11-16-2013, 04:27 PM
[quote Sirfilletalot]The catfish out of Willard are exceptionally good eating! Must have something to do with the Seagull droppings from above![/quote]
[#0000FF]Yeah. Makes them taste like crappie.
Funny though. For a couple of years almost all of the cats I brought home from around the feedlot area north of the south marina had lots of cracked corn in their innards. Couldn't figure out how they were getting the corn. Then I spied a big flock of seagulls flying up out of the feedlot and settling in a big raft just offshore from the rock dike. AHA! Figured out that the seagulls were eating corn at the feedlot but did not have the digestive system to process it. So it passed on through undigested...for the kitties to try their hand (stomach) and digestion.
I discussed this phenomenon with one of the biologists for Willard and he had also been perplexed by finding corn in cats in that area. He readily accepted my theory after hearing my observations.
I always check stomach contents on my catch...as part of my ongoing quest to find the perfect bait to "match the hatch". I have found almost every other species in the lake...including baby cats...in the tummies of channel cats. They also eat crawdads whenever they can find them. And in the early part of the year...before everything spawns and provides a bigger food supply...those silly cats even snarf down guts full of midge larvae from the mud flats.
Directly or indirectly the seagulls probably do contribute to the overall fertility of the lake by redepositing recycled fish parts back into the water. But I have yet to see catfish cruising the surface behind seagulls...with their mouths open. Bad visual.
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[#0000FF]Yeah. Makes them taste like crappie.
Funny though. For a couple of years almost all of the cats I brought home from around the feedlot area north of the south marina had lots of cracked corn in their innards. Couldn't figure out how they were getting the corn. Then I spied a big flock of seagulls flying up out of the feedlot and settling in a big raft just offshore from the rock dike. AHA! Figured out that the seagulls were eating corn at the feedlot but did not have the digestive system to process it. So it passed on through undigested...for the kitties to try their hand (stomach) and digestion.
I discussed this phenomenon with one of the biologists for Willard and he had also been perplexed by finding corn in cats in that area. He readily accepted my theory after hearing my observations.
I always check stomach contents on my catch...as part of my ongoing quest to find the perfect bait to "match the hatch". I have found almost every other species in the lake...including baby cats...in the tummies of channel cats. They also eat crawdads whenever they can find them. And in the early part of the year...before everything spawns and provides a bigger food supply...those silly cats even snarf down guts full of midge larvae from the mud flats.
Directly or indirectly the seagulls probably do contribute to the overall fertility of the lake by redepositing recycled fish parts back into the water. But I have yet to see catfish cruising the surface behind seagulls...with their mouths open. Bad visual.
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