# Flathead Catfish Shocked For Removal



## lowe (Oct 18, 2008)

The following write up was taken from the In Fisherman Catfish Insider 2008. It was associated with an extensive article dealing with flathead catfish, which was written by Dr. Hal Schramm. 

[ _I've been listening to stories about "teleponin' catfish" for 30 years. Funny how it was always the storyteller's uncle, second cousin, or in-law doing the cranking. Well, all those violators should head to Columbus County in North Carolina, where a fishing license and a $10 special device permit allows recreational anglers to use hand-crank generators to catch flatheads in 30 miles of the Cape Fear River, 10 miles of the Black River, and the reaches of the Lumber and Waccamaw rivers. 

This one-of-a-kind fishery was the result of local legislation and was not supported by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission. An evaluation found no evidence that recreational electrofishing reduced either invasive blue or flathead catfish, yet the electrofishing continues. Yes, politics can be very local and often trumps good biology.

Flatheads ravaged the blackwater streams of South Carolina just as in other coastal states. In response to declining redbreast sunfish populations, well-meaning legislators ordered the stocking of 1 million redbreast fingerlings yearly into the Edisto River. Their recruitment is strongly influenced by environmental conditons, so it is too early to tell whether this solution will have a positive effect. 

Georgia DNR is full speed ahead on reducing flatheads in the Satilla River, where they were introduced in 1996. As in other coastal rivers, red breast sunfish and bullhead populations abruptly declined, and channel catfish appear to be on the downward trend, too. One full-time biologist and two technicians have been hired to thin the flathead population. Although other population-reduction methods are being evaluated, the team has been electrofishing intensively since March 2007. By the end of September, they had removed 4,142 fish weighing more than 24,000 pounds, and Satilla anglers have been supportive of this program_.]


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## Jim (Oct 18, 2008)

Is this a good or a bad thing?


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## dedawg1149 (Oct 18, 2008)

i see it as a bad thing i dont beleive that the flathead is wipping out the redbreast population.if they can get bye with that what species will be next bass,crappie? :x


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## Jim (Oct 18, 2008)

What does shocking do? Does it temporarily paralyze all the fish and bring them to the surface? (sort of read about this a little)

Curious as to what they do with the fish?


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## dedawg1149 (Oct 18, 2008)

all i know is that they come to guntersville every year and stun fish to determine rate of growth, population,etc. it does kill alot of fish they tried giving it to the charities in town put couldn't because of liabilities like being sued so they had to throw them all away .to me it is a shame to see fish wasted


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## FishinsMyLife (Oct 18, 2008)

The flatheads have definitely devastated the redbreasts in the Edisto. My dad used to live right near the Edisto and he would tell me stories of how they would have stringers full of redbreasts, but when flatheads were introduced, their numbers really went down.


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## ben2go (Oct 18, 2008)

I live in SC and was completely unaware of this.I know that catfish in rivers seem to be abundant and other small fish seem to be scarce.I know people that have electro fished but never really understood what effect it had on the fish.Carp leap out of the water when electricity is introduced,catfish come to the surface.How does it effect other fish?Hopefully it doesn't kill them.


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## lowe (Oct 18, 2008)

There is an extensive article in the magazine about the flathead catfish titled "The Good & The Evil". If I have time tonight, I will try to type it out for everyone to read.


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## Specknreds (Oct 18, 2008)

First, I promise you I have never willingly participated in "telephoning" shocking catfish. It is very illegal in my area. You will get you boat, truck, and gear seized if caught doing this. Our head of security at work (a retired wildlife and fisheries agent) provided me with this info. All of the old timers around here use to do this. It's almost as bad as dynamite, it just doesn't kill the catfish if done right. The old timers use to take the old telephones that you had to crank or wind up and you hooked the positive and negative too seperate metal rods. you hold the several feet apart and stick them deep into the water. It sends an electrical pulse that paralizes the nervous system of fish with no scales and they float to the surface. It effects fish with scales differently, didn't ask how it effects them. For obvious reasons I have left out a few details. 

I had an electric fence around my pastures and by a stocked pond. A bull went through the fence and the hot wire went into my pond. I lost all of my fish. I don't know how long it was shocking the pond. If I would have caught it as soon as it happened, The fish probably would have floated to the surface for a while but would have suvived.


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## ben2go (Oct 18, 2008)

From my understanding it is illegal here alsld timers here used the wind up radio telephones from WWII and Korean wars.


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## ctfletch (Oct 18, 2008)

I have never used a telephone crank but I do electroshocking surveys commercially, we use a 240V generator with all the proper gear we put out about 10amps and 500 volts, that's 5,000 watts of juice. and I have never killed a fish in the 7 years I have been doing this. Catfish do react differently and are usually uneffected by the high voltage. We have a special 12v device that gets them. at any rate the electric charge temorarily paralizes them and they come back to life most times as soon as you let off the foot feed, but sometimes it may take a few minutes but as I say, I've never lost any fish doing this. It's a really effective tool for evaluating a lakes fish population.


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## lowe (Oct 18, 2008)

After beginning typing out the article. I soon found it would take me quit some time. LOL. I looked on the In-Fisherman website but didn't see it anywhere. If you are interested in reading the entire article, it can be viewed by picking up a 2008 In-Fisherman Catfish Insider Guide.


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## Jim (Oct 18, 2008)

ctfletch said:


> I have never used a telephone crank but I do electroshocking surveys commercially, we use a 240V generator with all the proper gear we put out about 10amps and 500 volts, that's 5,000 watts of juice. and I have never killed a fish in the 7 years I have been doing this. Catfish do react differently and are usually uneffected by the high voltage. We have a special 12v device that gets them. at any rate the electric charge temorarily paralizes them and they come back to life most times as soon as you let off the foot feed, but sometimes it may take a few minutes but as I say, I've never lost any fish doing this. It's a really effective tool for evaluating a lakes fish population.




Very cool! :beer: From your email address I sort of see what you do for work....Awesome! :wink:


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## skipper123 (Oct 2, 2013)

The Flathead and Blue cats are not native to our SC waters and I can say from seeing the Bluegill Crappie and Bass populations drop dramatically over the last 30 years in Stevens Creek in Edgefield SC as well as the Redbreast in the Edisto River that they are destroying our native fish. 30 years ago we never caught big flatheads or blues from the creeks and rivers of any size and caught many a stringer of the sunfish. Not anymore, now you have to fish your butt off to catch one limit of sunfish unless you catch them on the bed in the spring. I have stopped bed fishing for this reason. Now we catch monster cats like theirs no end. For more info on SC waters contact The Edgefield Advertiser Newspaper in Edgefield SC and and get copies of the Stevens Creek fishing report from The King of Cats. Yea thats me and its shocking what we now see coming from these small waters.


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## RiverBottomOutdoors (Oct 2, 2013)

Even though I love flatheads, I have no pity for introduced species that negatively impact ecosystems.


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## RAMROD (Oct 2, 2013)

Nice cats! Would love to help reduce the population!


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