a lot of them back then.
There is a hatchery in New York that sells BH for stocking and they are not cheap!
My new 2 acre pond is filling fast. RAH, I am in central time so technically we got up at the same time.We have 35 temp this morning with frost but will be warming into the 60s today. Next 5 days are forcast in the 70s. That is not even normal for here.I cant hardly wait. I am going to stock my first fish in mid February.With pellet feeding how big do you think my cnbg will get by August? will my grandson be able to catch some of them? I am stocking cnbg, res, and fhm all at the same time.
There are much more qualified folks on this forum to answer that question. I do know that you might want to consider stocking a forage fish like fathead minnow a year ahead of the predator fish, but perhaps feeding will make up for not having this forage base. I stocked my first pond without understanding this, but am doing things better on my second pond. You may want to add a different post on stocking your pond. There are some real experts here that can give you some great advice.
Flame, a lot of the answer depends on how big will the fish be when stocked? Assuming typical 2" size for new pond stockings, if fed you could easily expect many to be in the 6" size range by August with a few topping 8"...
A bullhead is a cross between a rat and a cockroach. By some weird genetic mystery this cross gives them fins and gills.
And folks eat them? Eeewww
Pat
A bullhead is a cross between a rat and a cockroach.
That's ridiculous. Everyone knows that a bullhead is a cross between a rat, a cockroach, and a green sunfish.