Pond Boss Forums PHOTO GALLERY Image Gallery what type catfish are these?

im trying to identify thses catfish, can anyone help

They look like a type of Bullhead to me, what type of water were you fishing and how did you catch them?

Do you have any more pictures of them?

im fishing my pond and those fish are about 2 inches long and i have a large black blob swimming around

Bullheads for sure, but I'm not sure if they are brown, yellow, or black bullheads.

Guys -- is there a chance those could be white catfish (same genus as the bullheads, Ameiurus catus)?? I've never seen one. However, there is a slight fork in the tail. It looks like the white catfish get as far west as Alabama in native distribution?? Any of our southern biologists able to help us with identification??

i saw the fork in the tail and that made me think the ccs had spawned but that is not enough of a fork to be cc in my opinion. I seems that i remember looking at them and seeing black barbles on their chin and i thought yellow bullhead had white/yellow barbles on chin

So, I recant, and say, I'm pretty sure they are bullheads, but go with the good doctor's analysis.

Wow! I just realized how tiny they were. I'd read the comment they were 2" long but didn't put 2+2 together until I realized that white lid was not an ice cooler lid but more likely a worm-box lid.

They look an awful lot like bullheads but I have a hard time identifying the exact kind, especially without a clearer picture.

I would say they are brown bullheads. The mottled coloration, dark brown color that goes almost to the belly and shape are why I say that. However, they could be white catfish. White catfish are common in the coastal areas here in Virginia and I catch them occasionally while fishing for CC and blue cats but since the introduction of the bigger Mississippi River natives, the white cats have become far less common. White cats can vary greatly in coloration from more brown like bullheads to a bluer CC coloration. They tend to have white come further up their sides than bullheads, perhaps taking up a third of their side. I see the forking of the tail in those cats, but it doesn't seem to be enough to be white catfish and brown bullheads can have a slight forking in their tails, particularly young ones of that size IME. Also, unless these are introduced, white catfish are not native to Louisiana. Not many populations of introduced white catfish. Some have been introduced to the west coast. They do not compete well with the bigger Mississippi natives(channels, blues, flatheads).

See if we can get a closer up photo of a fish. Particularly the head and caudal fin areas.

Those are probably YOY brown bullheads born about a month to 6 weeks ago which is when bullheads in your part of the country would have spawned.

Thanks, CJ! I figured you would probably know.

So what are some options for peole to use or do with these wonderful Bullheads?

Bullheads are usually controlled by a healthy bass population resulting in a few adult fish in the 10"-16" range. If you don't want mostly bullheads in the 10"-16" range, then you would most likely have to do a complete fish kill renovation. If you didn't stock bullheads, chances are the migrated in a high water event into your pond. After renovation, they're likely to do this again. So just keep a healthy bass population and remove all bullheads when caught and that should keep them at manageable numbers.

MRHELLO, I just take out every bullhead I catch and throw them up on shore for the local wildlife to have "sushi."

I do catch a lot of them as all I mostly ever fish with are fatheads and golden shiners.

I have heard they were good Flathead bait for limb lines and jugs. But not sure if there is a market for them or not.

Interesting topic though.

Thanks

They are excellent Flathead Catfish bait and candy to LMB.

My favorite flathead bait... 6"-10" bullheads are perfect. I hit a small pond that is loaded with them and catch a couple dozen that size and then hit my fleathead fishing waters.

Did you get any more pictures of these?