A catfish species that can grow up to 100 pounds is threatening a popular Delaware fishing hole and state environmental officials need anglers’ help to rid the waterway of the invasive fish.
The culprit is the flathead catfish, a species native to the Mississippi and Ohio watersheds. It was recently found in Lums Pond near Glasgow, according to the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC).
Catfish species native to Delaware are scavengers and feed off the bottom of the water bodies they are in. The flathead catfish, which can grow up to 100 pounds and reach four feet in length, eats other species, said Mike Steiger, a DNREC fisheries biologist.
If the flathead catfish is left to feed on local species such as shad, crayfish or other pond fish, it could upset the local ecosystem and cause problems for other organisms in the area.
“There’s probably not that many in the pond,” said Steiger. “Unchecked, they can definitely have a negative effect on native species.”
Steiger is heading a project for the DNREC Division of Fish and Wildlife with the DNREC Division of Parks and Recreation aimed at removing the flathead catfish from Lums Pond.
To capture the invasive species, the groups are using the technique of electro fishing, in which a specialized boat is used to deliver electroshocks in the water that temporarily stuns fish within a certain radius.
The effort began in the spring but needed adjustments before it yielded the results necessary for covering Lums Pond.
This does not kill any of the fish but causes the affected fish to rise to the top of water, allowing them to be handled and captured more easily and with less stress for the fish.
All flathead catfish that are found are then removed from Lums Pond.
According to Steiger, there are two flathead catfish populations nearby in the Chesapeake Bay and the Schuylkill River in Pennsylvania.
The flathead catfish found in Lums Pond could have spread from the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal or have been introduced by illegal stockers, but there is no way to know for sure, said Steiger.
In the fall of 2020, a bass fishing group reportedly caught a flathead catfish and two more were captured in the C&D Canal and the Delaware River.
DNREC urges all who catch a flathead catfish to remove it from the water and report the incident.
With Delaware having a native catfish species, the brown bullhead, which looks similar to the flathead catfish, flyers comparing the two have been placed around Lums Pond at the main gate, the visitor’s center, the nature center and the boat launch to help visitors identify their catch.
If you catch a brown bullhead catfish, it is OK to release it back into the pond.
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