DNR Needs Help from Metro Catfish Anglers

[Getanet]

I'm not a catfish guy, but I know many of your are. I received this email from the DNR, thought some of you local guys would like to help them with their study:

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is beefing up efforts to manage catfish in metro region rivers, and it’s looking for a few avid anglers to help.

The project will include DNR tagging catfish to get a better idea of their population and movement. It also will draw upon catfish anglers who are willing to answer a few survey questions and keep diaries of their angling efforts. The angler diaries will provide valuable information that is not typically obtained in standard creel surveys, because many catfish anglers fish at night.

Anglers willing to take the 12-question survey can do so online at www.surveymonkey.com/catfish. Anglers may also send an e-mail to [email protected] or call 651-259-5806 to request that a paper copy of the survey be mailed to them.

Anglers who catch and release a tagged catfish should record the species, length, tag number, location caught, and release the fish with the tag in place. Anglers who harvest a tagged fish should record the same information and report the fish as harvested. Anglers not participating in the catfish angler diary program can still report tagged fish locations using the MDNR HSOforum

www.dnr.state.mn.us/fisheries/tagged_fish_reporting/index.html

or by contacting the phone number or e-mail address listed above.

Catfish are becoming more and more popular with Minnesota anglers, and metro rivers are fertile waters for big cats. The state record flathead catfish, weighing 70 pounds, was caught on the St. Croix River in Washington County, and the record channel cat was pulled from the Mississippi River in Hennepin County.

[bobbymalone]

Awesome!

[Brownie77]

That sounds like a great excuse to go fishing.

[DTro]

Thanks for the heads up, I just took the survey and hope to help however I can.

I particularly liked the question, "How many times do you fish the MN river for Catfish" with the most answer being "more than 11".

I did more than 11 in the past 2 weeks

[gooseby10ga]

" I did more than 11 in the past 2 weeks"

nice Darren

that is a funny question for most anyone in this forum.

[Scott K]

I had 11 trips downstream of Henderson in, in April.

[MinnesnowtaWild]

What about people upstream from Henderson? I have logs of all my fish over 10 lbs and I would be more than willing to do anything to help out.

[nsnutter]

What about people upstream from Henderson? I have logs of all my fish over 10 lbs and I would be more than willing to do anything to help out.

Likewise, I have logs for all my fish this season as well! Jeff we have been talking about wanting to do this for a long time, we should give er a shot

[MinnesnowtaWild]

Wouldn't hurt to send them an email asking if they want any other info. I am very glad to see some action being taken though with Catfish, and maybe this will get the ball rolling for regulation changes. Legally you could keep five 50 lb. Flatheads each day if you could find them. What you would do with them I'm not sure but seriously they need to change the regs to either a size slot or catch and release only for Flatheads.

[Whisker Warrior]

Legally you could keep five 50 lb. Flatheads each day if you could find them.

Actually you can only keep (2)flatheads and one can only be over 24" with (5)total fish. But yeah i'm glad they are paying more attention to these fish and anglers...Might have something to do with them realizing they have a good (money)market for them now.

[Scott M]

What about people upstream from Henderson? I have logs of all my fish over 10 lbs and I would be more than willing to do anything to help out.

The Hutchinson Fisheries office is the management authority for the non-metro portions of the Minnesota River. Try contacting their office. They may not be interested in catfish logs, but one never knows if they don't ask.

[MinnesnowtaWild]

Originally Posted By: MinnesnowtaWild

Legally you could keep five 50 lb. Flatheads each day if you could find them.

Actually you can only keep (2)flatheads and one can only be over 24" with (5)total fish. But yeah i'm glad they are paying more attention to these fish and anglers...Might have something to do with them realizing they have a good (money)market for them now.

Thank you for correcting me on that.

[bobbymalone]

Got an email from the DNR's catfishing crew about an hour ago, with an excel file template for their catfishing diary.... Guess I haven't ever kept a diary before, but what the hey.

Maybe they should change the name to journal and I wouldn't be so hesistant

[JimBuck]

Just got mine as well. Looks interesting and I'm happy to participate. He did mention maybe getting the folks together at the end of the season to share results and findings which would be very cool. It's great to see the DNR investing some time and energy in the kitties.