Monstrous blue cats, like this 47-pounder held by guide Mike Atkinson, are common in the James River and winter is a great time to catch them. Photo by Marc N. McGlade

If you're as sad as a hound dog's eye about your fish-catching success during the winter months, perhaps a blue catfish venture to a Virginia location serving up ridiculously big specimens would ease the suffering. Blue cats can turn an otherwise uneventful winter day into a memory that will last a long time.

Unlike other fish species -- particularly the photophobic striped bass -- blue catfish bite in Virginia when sunny conditions are present, or under a gunmetal sky. Day, night or in between, these bottom dwellers feed throughout the year. Cold, hot or comfortable air temperatures do not matter much to blue cats.

This is hardly a news flash; this "secret" has been spreading for years like kudzu across Virginia and the rest of the South. Blue catfish are voracious predators and dine upon a broad range of prey. They tend to favor medium to large rivers (particularly tidal rivers in Virginia) that have deep channels, although they are prolific in some large lakes, too. Nowhere are there better examples of prime blue cat fisheries than Richmond's James River and Southside's Buggs Island Lake.

JAMES RIVER BRUISERS
"Large blue catfish prefer deep channels, and gravitate to areas, such as sunken barges, old pier pilings or downed trees in the channel or adjacent to channel dropoffs," said Bob Greenlee, a fisheries biologist from the Williamsburg office of Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (VDGIF). "Blue cats under 10 inches prey upon small fish, including smaller blue catfish, invertebrates and mollusks, while larger blues are primarily piscivorous, feeding on gizzard and threadfin shad, white perch or eels."

Electrofishing samples taken by VDGIF personnel have shown that Major tributaries, such as Herring Creek, Upper Chippokes Creek and Powell Creek, support an abundance of blue cats. Based on the age and growth data, as well as population size structure, it's safe to say recruitment of blue cats in the James has been consistently strong.

"Growth is consistent, too," Greenlee said. "By age 5, they average 22 inches in length and weigh 5 pounds, and by age 10, the average blue cat in the James system weighs over 22 pounds and measures 34 inches."

The diet of these monsters is based upon their daily preferences.

"They eat anything they want," Greenlee joked. "These fish are limited only by the size of their mouths. Young catfish eat invertebrates, including mussels, clams and small fish. Once blue cats reach 12 inches, their diet is dominated by fish."

Capt. Mike Atkinson, owner of CAT-MAN-DO Guide Service, has a rapport with the monsters that lurk in Richmond's murky water. Atkinson, 41, has been guiding professionally since 2001, but has fished the tidal James since he was 16.

"I remember when big channel cats were the norm and blue cats were nonexistent in the James," the affable Dinwiddie native said. "Today, it's not uncommon to catch two blues that weigh as much as 100 pounds."

This whiskerfish guide generally spreads out only four rods, where many other catfish experts will cast six to eight lines around the boat. Sometimes catfish anglers anchored in the James resemble head boats in the Chesapeake Bay fishing for spots or croaker with all the crisscrossed lines in the water. That can make for a headache if a stud catfish decides to tangle the many lines dangling in the fertile water.

"The way that I cover water, I don't see the need to have that many rods out at the same time," Atkinson said. "Many times I've had three of the four rods go down at the same time, and having four versus eight reduces the confusion immensely when the bite is hot."