Description of a Multiuse Fishery for Flathead Catfish

Flathead catfish Pylodictis olivaris have traditionally been exploited in commercial fisheries. Recently, more anglers have targeted this species because of its large size, sporting qualities, and high-quality flesh, but data on fishing methods and catches are scant. A tagging study (N = 1,636 fish) on the Flint River, Georgia, where flathead catfish had been introduced around 1950, provided an opportunity to estimate exploitation and to survey fishers who returned tags. Several types of fishers exploited this species, including commercial trotline users, anglers, and recreational trotline and limbline users. The majority of respondents fished by angling only, but the 10% who used trotlines returned 26% of all tags. Flathead catfish fishers averaged 19 trips per year and 1.8 fish per trip in 1985 and 1986. The size structure of the catch was of high quality, as indicated by relative stock densities: quality–preferred size, 60%; preferred–memorable size, 22%. Recovered fish had averaged 581 mm total length and 2.3 kg when tagged. Exploitation was estimated to range from 14 to 25%, but may have been higher because of illegal fishing, nonreporting of tags, tag loss, and nonresponse to the survey.