Fish Identification
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Catfish, Blue
The blue catfish is a heavyweight, sometimes weighing over 100 pounds. It's a migratory fish found in large rivers and reservoirs, and, like the channel cat, prefers waters with good current over bottoms ofrock, gravel or sand. Blues resemble channel cats but have a distinct hump-backed appearance, astraight-edged anal fin with 30 to 35 rays and lack the black body spots typical of small channel cats. Cutshad and crayfish are among the most popular baits.
Catfish, Channel
The channel catfish is Arkansas' most widespread and abundant catfish. Weighing up to 30 pounds, it'stypically a stream fish, but, millions are produced in state hatcheries each year and stocked in lakes andponds where natural reproduction is limited. Characteristics include a deeply forked tail, gray to brown back and sides fading to white underneath, and a rounded anal fin with 24 to 29 rays. Channelsoccasionally strike artificials, but most are taken using natural bait fished on or near the bottom. They are especially fond of chicken liver, earthworms, crayfish, minnows, catalpa worms and stinkbaits.
Catfish, Flathead
The flathead catfish is most common around dam tailwaters and in deep pools of large rivers, bayousand reservoirs. It's pot-bellied, wide-headed and beady-eyed, but what it may lack in looks, it makes up for in size and good taste. Many weigh 3 to 10 pounds, but 25 to 50 pounders aren't rare, and flatheads up to 139 pounds have been taken in Arkansas waters. Color is yellow to light brown, usually mottled with dark brown or black. The tail is only slightly forked, and the lower jaw projects out from the flattened head. Most are caught on live minnows, bream or goldfish.
Crappie, Black
Black crappies are slightly more fussy about their environment and prefer cool, deep waters withabundant aquatic vegetation. The silvery sides are marked with irregularly scattered black spots thatdon't form vertical bars. The "black-nosed crappie", an unusually marked strain of black crappie, has adark brown or black stripe running under the chin, over the nose and across part of the back. Originallyfound in Beaver and Bull Shoals lakes, this distinctive crappie is now being raised in state fish hatcheries for stocking public fishing waters.
Crappie, White
Although white and black crappies often occupy the same waters, white crappies can flourish in warmer,siltier waters than black crappies. The two species look very similar, but the white crappie is paler incolors, with dark spots on the silver sides usually arranged in regular vertical bars. The best way todistinguish the two species is to count the dorsal fin spines. White crappies typically have six, and blackcrappies usually have seven or eight.
Gar, Alligator
Once a popular big-game fish on the White, St. Francis, Red and Arkansas rivers, the alligator gar isnow rare in Arkansas due primarily to changes in its habitat. It is one of the largest freshwater fishes inNorth America, and specimens over eight feet long and up to 215 pounds have been caught in the state.The snout is very short and broad like an alligator's snout. The distance from the snout's tip to the cornerof the mouth is shorter than the rest of the head.
Gar, Longnose
The longnose gar is Arkansas' most widespread and abundant gar. It is common in sluggish pools andbackwaters of streams statewide and is the gar most frequently found in lakes. It has a very long narrowsnout, and the width of the upper jaw at the nostrils is less than the eye diameter. This large fish commonly exceeds three feet in length and may weigh over 25 pounds.
Gar, Shortnose
The shortnose gar is found in many of Arkansas' medium and large streams, but is most common in the Arkansas, lower White and Mississippi rivers. It has a moderately short, broad snout, and the distance from the tip of the snout to the corner of the mouth is equal to or longer than the rest of the head. Dark spots are usually few and confined to the fins. Shortnose gars reach a length of about 30 inches and a weight of 3-1/2 pounds.
Gar, Spotted
The spotted gar is very similar to the shortnose but has well-defined round black spots on top of thehead, snout and body. It seldom exceeds three feet long and 8 pounds in weight. This gar prefers quiet,clear waters with heavy aquatic vegetation or standing timber and is most common in the lowland streams of eastern, central and southern Arkansas.