Channel Catfish
Channel catfish can be found throughout the United States. They thrive in rivers, reservoirs, natural lakes, and ponds. Channel catfish can be caught with a variety of natural and prepared baits including nightcrawlers, crickets , minnows, shad, frogs, bullheads, sunfish, and suckers. Surprisingly. catfish have been known to take Ivory Soap as bait. Channel catfish possess very strong senses of smell and taste. At the pits of their nostrils are very sensitive odor sensing organs with a high concentration of olfactory receptors. These organs are sensitive enough to detect several amino acids at about 1 part per 100 million in water. In addition channel catfish have taste buds distributed over the surface of their entire body. This combination of exceptional senses of taste and smell allows the channel catfish to find food in dark and muddy water with relative ease. Channel catfish are the most numerous catfish species in North America, and are also the most fished types of catfish, with approximately 8 million fishermen in the USA targeting them every year.
