Demographics of Channel Catfish and Blue Catfish in the Wabash River Using a Multi-Gear Approach

To assess the current demographics of channel and blue catfish in the Illinois portion of the Wabash River we used a multi gear approach. We sampled annually during 2010, 2011, and 2012 using both active (AC and DC electrofishing) and passive (hoopnets and trotlines) gears. From all channel and blue catfish sampled the left spine was removed for age estimation. We sampled 309 channel and 65 blue catfish over the three year period. Hoopnets (484 mm) sampled significantly larger channel catfish than either AC (399 mm) or DC (314 mm) electrofishing (p < 0.01 for all pairwise comparisons). Although we sampled a large proportion of quality length channel catfish (PSD = 72) and blue catfish (PSD = 52) there were relatively few preferred (Channel: RSD-P = 5, Blue: RSD-P = 1) length fish. Channel catfish ranged from 1 to 12 years old (average = 5.6 +/- 0.1 years), and the total annual mortality for channel catfish (A = 47%) was similar to previous studies. Based on relative weight both blue catfish (Wr = 104.0) and channel catfish (Wr = 91.8) are in good condition. These results suggest a multi-gear approach is necessary to assess catfish populations in a large river.