Catfish Species: Identification, Baits, Seasons, Records

Channel catfish photographed on white: deeply forked tail, long barbels and a slate-gray back — Photo: Sam Stukel, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (public domain)

Three catfish species matter most to anglers: the channel catfish, the blue and the flathead. The channel lives in the most American water, the blue is the largest, and the adult flathead eats only fish, which it wants alive. That difference decides the bait: cut shad for blues, scent baits for channels, a live bluegill for flatheads.

Channel catfish spawn at about 75 °F, warmer than any bass, which is why the best catfishing of the year starts when the bass fishing slows down.

Start here

How to catch catfish: bait, rig and hour for each catfish, step by step.
Channel catfish: identification, spawning, baits and how to catch the most fished catfish.
Blue catfish: the giant, its season and the Chesapeake invasion.
Flathead catfish: size, live bait and where they live.
Best catfish bait: what channel, blue and flathead catfish eat, and the bait that follows.
Catfish rigs: the five rigs that matter and when to use each.
How to hold a catfish: small to big, without getting stung.

Which catfish is it?

Count the anal-fin rays. Missouri and Texas key on that field mark, because color lies: a large channel catfish loses its spots and a small blue catfish is not blue.

	Channel	Blue	Flathead
Anal fin rays	24–29	30–35, always 30 or more	14–17
Anal fin shape	Rounded, curved along the bottom	Straight-edged, squarish	Short and rounded
Tail	Deeply forked	Deeply forked	Squared off with a slight notch
Jaw	Upper jaw longer	Upper jaw slightly longer	Lower jaw projects beyond the upper
Color	Olive to slate blue, scattered dark spots on young fish	Pale bluish silver, no spots, wedge-shaped back	Pale yellow to brown, heavily mottled
Common size	12–32 in (30–81 cm), 1–15 lb (0.5–6.8 kg)	20–44 in (51–112 cm), 3–40 lb (1.4–18.1 kg)	15–45 in (38–114 cm), 1–45 lb (0.5–20.4 kg), to about 100 lb (45.4 kg)

Behind the big three come the three bullheads, the white catfish of the Atlantic slope, two saltwater cats that pier anglers meet, and Florida’s invasive walking catfish. Bullheads are separated by the chin barbels: white on the yellow bullhead, dark on the black and brown. Brown and yellow bullheads have sawlike teeth on the pectoral spine; the black’s is smooth. In salt water, the gafftopsail is told from the hardhead by its long fin filaments. Both carry a mildly toxic slime on three sharp spines.

When do catfish bite?

Feeding follows water temperature. Channel catfish stop feeding below about 50 °F (10 °C) and grow best at 75–85 °F (24–29 °C). The catfish water temperature page sorts all three by what they do at your reading.

The guides’ calendar follows from that. Blues are the cold-water fish: on Cumberland River guide Jim Moyer’s calendar the heavyweights come from November into January, on cut bait in 20–45 ft (6–14 m) of water. Channels bite all year, and best in summer. Flatheads feed hardest in September and October before going dormant.

When do they spawn?

Catfish spawn between late spring and August, each species at its own temperature. Channel catfish start in late spring and early summer, once the water reaches about 75 °F (24 °C); the aquaculture literature puts the optimum near 80 °F (27 °C). Their eggs hatch in 5–10 days, and the fry swim up a few days later. Blue catfish spawn at 70–75 °F (21–24 °C), late May into June, the females producing 2,000 to 4,000 eggs per pound. Flatheads spawn from late May through August at 75–80 °F and lay up to 100,000 eggs.

All three are cavity nesters: they spawn in undercut banks, hollow logs and drift piles. The male guards the eggs and fry and will not leave the hole, which is why noodlers can catch him by hand.

What bait does each one want?

What catfish eat is what the bait shops sell. Channel catfish are omnivores that eat fish, insects, crayfish, mussels and plant matter, so prepared scent baits, chicken liver and cut bait all work. Blue catfish past 8–13 in eat mostly fish and larger invertebrates. Fresh cut shad and skipjack herring are the consensus for them, and fresh beats frozen. Flatheads over 10 in eat fish and nothing else, and they want it alive: bluegill, sunfish, goldfish or bullheads.

The standard tackle is a circle hook on a slip-sinker or Santee Cooper rig. Go 5/0 to 8/0 for blues, smaller for channels, and up to 10/0 with big live baits for flatheads. A catfish rod wants a soft tip on a strong butt; the catfish rods page explains why. The reels page and the line page cover the heavy spinning and casting setups.

How big do catfish get?

The all-tackle blue catfish record is 143 lb, taken by Richard Anderson at Kerr Lake, Virginia, on June 18, 2011, on a piece of chicken. Ken Paulie’s 123 lb flathead came from Elk City Reservoir, Kansas, in May 1998 and was later aged at 22 years or more. W. H. Whaley’s 58 lb channel catfish from Santee-Cooper, South Carolina, has stood since July 1964. It was caught on a bucktail jig. The world record catfish page has the full stories, plus Europe’s wels catfish and the Mekong giant catfish.

Why are blue catfish invading the Chesapeake?

They were put there. Blue catfish were stocked in Virginia’s tidal rivers in 1974 and 1985 for sport. By 2023 they were in every Virginia tributary of the Chesapeake. In parts of the James, Rappahannock and York they make up as much as three quarters of the fish biomass, and they are harvested commercially by the millions of pounds. The blue catfish page covers what that means for anglers.

The names, if you want them

The channel catfish is the state fish of Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska and Tennessee. The fishing terms page explains trotline, noodling and mudcat. For the other freshwater pillar, start at the bass hub; every other fish is in the species section.

All articles

Best Catfish Bait: What Channel, Blue and Flathead Catfish Eat
The best catfish bait by species: cut shad for blues, punch and dip baits for channels, live bluegill for flatheads, and which prepared baits to buy.
Blue Catfish: Identification, Size, Season and the Chesapeake Invasion
Blue catfish have a straight anal fin with 30 or more rays, grow past 100 lb and live to 25. How to tell them, when they bite, and the Chesapeake invasion.
Bullhead Catfish: Black, Brown and Yellow Bullheads Compared
Bullhead catfish come in three kinds: black, brown and yellow. Tell them apart by chin barbels and spine teeth; catch them at dusk on half a nightcrawler.
Catfish Rigs: The Five That Matter and When to Use Each
The five catfish rigs the guides use, slip sinker, Santee Cooper, three-way, slip float and bottom rig, with sinker weights, hook sizes and when to use each.
Channel Catfish: Identification, Spawning, Baits and How to Catch Them
Channel catfish from the agency data: the anal-fin count that separates them from blues, habitat, spawning at 75 °F, what they eat, and the 58 lb record.
Flathead Catfish: Identification, Size, Live Bait and Where They Live
Flathead catfish: square tail, jutting jaw, 1–45 lb with a 123 lb record, a live-fish diet past 10 in, and where they hide by day and hunt at night.
How to Catch Catfish: Bait, Rigs, Where and When, by Species
How to catch catfish: the bait, rig, hook and water for channel, blue and flathead catfish, where they are by day and night, and a trip step by step.
How to Hold a Catfish Without Getting Stung, Small to Big
How to hold a catfish safely: where the three spines are, the grip behind the pectoral fins for small fish, the lip grip for big ones, and first aid for stings.
Mekong Giant Catfish: The 646 lb Record, and Where You Can Legally Catch One
The Mekong giant catfish: how to recognize the toothless giant, the 646 lb fish of 2005, how many are left, and the one legal way an angler catches one.
Noodling Catfish: How It Works, Where It Is Legal, Staying Safe
Noodling catfish means pulling a nest-guarding flathead from its hole by hand. How it is done, every state's season and rules, and what hurts people.
Saltwater Catfish: Hardhead vs Gafftopsail, the Sting, the Eating
The two saltwater catfish: how to tell a hardhead from a gafftopsail, sizes and records, the sting and its first aid, and which one to eat.
Walking Catfish: The Florida Invader That Crosses Land, and the Law on It
Walking catfish: an air-breathing Asian catfish loose in Florida since the 1960s. How it crosses land, its 2 lb 10 oz record, and why live ones are banned.
Wels Catfish: Europe's Giant, Its Records, and Why It Is Banned in the US
Wels catfish: Europe's giant, 297 lb 9 oz on record and banned from US import since 2016. How to recognize it, the Ebro record book, how anglers catch it.
What Do Catfish Like? What They Eat, Smell and Avoid, by Species
What catfish like, by species: anything for channels, cut fish for blues, live fish for flatheads. The diet data, the senses and the baits.
World Record Catfish: Blue, Flathead, Channel, Wels, Mekong Giant
The biggest catfish on record: the 646 lb Mekong giant, the 297 lb wels, the 143 lb blue, 123 lb flathead and 58 lb channel, and how a record is certified.

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