David R. Stewart

Emphasis on catfish management has increased in Tennessee, and in 2003 the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency adopted new regulations protecting trophy-sized catfish by restricting recreational harvest of catfish >864 mm to one fish per day and eliminating all commercial harvest of catfish >864 mm. A statewide survey on licensed catfish anglers was conducted in fall 2000, 2005 and 2006 to determine if angler responses changed following implementation of these regulations. Before the regulation change, catfish anglers generally supported protecting trophy-sized catfish but angler...

The blue catfish (Ictalurus furcatus) is an important sport and commercial species in Tennessee for which state-specific biological data are lacking. We report weight-length relationships and age and growth data for blue catfish (n = 773) collected from three exploited and one unexploited Tennessee waterbodies: Lake Barkley, Kentucky Lake, and the Mississippi River, and Fort Loudoun Reservoir. There were significant differences between blue catfish weight-length relationships between waterbodies. Catfish age ranged from age 0 to 34 and length at age estimates were significantly...