Chronic Wasting Kitties

[SkunkedAgain]

I'm starting to get kind of concerned with the catfish I've been catching this year.  Not all of them, but a small subset of the fish I've been catching are looking terrible this year.  They are scarred, skinny and very sickly looking fish, some have huge gashes in their flesh and in general look really scraggly.  Is there a fish disease that effects catfish?  Most of the fish this time of year are fat and look very nice, but this spring I'm seeing the worst looking fish I've ever seen out of Cutler... Anyone have any idea of what might be going on?  Oh the fish sizes are all over the chart too, so it's not like the little ones are getting sick, I just caught a 26.5" cat that was so skinny it looked like it was wasting away...  Other sick ones were smaller fish.. so it's not the old ones either... Just concerned, don't want to see a good thing get ruined... Later Jeff

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Here is a picture of one of them but you can’t really tell how bad they are from the photo.

[Bassin_Blitz]

Could be related to the draw down that happened during the winter, maybe it caused a major die off of the forage base.

[SkunkedAgain]

Maybe, but wouldn't that cover the whole population?  This is a small part of the population...  I'm concerned anyway... Jeff

[TubeDude]

I'm starting to get kind of concerned with the catfish I've been catching this year.  Not all of them, but a small subset of the fish I've been catching are looking terrible this year.  They are scarred, skinny and very sickly looking fish, some have huge gashes in their flesh and in general look really scraggly.  Is there a fish disease that effects catfish?  Most of the fish this time of year are fat and look very nice, but this spring I'm seeing the worst looking fish I've ever seen out of Cutler... Anyone have any idea of what might be going on?  Oh the fish sizes are all over the chart too, so it's not like the little ones are getting sick, I just caught a 26.5" cat that was so skinny it looked like it was wasting away...  Other sick ones were smaller fish.. so it's not the old ones either... Just concerned, don't want to see a good thing get ruined... Later Jeff

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Here is a picture of one of them but you can’t really tell how bad they are from the photo.
My guess is that it is a food chain problem.  If there was a drawdown that isolated some fish in an area with no groceries then those fish would show signs of food deprivation even though their same species from other areas with more food.  The war wounds could be from aggressive foraging in brush or rocks...or battles with other fish for whatever food was available.

I have caught cats from both Willard and Utah Lake this year and all the ones I have caught have been chunky and healthy.  But both of those lakes are blessed with high water and good forage.

On the other hand, it might be a new strain of "catrona virus".

[Anglinarcher]

Ya, I agree it was probably last years late drawdown.  If we start seeing issues later this year downstream in the Bear then we can get concerned.

[RockyRaab2]

Can't answer your question, Jeff. But may I ask that you please use another font color? That nuclear green burns my retinas. (BTW, green is the traditional color for sarcasm and smartazz comments.)

[SkunkedAgain]

Sorry Rocky, how about back in black..... I hope the sick kitties has something to do with the draw down, but I suspect it's something different... Hope it will pass without hurting the fishing too much... Especially this year, with all the monsters coming out of UL so far, we need a good year to stay competitive.. Later J