N&O
Chances are pretty good that someone thought they were doing a good thing by adding flat heads to a number of bodies of water across the state but in fact they are an invasive specie.
JORDAN LAKE — It’s too late to stop flathead catfish from eventually dominating the food chain of this Triangle lake.
But state fish biologists are trying to learn all they can about the flatheads swimming around Jordan Lake before the aggressive cats take over.
It’s anybody’s guess about how long the fish, which are not native to river systems on this side of the Appalachian Mountains, have been in the lake, but the earliest official record of a flathead in Jordan is 2004. On Internet message boards, there are claims of catches from the late 1990s.
Our native fish are going to suffer because the flat heads are going to take over. Anglers can help by keeping the flat heads they catch.
Just as concerning to Kwak is that few of these fish are taken home for the table in this part of the country. In their native Midwest, flathead fishermen think nothing of taking one home, but here, catfish anglers seem to be practicing catch-and-release.
“That allows them to build up to a high number,” he said. “If we harvested flathead catfish at the same rate they do in the Midwest, our native fish would be at much higher levels. Our native fish would feel some relief.”
So it sounds like as with other invasive species don’t practice catch and release because it just magnify the situation.
Check out the N&O story
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