Then and Now - Catfish regulations in Illinois

Editor's note: I talked with Rob Maher summer/fall of 2003 for this piece which was never used for Procats eMag.
When the first Procats issue came out, the Lake Texoma world record blue cat was the big news story. There was talk of revisiting the topic, but we went with other stories. 

Interesting to revisit this piece, as regulations for flathead catfish went into effect in 2015 on the Fox River in Illinois from the Wisconsin border through the Chain O' Lakes to the mouth at the Illinois river. (The regulation limits harvest to 1 fish per day 28" or larger and only 2 fish between 13" and less than 28"). The new regulations resulted from a partnership between Fox Valley Flatheaders (http://foxvalleyflatheaders.com/ ) and ILDNR that started around 2008. Anglers tracked the hours fished, as well as the number and size of fish caught and released. Eventually this led to flathead population surveys by the regional DNR biologists, which supported the existing regulation. Who says a few concerned anglers can't make a difference?

 

DNR indicates more study needed to implement trophy catfish management

In 2003, I talked to Rob Maher about a number of issues regarding catfish management in Illinois. He manages the Illinois DNR commercial fishing program, and participates in catfish population sampling on the Illinois and Mississippi rivers. Maher has been involved in fisheries management with ILDNR for 10 years, and in charge of commercial fishing for 4 ½ years. A few topics of discussion measuring catfish populations, limitations due to DNR staffing 1evels, hot spots for large Blue and Flathead catfish, and possible regulation of catfish harvest.

Maher acknowledges an increase in catfishing popularity, including trophy cats. “From what I’ve seen first hand, there seems to be an increase in catfishing popularity for sure…it’s becoming a much higher profile thing than it was 15 or 20 years ago.” It’s because of the current interest catfishing, the DNR is now directing considerable efforts to monitor catfish populations.

A few spots widely known for catches of big catfish continue to produce. The Kaskaskia is a good flathead river, and always has been. The Rock River is an exceptional flathead river, with a very healthy flathead population. Baldwin Lake in Randolph County has had reports of lots of 50 and 60 pound blue catfish. Maher gave particular mention to the Mississippi River stretch from Lock and Dam 26 to the mouth of the Missouri as an outstanding fishery. They netted one blue catfish that year which was 90 pounds. (In a single net they caught 13 fish totaling over 420 lbs., including the 90lb one!) The fish were caught in 35 feet of water in very heavy current off a wing dyke. * The current world record blue catfish was taken in this river stretch in May 2005.

  

The DNR employs two sampling methods to assess catfish populations:

· Electrofishing, which gives an account of “young of the year” and smaller cats. This allows the DNR to determine spawning success and overall population data.

· Hoop Net sampling, which specific targets larger blue and flathead catfish to measure those populations.

A few years ago, ILDNR used some hoop net sampling techniques to get a handle on the big cat populations. These efforts started a few years ago with the Rock River, and the same techniques are have been expanded to other large rivers in the state. Trophy catfish population data before implementing techniques to specifically study big cats was sketchy, and often based on anecdotal accounts from fishermen. As Maher explains, “Were really just now starting to come to grips with these big fish. They’re a difficult fish to sample; it’s taken us several years to even figure out how to collect a meaningful number of fish. Were still at the early stages of this catfish management. But, everything we’ve seen is very promising. It’s very impressive the quality and health of the fish – large robust individuals and lots of them.” There was data on Mississippi trophy catfish populations, due to a long-term resource monitoring effort in place there. But, other than that the DNR did not really have a concentrated effort to measure big cats prior to their efforts, which started on the Rock River.

A variety of sampling is used on small streams. The DNR performs “Basin Surveys” working intensively in a specific river basin on a 5 year rotation. They use mainly electrofishing, although there are some netting efforts are going on. Sampling efforts are focused basin by basin on this rotation to be able to collect meaningful data. With the increasing popularity of catfishing, they’re taking techniques developed on big rivers and using on some of the smaller streams with success. Maher confirms that they are in the early sages of assessing all of the interior stream catfish populations. “We have been electrofishing some of the basins for around 15 years, so we’ve got a reasonable handle. We see very good populations on the interior waters also.” This rotation accounts to why annual ILDNR Catfish Status reports don’t always mention smaller streams – the data is generally reported when it is current.

The 5 year rotation reflects ILDNR manpower limitations. They are covering around 6,000 miles of interior streams containing catfish with only 10 Streams Biologists. In addition, there are a few vacant posts currently in the northeast portion of the state. This leaves the DNR spread thin with only two biologists to cover this area, which receives especially heavy fishing pressure.

Regarding a possible “closed wintering season” to protect vulnerable big Flathead and Blue Catfish from commercial fishing, Maher stated “There’s been some discussion of that, I work real closely with those guys. The trend we’re seeing with commercial fishing in general is a downward trend. We lose at least 100 license holders a year. Since I’ve had the program, we’ve lost several hundred licenses. The guys who are doing it have been doing it for years, and haven’t really impacted the populations yet.” Maher also confirmed while the number of commercial licenses was in decrease, the number of actual devices in the water was about the same. He continues, “Their catches are pretty impressive during the winter, there’s no question about it. The thing you’ve got to keep in mind, is a lot of those crews have been working those areas for 25 or 30 years and they’re seeing more catfish now than they ever have, in the Mississippi.” They’re reluctant to do anything to restrict the guys making a living commercial fishing. He did confirm that if DNR did feel there was a problem with the population, they wouldn’t hesitate to close winter fishing for blue and flathead catfish if that was in the best interest of the resource. Maher feels the commercial fishermen are as concerned about the resource, as anybody else. He explains “that’s how they make their living - if the catfish population crashes, they’ve got no way to make a living.”

I asked Maher if limiting harvest of only the biggest catfish would adversely affect commercial fishing. He confirms some commercial fishermen would claim limiting take of these top sized catfish would impact their catch. He also explains “as the commercial fisheries manager, I have to look out for my constituents, who are the commercial fishermen.” 

Another topic of discussion was the recent proliferation of the asian carp. As he explains, “The biggest problem on the lower Kaskaskia, and one that were seeing unfortunately spread throughout our interior streams, are these Asian carp. It’s actually dangerous to boat that river. Take what you’ve seen on the Illinois and multiply it by about 3, and that’s what you have on the Kaskaskia.” When asked if Carlyle dam would impede the invading carp, he explained “Fortunately, it appears these fish haven’t gotten up into the lake yet, but it’s really just a matter of time. These things are so aggressive and powerful, they seem to be able to get in anywhere. They’ve gotten above Lock and Dam 19 on the Mississippi, so they can pass through that structure. There’s probably not much that’s going to stop them.” One of the serious concerns is that they could affect the food chain at its lowest level by filter feeding a lot of the plankton that every fish depends on at an early life stage.

The first time I spoke with Maher, we discussed genetic influence on catfish. He commented, “I think jury is out on whether real large fish have some exceptional genetics, or whether are just living long enough to reach that size. If healthy population of catfish that are exhibiting good growth rates throughout the population, you’re always going to have those bigger fish. That’s just my opinion. It differs from quite a few in the field…” When later asked about the age of big catfish, Maher responded “We haven’t aged very many big catfish. Missouri biologists aged an 80 lb. blue catfish at 13 years, and an 85 lb. Ohio River blue cat was estimated to be 16-17 years old.” He was reluctant to confirm the accuracy of these estimates, however. “It’s true these fish seem to grow fast”, he explains, “but more research should done on this subject.” Forage base, water temperature, and length of growing season are some of the keys to catfish growth.

Finally, we also discussed the lack of statewide regulations for catfishes. One reason cited is an abundance of natural reproduction occurring in streams and rivers. The majority of current regulations are in place to protect stocked populations, where there is no natural reproduction. He did confirm “If we see problems develop we will put regulations on. Anything that we do we want to make sure it’s based on sound biological information, and will have a meaningful positive impact on the fish populations.”

Writers Commentary: The acknowledged lack of understanding of many of our blue and flathead catfish populations due to a combination of infrequency of data collection in some stream basins, and sampling techniques that primarily measured small cats (until recently) is of great concern, in this writer’s opinion.