I was just wondering why Utah Lake Channel Cats are so ugly. I've caught several big cats from multiple lakes this year in Utah and it always seems that Utah Lake Cats are ugly! First of all they definitely don't have the girth of cats from other lakes but that is probably due to the lack of food. But why the ugly colors, big nasty lips, tattered fins, discoloration all over the body and more? I'm sure they taste good but why are they sooooooo UGLY???
The cats under five pounds look fine from Utah Lake. But when you get a ten pounder they look like they've been slapped with the ugly stick for hours!
Anybody have a logical explanation to why they are so ugly? I've attached a couple pictures just as an example.
thats an ugly cat for sure, not sure why, maybe geneva leaked to many chemicals into the lake over the years, but then again i guess all the fish would look that way
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[cool][#0000ff]Your second picture is of a spawning male cat. They are always thinner in the body with bigger heads and darker colors than the females. They also are the ones that fight for nests in holes in the rocks and they get pretty beat up sometimes.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]They get plenty to eat. The females of any size are usually much thicker through the body and do not have the "war wounds". I catch lots of cats of all sizes from Utah Lake and the ones I catch have all been eating well...with plenty of oil in the flesh and deposits of visceral fat in the bellies.[/#0000ff]
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I've caught plenty of cats from Utah Lake over the years that look just like that first picture, nice fat females. Like tubedude said, when you catch the big spawning males they are ugly, no matter where you catch them.
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Beat up? lol right you are. 3M and I fished "the spot" Sunday morning and caught a ton of cookie cats hens. Also played tug of war with a few nice sized males. One of the male I caught looked like it had just went through a grinder. It still had a lots of cuts and open flesh along his body due to battles I suspect.
Another male ID factor to mention, other than the fact they are a bit on the Butt ugly side, is the size of the male mouths. They have very wide, large, gaping mouths compared to their female counterparts.
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I guess I just have a hard time finding the gorgeous ladies down south. Maybe one day I'll get lucky and get a nice female. I just have better luck chasing the ladies up in the northern region.
Haha. I don't know if I've ever seen a catfish that isn't ugly!
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I guess catfish are kind of like people. Hard to catch you a nice beautiful women, and the men are ugly with big mouths and a bad attitude.[
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The only fish I care about being pretty are the ones in my bedroom aquarium.
I never really paid attention to how catfish look, other than if they're just generally healthy. If they had tumors or really deep/festering wounds, then I probably wouldn't want to eat them.
My godmother thinks ALL catfish are ugly. And therefore won't eat them... even though she has eaten catfish before, and admits it's good...she just can't stand the thought of having the living being image in her head and eating the meat.
My mother is one of those people that's determined to keep the opinion that they're trash fish, and therefore unhealthy to eat. I keep trying to tell her that farm raised catfish would be okay, but she doesn't even want to acknowledge that "theory".
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