Blue Cat vs. Channel Cat

[doggonefishin]

I agree with Fuzzy that the pictured cats are all channel cats. What might have happened was that the darker one was caught in a muddier (or possibly less muddy) stretch of water than the others. Water color and clarity has a huge impact on color on cats as well as other species. That said, The controversy about the blue cats in Utah lake has been around since I was a little kid. I'm not going to unequivocally say there are none there, but I feel it is doubtful they are there. All of the "blue" cats I have seen presented tend to be larger,older fish. Never a small one. It is well known that channel cats have their olive color and spotting fade as they get older, some dramatically so. If there was a reproducing blue cat population, smaller ones would be occasionally caught. I have never seen or heard of one. The DWR official position is still no blue cats in Utah lake. (per the director in a message board answer their web site). Channel cats have a notorious amount of individual variation too. This clouds the issue more. I used to fish for them in Lake Mead in Nevada. It is a relatively clear water lake and most of the cats were quite uniform olive in color.(except the very big ones) Once in a while though you would get one that was blacker or even very pale white on the ventrum. Maybe these fish were nibbling sewage from houseboats or something. Anyway, thats my inflation adjusted 2 cents.
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