Kansas Wildlife and Parks Commissioners have approved a new harvest regulation for blue catfish.
The new regulation – now in effect – includes a creel limit of 10 blue catfish per day with no more than one fish measuring 30 inches or longer. It is in effect for the El Dorado, Clinton, Elk City, Glen Elder, John Redmond, and Melvern reservoirs.
Blue catfish are popular with Kansas anglers and interest in the species continues to grow. They can reach large sizes, providing big fish opportunities previously unavailable in Kansas, while the smaller fish are a popular table fare. Most of the reservoirs that contain blue catfish were stocked within the last 20 years, making the species relatively new to Kansas fisheries.
El Dorado District Fisheries Biologist Craig Johnson said in a press release, “Many of our early blue catfish populations were initially protected with very restrictive harvest regulations to allow the stocked fish to mature and naturally reproduce. Now that blue catfish numbers are being maintained at several lakes through natural recruitment instead of supplemental stocking, we can relax the regulations and anglers can benefit by harvesting more fish from these productive populations.” Johnson said with the new regulation, anglers need to harvest legal-length fish. He said, “Releasing the smaller blues with the idea that they’ll grow larger isn’t the best approach in lakes with limits encouraging harvest. Take your blues home, they make for a great fish fry, and you’ll know you’re helping improve the fishery.”
