Part II.] Pond Fish. 77 



THE BIG MUDDY OR YELLOW CAT. 



The river Muddy or Yellow cat (Leptops olivaris) is another 

 large catfish that is quite common in the larger streams of 

 Kansas. The writer saw one a few years ago that was taken 

 below the dam at Lawrence, that weighed 47 pounds. The 

 Kansas river fishermen frequently report taking specimens 

 that weigh over 50 pounds. Some few have been reported 

 that weighed over 70 pounds. A few years ago the writer 

 saw seven that had been taken in one forenoon by Mr. G. A. 

 ("Dolly") Grseber. These fish weighed from 25 to 65 pounds 

 each and were captured by Mr. Graeber by rather a unique 

 method. He would dive down by the side of the mill wall and 

 enter holes or open places in the wall where the fish could 

 be found resting or moving slowly about. He would carefully 

 move around while under the water and locate a fish and its 

 position by gently moving his hand over it; then he would 

 fasten a large hook that he had in his hand in the fish some- 

 where back of the dorsal fin. The hook was fastened to a 

 short line that Mr. Graeber had tied to a strap bracelet that 

 fitted over his wrist. When he came to the surface there was 

 usually a great commotion in the water and it was sometimes 

 hard to tell which was man and which was fish. At such 

 times he was usually assisted in landing the fish by a man 

 in a boat who carried a gaff hook. Some of the large fish 

 seemed to be all he could manage and at times it seemed to 

 me that it was a mighty dangerous way to capture those big 

 bull-headed river catfish. 



The flesh of these large catfish is considered good food and 

 sells in the market at prices equal to that of the large Blue 

 cats or the best beef. 



THE CHANNEL CAT. 



Another species, the common Channel catfish (Ictalurus 

 punctatiis) , more commonly known as the Spotted Channel 

 cat, is called in some localities the "fiddler," presumably from 

 the peculiar noises it makes when taken from the water. It 

 is not so large as some of the other catfishes, seldom weigh- 

 ing more than 10 or 12 pounds when full grown. 



The largest one the writer ever caught was in the Wakarusa, 

 near Auburn, Kan. It weighed I21/2 pounds. Mr. J. C. 

 Saunders tells me that he has taken them as large as 18 

 pounds out of the Kansas river. 



This fish has a deeply forked tail and a rather slim, pointed 

 head as compared with most other catfishes. Its general 

 color is ashy blue on the back, shading into lighter colors on 

 the sides and white on the under parts. There are more or 

 less small, scattering, sooty-colored spots on the sides of this 

 fish, hence the name "Spotted cat." These fish are found in 

 nearly all the streams of Kansas where the water has not 

 been polluted with oil, lime or some other deleterious sub- 



