Too Many Catfish!

Channel catfish have become abundant in the Sauk River Chain of Lakes (SRCL), Stearns County, Minnesota.  This has prompted surprise, delight and chagrin among local anglers.  The channel catfish was not found in the Sauk River Watershed originally but was introduced by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR). Catfish fingerlings were stocked in 1976, 1982, 1984, 1985 and 1988.  Angler complaints that catfish were too abundant were raised by the mid-1990s.  Those concerns persist today.  Historic high net catches were observed in 2011.  Channel catfish were the most abundant species caught in gill nets. Where once a commercial fishery for bullheads existed, a total of two black bullheads were captured during the 2011 surveys.  Catches of most species in the SRCL were trending lower.  Fifty-six percent of property owners thought it very bad or slightly bad that catfish were in the lakes.  The same percentage of anglers who used resorts thought the catfish slightly good or very good. Because of local negative opinion toward catfish and our perception that there was a portion of the population that was surplus, the DNR removed 3,790 fish which weighed 10,518 pounds (2004-2011).  The removal effort over seven years was about equal to the estimated angler harvest of 3,609 catfish in one year.