Excerpts from a study of "Introducing Flathead Catfish (Plyodictus Olivaris) into a West Central Illinois Water Supply Reservoir"

Although interpretations of fisheries studies can always be under scrutiny as to their accuracy, I believe that the flathead catfish data collected from a shocking study conducted on a small lake in Illinois, to be somewhat of a bright spot for the future of non-native Flathead populations being reported around the country as "gobbling up all the Shellcrackers and Redbreast-Bluegill in sight!"

Jeremiah Haas, a Graduate Student of the University of Illinois graduate student wrote a thesis on a recent three-year IL DNR Canton Lake fisheries study, where flathead catfish were stocked into a 250-acre lake to study the feasibility of their use as a control on carp populations. (1997,1998, & 1999) Recapture of tagged fish showed a growth rate of 24.1-39mm (1-1/2 inch) per year. 1997 and 1998 showed substantial predation of carp by flathead catfish. The DNR theory was looking very promising until Gizzard Shad were unexplainably introduced.

The newly introduced shad population exploded in early 1998 and provided a forage base for flatheads by the end of the year. The stomach contents section of the study showed that by the end of 1998 the resident flatheads preyed on shad almost exclusively. Evidence also suggests that no largemouth bass or channel catfish were ever found in the stomachs of the flatheads.

Basically, Haas concluded that flathead catfish could form a self-sustaining low-maintenance sport-fishery of large fish that will not negatively affect other more prized gamefish. The author recommends this option and suggests that stocking flatheads could be a great asset to sport-fishery management.

I believe that the author’s original intent was to prove that flathead catfish could provide a control for carp populations in a small water source, but that it may also provide an answer to the problem of introduced non-native flatheads thinning out the redbreast bluegill populations on some rivers such as the Altamaha river in the south eastern United States.

From a different prospective, this student's conclusions may have fueled the Flathead-hating groups arguments. The Flathead-adversaries may conclude that in the absence of non-game forage fish, mature flatheads will prey on other valued native fish such as the endangered Squawfish of Colorado as well as the non-endangered Shell-crackers and Redbreast Bluegills of the southeastern and southwestern United States. Hopefully there is an answer here somewhere in the interpretation of this study. Their futile attempts to eradicate non-native flathead catfish have failed, but introduction of forage fish, which do not compete with various diminutive sportfish, might relieve predation pressure, and at the same time, benefit the flathead population which they in themselves are gaining their own enthusiastic, loyal following because of their trophy-proportions, fighting-ability, and overall mystique.

The answer may not be that simple but I believe it is well worth a closer look and some serious consideration.

Catchabiggun,

Robby