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FARLINGTON HATCHERY BOOSTS BLUE
CATFISH PRODUCTION
Large fish eat zebra mussels, provide
excellent angling opportunity
Nov. 10, 2006 - FARLINGTON -- In recent
years, the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks (KDWP) has
embarked on a project to stock blue catfish in many of the state's
lakes. Blue catfish grow very large (the state record is 94 pounds),
provide excellent table fare, and have the added benefit of browsing
on zebra mussels, an aquatic nuisance species that is present
in El Dorado Reservoir.
In 2003 and 2004, KDWP received blue catfish fry
(newly-hatched young) from the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission
(AGFC) and stocked those fish directly into ponds at the Farlington
Fish Hatchery. (The Farlington Hatchery annually obtains channel
catfish in the same manner from KDWP's Pratt Hatchery.) Unfortunately,
only about 10 percent of those blue cats grew from fry to fingerling.
In hopes of improving those returns, Farlington
staff decided to change their approach. They decided to hold
the blue cat fry in the fish house for a week, hoping that they
would have the chance to grow bigger and stronger, increasing
their chances of survival.
"Information on the fry to fingerling production
of blue catfish is essentially non-existent in literature,"
Farlington's' fisheries biology specialist Dan Mosier explains.
"I queried other states that rear blue catfish. Universally,
it was suggested that the fish should be at least 10 days old
before being stocked into a pond, so we made the decision to
hold them in the hatchery before stocking."
In 2006, the hatchery received 157,330 blue cat
fry from AGFC and 62,082 fry from Osage Catfisheries, a private
hatchery in Missouri. The fish from Arkansas came in two groups
about one week apart. Each of the three groups of fry were held
in Farlington's fish house for one week. While in the fish house,
the fish grew from approximately 11,000-14,000 fish per pound
to 4,000-6,000 fish per pound. After a week, each group was stocked
in a separate pond, where they would be grown to fingerling size
or larger.
"It didn't take long to realize we might have
some success increasing our return because the fish quickly took
to the artificial feed we offered," says hatchery manager
Randy Nelson. "We stocked the fish in early- to mid-June
and harvested in mid-October. From the total of 219,412 fry we
stocked into our ponds, we harvested 154,406 fish weighing a
total of 11,717 pounds. This return was fantastic."
The young blue cats now averaged about 7 inches
long. These fish were stocked in Perry, John Redmond, Melvern,
Cheney, El Dorado, Clinton, and Wilson reservoirs. Gridley City
Lake also received 1,000 fish. Because of the high survival rate
of the fry using this alternate method, Cheney, El Dorado, and
Wilson all received double the fish they had requested.
"We had so many fish, we were able to send
more than 22,000 back to Arkansas Game and Fish," Nelson
adds. "Because Kansas does not keep blue cat brood fish,
we are dependent on trades with other states to obtain the fish
we need to meet the requests of the management biologists."
Fish-hauling trucks from the Milford, Pratt, and
Farlington hatcheries were used to transport these fish to their
new homes. It took three days to complete harvest and delivery
in Kansas.
The state of Oklahoma has requested that KDWP not
stock any blue catfish into lakes that drain into Oklahoma unless
they are of Arkansas River origin. For this reason, KDWP depends
on AGFC for blue cats stocked in Cheney, El Dorado, and John
Redmond reservoirs and Gridley City Lake.
The following is a list of lakes receiving blue
catfish fingerlings in 2006, and numbers of fish:
El Dorado Reservoir -- 32,100
Cheney Reservoir -- 20,040
John Redmond Reservoir -- 20,021
Melvern Reservoir -- 15,050
Perry Reservoir -- 11,611
Clinton Reservoir -- 14,025
Gridley City Lake -- 1,000
Total -- 113,847 fish
"Dan Mosier was in charge of this project,
and he did a fantastic job with these fish," says Nelson.
"This year, we had a return of 70 percent, which is comparable
to our long-term channel cat returns."
Blue catfish should provide Kansas anglers with
an exciting new opportunity to catch truly big fish and put meat
on the table. Fish weighing more than 50 pounds have been reported
caught from Milford Reservoir. And while no fish is likely to
control a zebra mussel infestation, blue catfish, unlike other
fish, will use zebra mussels as a food resource, helping them
grow quickly in waters where zebra mussels are established.
For more information, contact the Farlington Hatchery
at 620-362-4166 or email randyn@wp.state.ks.us.
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