Catfish size?

[catchinon]

I was just wondering why we don't catch many channel cats under 20" long. Anybody know? Also I'm not sure how big a "cookie cutter" is. Can somebody enlighten me? What's the average size channel cat caught, anyway?
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[gmwahl]

It just depends on where you,fish I suppose. Certain areas on cutler give up LOTS of 14-18" channel cats while other areas (that are held as closely guarded secrets) give up fish that average 25-32". Also, the size of the bait matters. When using worms, if I can keep the mudcats off of my bait I tend to catch lots of small channel cats, but with a hefty chunk of sucker or carp meat on I tend to catch bigger fish.

Most of the cats that I've caught out of Willard bay have been sub 20" fish with only a few that have broke the 22-24" mark. I tend to use smaller bait there for some reason though or catch them incidentally while fishing for wipers and walleyes, so my bait is usually a lot smaller than I would use for big channel cats. I usually think of a "cookie cutter" catfish as a 16-18" catfish that I catch while fishing in Willard bay. A "cookie cutter" from cutler reservoir is rare because I tend to catch them all over the size spectrum.



Mike
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[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]What Mike said.[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]I started using the term "cookie cutters" on Willard many years ago...to cover the most common size range. At that time they were about 16 to 18 inches. Since then there has been an upward shift in the both the average size and the largest fish available. Not a bad thing. But a cookie cutter now is closer to 20".[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]In Utah Lake the "cookies" size seems to fluctuate from year to year. About 22-24 inches seems to be the "average" cat currently...with good numbers of 2-footers and slightly larger.
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[#0000FF]There are always cats from several different age classes in Utah Lake. But during years of high water and good spawning there will be a large year class of survivors that show up as the cookie cutters several years into the future...each year getting a bit bigger. But attrition from angler harvest and natural causes gradually reduce the numbers of each year class. The very biggest fish are the survivors from otherwise decimated year classes.[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]We are not seeing a lot of smaller cats in Utah Lake this past year or so because there have been several low water years...poor spawning. Cats spawn in underwater rocks and in flooded shoreline vegetation. Both of those spawning habitats are in short supply when water levels are down. There should be high water and a good spawn this year. So look for some 6-8 inch fish next year...and footlongs the year after.
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[Springbuck]

You know UL, of course, but when I started getting more serious about learning Utah Lake (and fishing in general), maybe 15 years ago, the "cookie cutters" seemed to run just a snidge smaller than now. It was 18-22" for me, and 20" the most common.

Now, it really does seem to run 22" and up. I had many days last year where 22" was the runt of the stringer. I attributed that to the carp netting program, I guess.
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