There are lots of fish that could bite in Urbanna Creek at the mouth of the Rappahannock River – stripers, trout, puppy drum, and white perch – to name a few, but they didn’t like what I was cooking for dinner. So, there I sat, bite-less. I had been throwing grubs and Ratt’l Traps and dunking Fishbites off the docks, but no takers. As long as I was just going to sit there, I went to the old reliable – shrimp. I put a couple pieces on a double drop rig, tossed the bait out, put the rod in a holder and sat back to smoke a cigar.
In a few minutes, I saw that my line was headed for deep water and set the hook. It was a nice fish, a big fat blue catfish – the first of many we would catch in the next few days.
The Rappahannock River and blue catfish go together – as Forrest Gump would say – like peas and carrots. Blue cats are not particular about the salinity of a river. They’re equally happy in the freshwater above Fredericksburg or the salty water down near the mouth of the bay. But they do like the Rappahannock because it is the cleanest tributary to the Chesapeake Bay. The Rapp is narrower than the James, Potomac and York and flushes easier. The water is clean, the bait plentiful and the blue cats thrive.
Blue cats – along with channel acts and flathead catfish – are the among our state’s big three. But they grow to be the biggest. The state record blue cat weighed 143 pounds. The catfish we caught were under 10 pounds, but those are the best to eat. Their filets are perfect for the frying pan and that’s where our blue cats ended up.
Blue catfish and channel cats are similar in appearance. Both species have barbels, a deeply forked tail, and a protruding upper jaw. Channel cats have spots on their sides in their early years but lose them as they grow older. Both fish are silvery in color. The only way to definitely tell them apart is to count the number of anal rays. A blue catfish has 30–36 rays, whereas a channel catfish has 25–29
For me, it’s been hit or miss catching blue catfish at Urbanna. A couple years ago, we pounded them, but caught none last year. Since they had a big rain and flooding conditions in the Rapp just a week back, the influx of fresh water may have pushed the catfish down river and triggered the bite. I’m not sure. But I am sure I enjoy getting the Rappahannock Blues – catching and eating blue catfish from the Rappahannock River.
