Effect of Hook Style, Bait Type, and River Location on Trotline Catches of Flathead and Channel Catfish

Abstract

Trotlines can be used to provide data on catfish populations, but better understanding of trotline selectivity is needed. We compared differences in the presence or absence of channel catfish Ictalurus punctatus and flathead catfish Pylodictis olivaris caught on trotlines among hook types, bait types, substrate types, channel types, water depths, and woody debris complexities in two South Dakota rivers. Channel catfish were 3.5 times more likely to be caught on hooks baited with cut common carp Cyprinus carpio, and flathead catfish were 28 times more likely to be caught on hooks baited with live black bullheads Ameiurus melas. Seacircle hooks caught fewer catfish of either species than O'Shaughnessy or modified circle hooks. Channel type, water depth, and substrate type affected catches of flathead and channel catfish from the Big Sioux River, but did not influence catches of either species on the James River. The Big Sioux River had greater habitat variability, thereby increasing our chances of finding differences in trotline catches between habitat types. Our research highlights some of the biases associated with using trotlines to collect flathead and channel catfish, but it suggests that trotlines can be used to supplement data on size structure and the total catch of flathead catfish longer than 450 mm and to sample flathead and channel catfish in places where habitat characteristics render other gear types ineffective.

Using Lindgren–Pitman Hook Timers to Understand the Dynamics of Trotline Catches in a Large River

“…Traditionally, trotlines were not used to monitor fish populations because they are selective for species, size, and sex and generally have large catch rate variations (Hubert 1996;Vokoun and Rabeni 1999;Arterburn and Berry 2001). Catch rates with trotlines are generally measured as the number of fish captured divided by the number of hooks over a period of time (e.g., number of fish/40 hook-nights [i.e., a 40-hook line set overnight]).…”

Effect of bait and gear type on channel catfish catch and turtle bycatch in a reservoir

“…Nets were set parallel to shore at depths less than 4 m, baited with either 1 kg of ground cheese logs (Boatcycle, Inc., Henderson, Texas) or Zote TM bar soap (1/3 bar in each net) and allowed to fish over three nights. Trotlines have historically been configured using a range of lengths (13.5-91 m long) without any consideration to standardization (Johnson 1987;Ott & Storey 1991;Arterburn & Berry 2002;Stewart et al 2009;Barabe & Jackson 2011;Steffensen et al 2013); our trotlines measured 80 m long and were within the size range generally used to sample catfish (see above), constructed of braided nylon twine and set perpendicular to shore overnight. Baits were affixed to OwnerÓ Mutu TM Light circle hooks using three sizes (4, 2/0, or 4/0 hooks) to reduce any size selected bias dependent on hook size (Arterburn & Berry 2002).…”

Associations between Watershed Characteristics and Angling Success for Sport Fishes in Mississippi Wadeable Streams

“…Catch per unit of effort (CPUE [fish/angler-hour]) was used as an index of relative abundance and angling success because angler CPUE tends to be strongly correlated with other indices of abundance (Isaak et al 1992;Arterburn and Berry 2002;Hetrick and Bromaghin 2006) as well as the actual abundances of fish populations (Tsuboi and Endou 2008;Martin and Fisher 2009). Fishing intensity (e.g., casting frequency, reeling speed, and wading speed) was similar among anglers, sites, and sample dates, and no fish were removed from the streams.…”