The differences between the channel and the blue
catfish are sometimes hard to identify in the
field. The majority of the catfishermen that
I know use size to determine the species of
their catch. The big cats are blues, and the
smaller ones are channels. Size is not a reliable
species identifier! Blue and channel
catfish look very similar to the casual eye.
They can both be grey, black, brown,
yellowish brown, or greenish brown depending
on where you caught them. They both belong to
the Ictalurus family which
means that they both have a very pronounced
fork in their caudal ( tail ) fin.
There is one big difference to help you
identify your catch. The channel catfish has
a rounded anal fin ( fin on bottom of fish
nearest the tail ) with 24 - 29 rays.
The blue catfish has a straight edged anal
fin, with 30 -35 rays. With the help of
stocking programs channel and blue catfish
often inhabit the same body of water. They
also share many food items. To see what my
favorite blue and channel catfish baits are
click here.,
