Sept. 26, 1903.] 
FOREST AND STREAM, 
^4 8 
several fish from four to five pounds each on the fly in 
Lake Commissaire. Mr. Hooper has now gone to the 
Ste. Marguerite to fish Mr. Waher Brackett's water 
for sea trout, for which it is noted. Friends of Messrs. 
Brackett and Hooper will be glad to learn that they 
enjoj^ed better salmon fishing this year on the Mar- 
guerite than Mr. Brackett has had for many years 
past, 
Messrs, Geo. E. Hart, of Waterbury, and Burnham. 
of New York, are among the many anglers fishing 
the waters of the Triton Tract, on the line of the 
Quebec and Lake St. John Railway. The Upper 
Ouiatchouan River, in this district, is, as usual, yield- 
ing very large trout this September. Some have been 
brought thence to Quebec within the last few days 
which turned the scales at five pounds each. 
SaTmoa and "Worms. 
The fact that so many salmon are captured every 
year with bait in the British Isles is certainly a very 
strong argument against the theory of those who hold 
with Dr. Francis Day, the late Frank Buckland and 
others that a salmon exists in fresh water on his own 
fat, which has been accumulated while feeding in salt 
water, and that' it is simply in play or in anger that 
he arises to the fly. It will be remembered that Major 
Traherne in his book on "The Habits of the Salmon," 
published in 1889, declares emphatica!ly_ that "there 
can be no question as to salmon feeding in fresh 
water, as they greedily take real and artificial spin- 
ning baits of all kinds, besides prawns and worms, to 
say nothing of flies, natural and artificial." All anglers 
accustomed to British salmon waters are well aware 
of the fact that these various baits are used in them 
for salmon with success. There is, however, no doubt 
at all, that it is a very rare circumstance to take Salmo 
salar on this sid& of the water with bait, though the 
very difl'erent salmons of the Pacific are constantly so 
killed. This fact lends additional interest to the con- 
. tents of n letter which has recently reached me fro'u 
Newfnundland. The writer, Mr. W. F. J. McCormick, 
rif niscayne Bay, Florida, well-known to readers of 
FoT^F.sT Strkam from his long and successful 
camping, hunting and angling excursions in the Cana- 
dian wilderness, writes, among other things, as fol- 
lows: "One thing I have learned, conclusively and 
posilively. and that is that Solmo- salar. the delicate 
aristocrat of the river, will stoop to 'bite' at the 
plcbian worm, a piece of fish or common pork. I 
took a T2'./?-pound fresh-run fish on a bunch of worms, 
stood bv .and saw a 5i-pnimdcr killed with the same, and 
last Sunday I took an S-pound grilse on pork! Does 
not that upset the pet theory of their refusing food 
while" in fresh water? T can produce a number of 
sworn statements besides my own in support of this." 
In England, as I have already said, nobod}^ would 
be surprised ^t the alDove statement, but it is certainly 
very contrary to the general American experience, 
The'd'-ecadence of fly-fishing for salmon in some of 
the British waters has elicited a good deal of discus- 
sion lately, and some have not hesitated to lay it at 
the door of the bait-fishermen, contending that the 
constant bait-casting is responsible for the frequent 
refusal of the fish to rise to the fly. If there is any 
foundation for this contention, it is sincerely to be 
hoped that nobody will attempt bait-casting in Cana- 
dian salmon rivers. Some of the British bait-fisher- 
men for salmon scdut the idea that the casting of bait 
has anything to do with the failure of the fish to rise 
to flies, and a recent writer in the Field advances the 
very ingenious theory that in British seas a change is 
going on in the habits bf the fish, perhaps, or possibly, 
in the diminution of the supply of that creature, what- 
ever Tf may be, for which-salmon mistake our gaudy 
flies. ' The correSiSondent in question also draws at- 
tentidn'-'to the fact that in some rivers, particularly in 
British Columbia; salmon are never known to take 
a fly at alt.- This is not an apt illustration, however, 
for thfe' salmon 'of British Columbia is an entirely differ- 
ent fish from the Salmo salar of Atlantic waters, 
whether •fcfuhd in the Old World or the New. 
The salmon bait-fisherman naturally claims the same 
indulge'nee for his sport that is demanded when he 
employs similar methods for taking trout. He admits 
that the fondness for' the fly-rod sticks to us, that the 
old love clings, but claims that though it is hard to 
lay a favorite old weapon down, even though useless, 
it is harder still to be denied a capture when another 
is at hand that will take its place. 
E, T. D. Chambers. 
Habits of Some of the Catfishes, 
BY WILLIAM CONVERSE KENDAIX. ASSISTANT UNITED STATES 
FISH COMMISSION. 
From the U. S. Fish Commission Bulletin. 
The fresh water catfishes of the United States of more 
or less commercial importance may be classified in a 
popular way as channel cats (Ictalurus), mud cats 
(Ameiurus), yellow cats (Leptops), and stone cats 
(Noturus). This arrangement is not wholly satisfactory, 
however, owing to the confusion of the common names, 
for a mud cat of one locality may be the yellow cat of 
another, and the yellow cat of some place be th* stone cat 
in another locality, and so on. Then, too, there is no dis- 
tinct line between channel cats and mud cats. The tech- 
nical nomenclature and .synonymy of these fishes are not 
in much better shape than the popular classification; 
therefore the discussion in the following pages will be 
more or less generic. 
The catfishes are of such commercial value as food 
that there have arisen extensive and almost special fish- 
eries for them in the Soiith, the Mississippi Valley, and 
the Great Lakes region^ — that is to say, in the centers of 
their greatest abundance. Of about a dozen species ap- 
pearing in the markets, probably not more than one-half 
are very common or merit more than passing notice. The 
largest are the "great forked-tail cat" of the Mississippi 
(Ictalnrtis furcatus), and the Great Lakes cat {Ameiunis 
lacustris). The first attains a weight of 150 pounds, the 
other perhaps 50 or more. Of the smaller cats the more 
important are the spqtte4 (^Ictc|l^rus pitnctatus), 
Potomac channel cat (Ameiurus catus), and bullhead 
(Ameiurus mbulosus) . 
There is very little published information on the habits 
of any species of catfish, and it has been thought that 
it might be of use to bring together the most important 
published and otherwise available facts on this subject. 
Owing to the similarity of habits, for this purpose it is 
unnecessary to refer to more than those of the most com- 
mon forms except in a very general way. 
The catfishes are a hardy race, very prolific, in habits 
and structure comparatively safe from enemies. For 
these reasons wherever they occur they are usually very 
abundant. In late j'ears, however, the demand for these 
fish has reached such dimensions that in some localities 
extensive inroads have been made upon their numbers, 
and there has arisen the problem of how to repopulate 
the depleted waters. It has not, until recently at least, 
been considered necessary to resort to artificial propaga- 
tion of catfishes, and there have been but few, if any, at- 
tempts in that direction. There are a few instances of 
pond culture which will be referred to in another place. 
Food Qualities. — In flavor and other edible qualities 
the catfishes differ somewhat among themselves. As a 
rule the channel cats, especially the spotted cat (Ictalurus 
punctatus and /. furcatus'), seem to possess more delect- 
able qualities than the mud cats. This is possibly due to 
difference in habits and habitat. 
Regarding Ictalurus punctatus, Jordan says (Bull. U. 
S. F. C, 1885, p. 34) : 
"As a food fish the channel cat is certainly better 
worthy of attention than any other American catfish. 
There is much less waste in the body of the channel cat 
than in other catfishes, as the latter lose more than half 
their weight by removal of the head, the entrails, and the 
skin. The flesh of the channel cat, when fresh, is very 
superior; it is white, crisp, and juicy, of excellent flavor, 
and tiot tough. It is much more delicate both in fiber 
and in flavor than that of the other catfishes. When 
well cooked, I consider it superior to that of the black 
bass, the wall-eye, the yellow perch, or any other percoid 
fishes. Among other fresh .water fishes, it is inferior 
only to the whitefish, the trout, and other Salmonidcc." 
The great popular demand testifies to the food virtues 
of the catfishes. 
Flabitat; — Almost any one of the species of catfishes 
seems to be adapted to a wide range of climatic condi- 
tions, although somewhat restricted to certain immediate 
surroundings. Ameiurus lacustris is supposed to be dis- 
tributed from the Saskatchewan River and the Great 
Lakes to Florida. Ameiurus ne'bulosus is found from 
Maine to Florida; but in Maine this species occurs, as a 
rule, only in muddy lakes and streams with plenty of 
vegetation, and such portions of bodies of water of other 
character as afford those conditions, and apparently the 
fish do not stray far fi-om home. Such localities are 
probably the warmest ones of the region. Regarding the 
local habitat of the bullhead (Ameiurus nebulosus) , Dean 
says (Nineteenth Atmual Report State Fish Commission, 
New York, 1890, 302) : 
"It is one of the hardiest of fishes, will care for itself, 
and even thrive in the muddiest of stagnant waters. It 
will breed readily, and will endure complacently every 
hardship of drought, extremes of temperature, and lack 
of food. 
"Every trait of our catfish bespeaks its stagnant, mud- 
loving nature; dusky in color, sluggish, and blundering, 
furnished with long and tactile barbels, a shallow, slowly 
drained pond, furnished with an occasional deep mudhole, 
will suit admirably the needs of the fish. If the water 
does become warm in the summer, the catfish will sur- 
vive — knowing how to survive is one of its especial virtues. 
In a 3-foot aquarium at college about a dozen 9-inch cat- 
fish were kept during very warm weather, the room tem- 
perature often in the nineties and the water changed but 
once a day, with but few fatal results. Should the air 
supply in the water fail, trust the fish to care for itself. 
It will come to the surface, leisurely renew the air in its 
swim-bladder, and even, frog-like or turtle-like, swallow 
air in bulk, trusting to stomach respiration. Of un- 
doubted respiratory value, moreover, must be the scale- 
less, highly vascular skin, so important in the breathing 
economy of the frogs. Should the pond dry, and the 
whole pond basin be serried with mud cracks, the catfish 
will lie dormant for days, even for weeks. It has been 
found in a clod of mud, which served as a cocoon, until 
softened by the return of the water. In winter the cat- 
fish, like frogs, and unlike many of its neighbors, appears 
to hibernate. In November it becomes sluggish and re- 
fuses food, and early in December buries itself in the 
deepest ooze of the pond. It does not reappear till the 
first sharp thunderstorm in February or March, Then 
the fish are seen, thin and ravenous, approaching the shore 
so closely that their heads ripple the surface. So fearless 
are they in early spring in Central Park that they come in 
schools in shallow water and will take food almost from 
the hand," 
The channel cats are so called owing to their apparent 
preference for channels of streams and clearer, cleaner 
water than that affected by the majority of so-called mud 
cats, though the native channel cats of the Potomac 
River, according to our present classification, is generical- 
ly a mud cat (Ameiurus). In sotne southern rivers, 
the St. Johns, in particular, several species of catfish 
occur together with precisely the same kind of surround- 
ings, whether muddy or sandy. The description of the 
method of fishing for catfishes in Atchafalaya River, 
Louisiana, given by Evermann (Report U. S. F. C, 1898, 
290), indicates their habits sufficiently to warrant quoting 
from it under this head : 
"The Atchafalaya River is in some respects a peculiar 
stream. It has its sources in Avoyelles and Point Coupee 
parishes, near where the Red River joins the Mississippi, 
and is at all seasons more or less connected with both 
of those rivers by a luunber of anastomosing channels 
and bayous. The Atchafalaya River is, in fact as well as 
historically, one of the mouths of the Mississippi River, 
and during the floods which come periodically to that 
region a vast amount of the surplus water of the Mis- 
sissippi and Red rivers is carried to the Gulf by the 
Atchafalaya. * * * There are four species of commer- 
cial catfishes handled by the firms at Morgan City and 
Melville, viz.: The blue cat or poisson blue (Ictalurus 
furcattis), the yellow cat or goujon (Leptops olivm^). 
the eel cat (Ictalurus anguilla), and the spotted cat 
(Ictalurus punctatus). * * * All river fishing during 
the fall and winter is done on the bottom, Avhile all lake 
fishing is at the surface. During the spring, v/hen the 
country is flooded, the fish betake themselves to the 
woods, and the fishing is then carried on chiefly along the 
edges of the float roads. The old tackle, which had been 
previously used in rivers and lakes, is now cut up into 
short lengths and tied as single lines, called brush lines, 
to the limbs of trees in such a way as to allow the single 
hooks to hang about six inches under the water. Each 
fisherman ties his lines to the trees along the edges of the 
float roads if he can find such territory not already pre- 
empted by someone else." 
Food and Feeding Habits. — ^The catfishes are om- 
nivorous, subsisting upon animal or vegetable food. In a 
strictly wild state the food is probably to a great extent 
animal, but they will eat almost any kind of vegetable 
matter fed to them in artificial inclosures. Writing of 
Ameiurus nebulosus. Dean (1. c), says: 
"The habits of the catfish make it a most objectionable 
neighbor. * * * The stomach contents show its 
destructiveness to fish eggs and to young fish. * * * 
It will eat incessantly day and night, prowling along the 
bottom with barbels widely spread. It wilh suddenly 
pause, sink headforemost in the mud for some unseen 
prey. Nor is it fastidious in its diet, 'from an angle- 
worm to a piece of tin tomato can,' it bolts them all. 
From the contents of miscellaneous catfish stomachs, 
however, there appears to exist a general preference for 
fish food. Professor Goode has already noted the at- 
tractiveness of .salt mackerel or herring bait He has, 
moreover, hinted incidentally that the fish will not bite 
Avhen an east wind is blowing. It is in order to procure 
food in a lazy and strategic way that the catfish has been 
seen to sink in the mud with but barbels and dusky fore- 
head exposed, ready to rush out and swallow the unwary 
prey." 
In their feeding habits all species of catfish seem to be 
more or less nocturnal. They take a hook most readily 
from about twilight on into the night. Most set-line 
fishing is carried on at night. Moonlit nights, however, 
are more favorable than dark ones. On the St. Johns 
River it was noticed that the fish would begin to rise 
shortly after sunset, in large numbers, and the sound of 
their "breaks" could be heard in all directions, although 
a lot of garbage thrown overboard would not fail to raise 
more or less of them during the day. The catfish here 
were wary of a baited hook, and although freely eating 
of pieces of bread or meat floating at the surface, if a 
hook or line were attached, it would never be touched. 
Yet a hook baited with meat or fish and sunk would 
usually be satisfactorily effective, especially if "bream" 
(Lepomis) began to bite first The presence of other 
more readily biting fish seemed to attract the catfish and 
render them bolder. Large catfish would take a small 
baited "bream" hook much more quickly than they would 
a large hook. The mud cat here bit no more greedily than 
the channel cat. It might be well to state in this connec- 
tion that the channel cats (Ictalurus punctatus and 
Ictalurus furcatus) are sufficiently game fighters to give 
an angler not too fastidious a very satisfactory battle. 
These two species might justly be classed as game fishes. 
In northern lakes and streams the bullhead or hornpout 
does not always seem to be so wily as the southern cat- 
fishes were usually during the daytime. Although the 
best time to angle for hornpout is about dusk or after 
dark, they are not infrequently caught in the daytime, 
much to the annoyance of the "still fisher" for black 
bass, pickerel, and other fishes. When hornpouts begin to 
bite, if other fish are desired, it is necessary to seek an- 
other berth. They will take live fish or dead fish bait or 
frogs with equal readiness. If, however, hornpouts are 
wanted, anglev/orms are the best bait. 
Spawn-Eating Habits. — Dean has referred to the fish- 
cgg-eating propensity of Ameiurus nebulosus, and to 
show that this species is not alone in this ovivorous habit, 
it may be stated that on the Potomac River a seine haul 
was estimated to contain about 10,000 catfish (Ameiurus 
catus and Ameirus nebulosus') . A large number of these 
fish were opened and their stomach contents examined. 
They were found to have been feeding almost exclusively 
upon herring (Pomolobus) eggs, to such an extent that 
their stomachs were distended with the eggs. Mr. Har- 
ron, at whose fishery this observation was made, told the 
writer that althou.gh these large hauls were not frequent, 
ocasionally much larger ones were made. In Albemarle 
.Sound, during one shad season^ the writer frequently 
found catfish full of shad roe, but catfish were not 
abundant at this time. It is obvious, then, that catfishes 
are verv destructive to the eggs of other species. Dr. 
Hugh M. Smith says (Bull. U. S. F. C, 1895, p. 387) 
"The catfish have a reputation among the California 
fishermen of being large consumers of fry and eggs of 
salmon, sturgeon, shad, and other fishes. This accords 
with their known habits in other waters. Mr. Alexander's 
examination, however, of the contents of several hundred 
stomachs of catfish in California and Oregon yielded only 
negative results as to the presence of young fish and ova. 
Writing of the bullhead in Clear Lake, California, Jor- 
dan and Gilbert say that it is extremely abundant and 
IS destructive to the spawn of other species. The scarcity 
of the valuable Sacramento perch in that lake, which 
they attribute to the carp, here as in the Sacramento 
River, may be partly due to the more nitmerous catfish, 
which feed almost exclusively on animal matter." 
Breeding Habits. — Probably less is actually known of 
the breeding habits of most of the species of catfishes 
than of their other habits, yet observations have been 
made upon two or more species with sufficient detail to 
warrant the assumption that in the main the habits of 
most species are essentially alike. Speaking of Ictalurus 
punctatus, Jordan says_ that it spawns in the spring, but 
that its breeding habits have not been studied. Mr. 
Jones says this species spawns when one year old, and 
twice a year — in May and in September. In the preceding 
spring he procured eight wild ones. After feeding them 
Avell up to this time (October 31), they had spawnt-d in 
May and September and filled his pond. He says that 
they take care of their own young and trouble no other 
fish. 
Introduction Into Other Waters. — Several species of 
catfish have been successfully ir^troduced ii^to new waters 
