Ohio River Blue Catfish Population Fast Facts

The Ohio Division of Wildlife recently removed the blue catfish from the state endangered species list, therefore making it legal to catch and possess.

According to Division of Wildlife fisheries biologists, joint research conducted with the Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife Resources concluded that blue catfish populations in the Ohio River were substantial enough to warrant down listing the blue catfish from endangered to “species of special concern".

While these developments fail to even hint at the demographics of the gigantic 30-foot catfish we seek, they allow a climate in which wildlife officials would regard the potential capture of such a fishmonster with no ill sentiment.

At one time blue catfish were common in the Ohio River, but after construction of the locks and dams their numbers were reduced significantly. What mainstream biologists and conservationists often fail to examine is the impact of gigantic catfish on the population of the more common 40-100 pound blue catfish, which often doze off in the Ohio River mud bottoms and provide an easy supper for the 30-footer.

The slight increases observed in the blue catfish populations may indicate that predatory 25+-foot catfish are slowly declining in numbers and impact, making our noble search more time-sensitive than we had originally estimated. Or perhaps it just means that more blue catfish are letting themselves be captured by humans rather than submitting to the mortifying fate of becoming river-bottom food for a mythical beast.