Catfish pots FYI

[mikesxpress]

We have had a active local market for catfish for the past 4 years. We established the market during my tenure on the PRFC fin fish committee and brought wholesaler/fish processors into negotiate with waterman/PRFC on the program. While we will never eliminate the blue catfish from the river, this is a significant step in managing the invasive species. Having made multiple day trips with local waterman participating in various forms of harvest, some of these pots are pulled and are so full of catfish they have to hand extract fish from each hoop section to fully empty and re-bait the pot. Water depth under 8 feet these pots will be attached to a marker pole/flag. The pot can be up to 100' long and will grab any bait that contacts it. (That's the FYI part!)
Deeper than 8' they are attached to a float/jug.

For those interested in how the waterman are harvesting the Potomac fish here is a video describing the process and pictorial of a catfish pot.

Catching Blue Catfish with Rocky Rice - YouTube
https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=share&v=YQ4o3p5LbJg

[HalBrown]

Thanks Mike. Really, really interesting.

[Ththomp2]

Yeah this was neat. Thanks for posting. Looks similar to the traps I used to see back in the creeks that always had a ton of turtles in them. Always wondered if people were turtle trapping or it was by catch.

[mikesxpress]

Thomas the turtle pot are similar but much shorter and smaller in diameter.