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Habits of the Giant Blue Catfish

Giant blue catfish, which commonly weigh in at around 100 lbs., haunt some of America's largest rivers, including the Cumberland, Tennessee, Ohio, Missouri and Mississippi. Giant blues thrive in heavy current because the current scoops up and carries algae and organic matter from the river bed, causing bait fish to feed. In turn, giant blues, who live over the hard sand or gravel bottom, eat the bait fish. The habits of giant blue catfish are similar to those of striped bass.

Travel Habits
- Giant blue catfish travel at night across sand flats between dikes to feed. During the day, they swim out into the current and bends of large rivers.
Seasonal Habits
- In the dead of winter, when water temperatures reach 35 to 40 degrees F in the Cumberland, giant blue catfish remain active, feeding heavily in water 30-to-40 feet deep near submerged tree trunks and logs. In early spring, when the water temperature is 45 to 55, giant blues move upriver about 5 miles into water 30-to-40 feet deep. In late spring, when the water reaches 55 to 65 degrees F, male blues start looking for spawning areas that are 15 feet deep. Females feed near the edges of steep drops.
  
  Giant blues get sluggish in summer, when temperatures reach 80 degrees F. They seek out cooler water in 60-foot channel drops that have quicker currents.
  
  In the fall, when the river is low and the water is 55 to 60 degrees, giant blue catfish meander back to 30-to-40 foot depths.
Spawning Habits
- When the water temperature is 70 to 75, giant blues build nests in water 15 feet deep that offers scattered wood cover and rocky, sloping banks with deep-water access. Males clear the site and females deposit from 2,000 to 21,000 eggs. The males protect the eggs during the 6 to 10 days before they hatch. They also guard the young, called "fry," for about a week after the eggs hatch and until the young catfish leave the nest.
Food Habits
- Giant blues feed mainly at night on herring, shad and other schooling bait fish. They also enjoy insects, crayfish, frogs and invertebrates such as clams. Smaller blues will occasionally eat commercial bait such as chicken livers and other stink bait.

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