D and R Canal 7/13/2020

[CMA719]

Lots of excitement last night!

I decided to try the D and R Canal with my sons and a buddy of mine. If you've seen my other post, I've got two boys who are recently catfish crazy and dream of catching channels and -possibly- a flathead. My buddy was generous and took us and showed us the ropes a few weeks ago for channels at one of his spots, so we're now on a learning curve.

I recently purchased 3, 7 foot medium rods in case we actually ever did get on a flathead, but only 1 has been delivered. We spooled it with 50 lb braid and put an 8/0 hook on there and brought it with us along with our other (smaller) rods, which we had 6/0 hooks on and 15lb braid.

My boys drew numbers and my older son won, so he got to go first to bring in anything that hit on the big rod.

When we got there, my son threw a tube bait in and got a nice LMB (pictured-sorry I couldn't get the photo to upright) and a little while later he got another small YOY largemouth and some sunnies (green, pumpkinseed and bluegill). We threw the bluegill and green sunny in a bucket to live line later in the evening.

The bite was kind of slow and the turtles were leading the way with picking on our lines. We did manage to get one nice channel cat (pictured), a little over 3 lb. They really are beautiful fish!

Around 8:30 I livelined the green sunny and crossed my fingers. I had little confidence but kept in perspective that a dry hook catches no fish.

Nothing much happened for the next hour. At one point (around 9:35) one of my rod tips started dancing and I ended up bringing in a nice American eel (pictured).

Now that made a real mess because my braid from that rod got tangled up in another line, etc. By 9:45 we were all tired and packing it up to go. I almost forgot about the big rod a few feet away in the darkness. I was grumbling and fooling around with the mess that I made with the braided line when suddenly my little guy calls out "DAD!!".

The line from the big rod straightened out, the rod bent, and the drag started going. My older boy grabbed the rod and brought it in our first flathead ever! (pictured) We were all very excited about it, although I think I yelled louder than they did.

They were exhausted but all smiles on the way home. First thing this morning from my older boy's mouth after he woke up? "Dad, when are we going out for catfish again"?

Thanks for looking!

[thmyorke1]

ah siiiiick nice flathead! Cool that you guys found one That's great work on the canal, I hope you continue the nighttime fun

Awesome report. Where there's smaller flat heads, there's much larger ones. Fish are very adaptive to river conditions and before long they will go from an invasive species in NJ to the state fish! Who wouldn't get excited about the prospects of catching a 30 or 40 lb catfish! They're a worthy adversary and don't get nearly the respect they deserve. Hook a decent size one and you'll be hooked for life.

Great report CMA with your sons and buddy. That's the kind of stuff that will perpetuate our sport and teach kids the right values in life. Next time throw a live blue gill, yellow perch, big golden shiner or bull head on a 7/0 or 8/0 hook and get ready. All primo flathead baits. If you think the bait is too big, go bigger. Flathead have enormous mouths and can swallow most baits you'll throw. Just to give you an idea of their voracious appetite, Eddie in the below picture was dam near swallowed whole netting this 50 lb flathead for his buddy Bubba. If not for the quick thinking by Bubba, we would have lost the legend!

Nice eel as well. I've chunked up eels that size into 3" or 4" sections and caught some decent flatheads and channels. Live smaller eels do well for both also although they seem to attract more channels than flatheads. If using a live eel, smack it on the rock a few times to teach it some manners before hooking in both lips. Don't want it dead, just stunned a bit so it doesn't ball up on your hook.

[icebadger]

Now you are getting the hang of it, that is a nice bunch of fish. Congrats on your first flathead catfish.. the channel is a good one as well. cool report keep it up

[Gerry Zagorski]

Great report and pics.... Sounds like you and the boys are on a mission!!

[AndyS]

Fish are very adaptive to river conditions and before long they will go from an invasive species in NJ to the state fish! Who wouldn't get excited about the prospects of catching a 30 or 40 lb catfish! They're a worthy adversary and don't get nearly the respect they deserve.

That's a pretty sad statement if I ever read one. Go to the NJ biologist lab and sit and talk to Shawn Crouse about invasive species.
What do you think a 40 pound catfish eats, bugs ?

[bigfishy]

Originally Posted by AndyS

Fish are very adaptive to river conditions and before long they will go from an invasive species in NJ to the state fish! Who wouldn't get excited about the prospects of catching a 30 or 40 lb catfish! They're a worthy adversary and don't get nearly the respect they deserve.

That's a pretty sad statement if I ever read one. Go to the NJ biologist lab and sit and talk to Shawn Crouse about invasive species.
What do you think a 40 pound catfish eats, bugs ?

Doesn't happen often , but I agree with you Andy!!!

Originally Posted by AndyS

Fish are very adaptive to river conditions and before long they will go from an invasive species in NJ to the state fish! Who wouldn't get excited about the prospects of catching a 30 or 40 lb catfish! They're a worthy adversary and don't get nearly the respect they deserve.

That's a pretty sad statement if I ever read one. Go to the NJ biologist lab and sit and talk to Shawn Crouse about invasive species.
What do you think a 40 pound catfish eats, bugs ?

Same thing I imagine a 30 lb muskie eats or a 20 lb pike and they don't seem to pose any problems to indigenous populations. Schuylkill river is loaded with flatheads and they don't seem to be having any adverse impacts on small mouths, carp, muskie or even the brown trout population in the upper stretch. Same holds true for the Big D. Name one species in the Delaware which has succumb to the invasive flathead. Just because the state doesn't stock them doesn't mean they should be frowned upon.

One thing to consider, Flatheads are essentially dormant throughout the entire winter when water temps drop below 60 degrees. In the spring they'll feed for a few weeks before their spawn when they basically get lockjaw. Once the spawn starts in late May or June they rarely feed for that four week period. They're growth period is July through September / maybe October depending on water temperature and conditions. Collectively they feed maybe 4 months of the year and probably do less damage to indigenous species than the 600,000 channel cats NJ stocks each year and the nearly 300,000 Pa stocks. Channel record in Pa is 35+ lbs, in NJ it's 33+ lbs. Why is that species any less potentially destructive to other species than flat heads when they're feeding habits are essentially identical, they prey on the same forage and the bodies of water they inhabit are the same? As a matter of fact, there's estimated to be 5 times more channels in the Schuylkill than flatheads and a greater disparity in the Big D yet everyone is concerned about the invasive flathead. Help me understand the logic.

In 2019, NJ stocked 427,000 Northern Pike. What impact has that had on other species in the ecosystem. Truthfully I don't think any other than maybe controlling the carp population which to some degree is probably what flatheads are doing. Last I knew Northern Pike and Channel Cats don't eat bugs either. Remember there are ZERO flatheads stocked by the state, only natural reproduction. New Jersey stocked 2.6 million walleye in 2019 and Pa stocked between 70 and 80 million walleye fry, what impact did those numbers have on other species since as far as I know they don't feed on bugs either?

There's a sizeable and growing fraternity of flathead fisherman who view this fishery as a challenging and trophy fishery. The state may not agree with that but there is a significant portion of the angling community who do. In the absence of any definitive information that shows these fish are having adverse effects on indigenous species, the state in my opinion should embrace the opportunities this species offers the recreational angling community especially since their presence isn't costing the state a dime.

[AndyS]

There is INVASIVE and INTRODUCED, seems like a lot of people get them mixed up. Why did New Jersey label Flathead Catfish invasive.

[thmyorke1]

@dakota560,

As good of a explanation you have, you should bring those points to the biologists. They're a great bunch of folk and they're just as interested as you. The fisheries forum (hoping that it's open this winter) is a good opportunity to talk with them on the subject.

Currently we sit on flatheads deemed invasive and I figure most people who dont release em back agree with you, yet also just have to follow the rules.

While you make great points on them in the Delaware, what about other bodies of water? I imagine flatheads in impounded waters like a lake can ruin a fishery. I dont know too much about flatheads in lakes/reservoirs so an opportunity for me to learn about that.

Andy makes a good point too, regardless of their feeding window being smaller than that of other big fish species, these things get huge for a reason (I always love the imagery of a 50 lb flathead eating flies ontop water lol). Another reason is Displacement. Similar case with the brook trout, it's not that brown trout are eating them all, it's that the browns are pushing the brookies out of their habitat into the skinniest of headwaters.