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Hi, I recently caught a catfish in my local lake, Lake Elsinore, in South-West California. I can't ID it.

It is round, very slimey, a drab green in color, has a pale underside, long "whiskers," and is about 2.5-feet long. Any help would be appreciated!

BTW, whatever this type of cat is lives on the bottom of the 30ft. deep lake and eats snails and a small, almost pirahna-like fish called the Blue Gill.


NOTE: It closely resembles the above

That size is rather large for a bullhead (and the white catfish for that matter) as the biggest one I have caught was 1.5 feet long and it was a black bullhead. I'm starting to think that you're talking about a flathead catfish, pylodictus olivarus. Those things look either like a wet log or a giant living turd (which would match your description) when you get them out of the water. Their favorite food at that size would be the bluegills, although snails wouldn't be a problem for them to eat. I'm 99% certian you caught a flathead catfish, hope you enjoyed catching it. (You DID release it, did you?)

I agree that it's a flathead cat. Is this it?

Silurus wrote:I agree that it's a flathead cat. Is this it?

That is it. No doubt.

Thanks for the replies!

NOTE: Yeah, wizkidd, I released. There's no room in any of my tanks to fit it, the biggest I got is a fully-stocked 80-gallon. Wouldn't want it, anyways.