channel cats

[Trophy Hunter639]

What does eveyone think abig channel cat is? I'm from Manitoba and I consider anything over 37.5 '' big.Caught a 41'' last summer.

[Riverjet]

Don't usually tape them but my largest by weight is 12.3 lbs. in ne pa.

[Bronzeback]

I catch Channel Cats on my home waters, my biggest is probably 12lbs, have seen bigger caught, biggest around 16lbs. I have been on 3 charters to the James River in Virginia. My biggest Blue Cat on that river is 47lbs. Have caught many in the 25lb to 35lb range. Saw one at the dock that another guy caught, it was 58lbs.

Bronzeback

[rgfixit]

Our cats don't run that big in NY...at least not that I've found. 10 lbs is pretty good size around here.
RG

[wny angler]

In western newyork -specificly lake erie and its tributarys the average channel cat runs about 4 to 12 pounds  anything in the high teens-low 20,s is a big one around here--last year someone caught one 30 some pounds and had the new state record--lasted only a week or so before someone else topped that fish-in another part of the state.my peronal best is a 21 pounder out of cattaraugus creek.

[mike692]

I consider a 10 pound fish a trophy here.

[suskymusky]

Our state record in Pa is 35 lbs, but anything over 15 lbs is considered a trophy.I'd love to fish the Red river for some of those beauties!

[BuckShotJon]

Large cats around here are around 8-10 lbs. Smaller ones are all over the place but there is a very good amount of 8-10 Lbers.

The largest I have witnessed where I live was a 24 lb catfish from the erie canal from the town of Macedon.

Jon

[grumpymoe]

my biggest is 36lbs. cats in the red river over 30 lbs are not uncommon. best day fishing was 43 and the last 12 were all over 30lbs. have a new home computor coming late this week, and once i have it set up, i will scan some pictures and post..grump

[Webguy]

Anything 8lbs or over is what I consider big. My biggest is 12lb.10oz. and was just under 30 inches long. Caught on a live herring(a.k.a. alewife).

[Trophy Hunter639]

Hey moe looking forward to those pictures. Do you ever float fish for big cats and if so any tips on when where and how?

[grumpymoe]

trophy hunter  i use what works best for me, and thats a heavy bell sinker set up like a lindy rig. i generally fish the end of main in around 30 feet. can't argue with success. grump

[Trophy Hunter639]

I know what you mean I'm very confident using my three-way rig can never learn enough different techniques though.

[TroutFishingBear]

My biggest is about a 11 lb channel cat. That same day my brother caught like a 20 pound channel cat. They were caught on cut chub. I'm from Colorado.

This summer, however, I'm going to float down westwater canyon in the colorado, and I know there are a lot of big ones there.

Once I hooked one that felt like it was about 20 pounds or so.

My brother helped make it so our division of wildlife stopped taking cats out of the river and killing them, so I can finally fish for them again without hurting the population.

[Jigwiggler]

Hear in Ne PA anything over 25" is a good cat, 30" and better is pretty big.  My best is 35 1/2" and 18 1/4 pounds. 29 1/2" & 10 lbs. through the ice.