Huge Utah Lake Catfish

[Fin-S-Fish]

Wow that is HUUUGE! I would like to hook it. What a rush. Can you imagine how many pcbs are in that container?[] Like 20lbs of of toxins......hahahahahaha.
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[bassrods]

You have to way TOOOOOOOOO much time on your hands we need to go fishing.....[crazy][sly]
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]I'll vote for that. Now if you can get your magic wand to work better than your ice auger you can fix the weather for us.[/#0000ff]
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[bassrods]

Have you looked out your window yet today...[][cool][sly]

Wednesday will be even better....

And I fixed it again.....[][pirate][unsure][mad][][]

But if you can get away (bring yours) as well...
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[Strikes_R_Us]

I've personally caught several blues out of Utah Lake. They are in there.[]
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Not to be confrontational, but you have NOT caught actual blue cats out of Utah Lake. Many channel cats develop a bluish coloration, and some people call them "blue channels", but that does not make them the blue cat by species.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I will pay you $1000 for any catfish you catch from Utah Lake that you can have identified as a blue catfish by a DWR biologist (and prove that it came from Utah Lake).[/#0000ff]
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[Strikes_R_Us]

[shocked]OK Tube Dude, I don't want to test my smarts against yours by any means, but....the ones I caught 15 or so years ago, were silvery blue at the head and darker blue towards the tail with no spots. More importantly, the head was different. It was wider and larger than that of a "typical" channell cat. Answer please.[]
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[Fin-S-Fish]

If the head was larger and there is more blue coloration......that means you caught a male channel cat in spawning colors. Females sometimes get darker too, but males get a bigger head and darker colors especially during spawn. Look at the anal fin on the catfish.....if rounded it's a channel. Blues have straighter edges on the anal. There are no blues in Utah lake.
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Catfish are like many other species. Not only can they vary in coloration from water to water but even in the same lake over the course of a year's time. As FSF has pointed out, the males assume a solid color at spawning time, which can range from dark black to pale blue. Most channel cats lose their spots once they get larger, so spots are not a good standard of judgment.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]In the attached pics, the "Beer Cats" clearly shows the difference between females and males. As usual, the guy is the one with the beer. It also has different colors and a noticeably larger head and skinnier body...by comparison.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Don't fret it. I have been involved in plenty of challenges over the years on whether or not there are blue cats...and flatheads...in Utah Lake. Some old dude twice my age and half my size was ready to put a whuppin' on me once when I told him that the big headed male channel cat he caught was not a flathead.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]You do not have to rely on my sayso. Look through all of the past info you can find on Utah fish species. Never in a hundred years of record keeping will you find mention of any blues or flatheads ever being planted...or found in any survey netting...or turned in by any anglers or commercial netters. There have been lots of ugly male channel cats submitted as proof to DWR, but never identified as any thing other than channel cats.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]But, let me tell you about the story I heard about the guy who knows someone who is related to a guy who overheard someone else talking about what they definitely heard from someone else. Oh, forget it.[/#0000ff]
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[bassrods]

TD is right as far as any gill nets and all other test the DWR says they have done to date they have not seen or tested any blue cats out of Utah lake....

I have caught blues in other states and they look close to a channel cat but when you get them side by side you can tell them apart but for me to look at one or the other not side by side would be hard if I could tell at all....
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[Strikes_R_Us]

[pirate]OK I give! You win. Thanks for correcting me. For what its worth...I liked the "beer cat"![sly]
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[TubeDude]

[#0000ff][cool]Thanks. As an old married guy I don't get many wins.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Glad you liked the beer cat. Tasted great in beer batter.[/#0000ff]
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