How To Hold A Catfish
Contrary to popular belief, catfish don’t actually ‘sting’ you. Their barbels and fins do not sting when touched. However, they can cause discomfort if they are held incorrectly and as such, there are several measures that you should take in order to avoid being hurt by a catfish.
Catfish of all varieties have the same anatomy when it comes to their fins. There may be minor variations with regards to the number of rays that are contained in the anal fin and other minor differences but the main anatomical features of the catfish are the same irrespective of type. The dorsal fin, pectoral fin and whiskers are the three main features of a catfish.
Areas Of Concern
Contrary to the many myths about their whiskers, catfish whiskers are actually harmless. They’re pliable, soft and are similar to the whiskers on a cat. Therefore, there is no chance of you being stung by the whiskers of a catfish.
The areas of concern on a catfish with regards to being ‘stung’ are the pectoral and dorsal fins. These fins are located behind the head of the fish on each side and on the top of the fish directly behind the head. These fins may seem soft when approached from the back of the catfish, however, there is a hard spine that runs across the length of the fin and these are incredibly sharp.
Whilst these spines will not sting you, there is a likelihood that they will puncture the skin when touched. The spines contained within the pectoral and dorsal fins contain a specific style of venom that causes swelling due to an increased blood flow in the areas of the injury.
It is smaller catfish that are the most likely to harm people as there is less room to hold them appropriately without potentially puncturing your skin on one of these spines. The tips of these spines in smaller catfish are needle-like whereas larger catfish have spines that are usually more blunt.
How To Hold A Catfish Correctly
Smaller catfish are the fish to watch out for and exercise caution with, especially the really small variety as once the catfish has reached approximately 16-18 inches the spines will become blunted and the chance of being finned decreases drastically.
Any fish that is larger than 2-3 pounds is rarely a cause for concern but smaller catfish can harm you when releasing them back into the ocean. Once you have removed the hook, it will start to writhe in your hands upon release and this is where its sharp, needle-like spines can catch your hands.
Although this is not a ‘stinging’ experience directly, it is still incredibly uncomfortable when you get finned and can cause sharp pain that is not dissimilar to a sting.
When holding a smaller catfish, you should therefore hold it from the top, placing your hand directly behind the pectoral and dorsal spines with the area between your forefinger and thumb resting behind the dorsal spine.
This is the preferred method for holding any small catfish that you can wrap your hand around. This is more difficult to do with larger catfish and thus, if you are holding a larger fish, you should hold it from the top, placing your hand in front of the dorsal fin and behind the pectoral fins.
Fish from 1-8 pounds can be handled using this method also (placing your hand in front of the dorsal fin and behind the pectoral fins). However, this may be difficult if your fish is a size that you cannot easily wrap your whole hand around.
The best option for handling a fish in this instance is to use a ‘lip grip’ like the Berkley Big Game Lip Grip. Whilst getting finned by a big catfish is rarely a problem, scooping them up with a dip net and using a lip grip to handle the catfish during the landing and photographic process will be the more preferable option.
You should also practice the catching and releasing process of larger catfish and should exercise caution when placing your hand near or in the mouth of a large catfish as their mouths are way more hazardous than any of their fins!
Should You Hold A Catfish By The Mouth?
You can definitely hold a catfish by the mouth and this is the method that most anglers use when holding catfish. However, when holding smaller catfish, most will prefer to use the body method as aforementioned as this helps to control the fish more easily and reduce the chances of becoming finned.
With a larger catfish, you should exercise the utmost caution when holding the fish by the mouth and bear in mind that the inside of the catfish’s mouth is far more dangerous than any of their fins. The vast majority of anglers will clutch the mouth of a large catfish and then be shocked when they are bitten.
This is because many will slide their hand across the abrasive section of the mouth to grab it and the mouth will inherently scrape the skin. This is what is otherwise known as ‘catfish knuckles’ and to avoid this occurring, you should use a fish grip that is specifically designed for handling larger catfish.
To conclude, whilst catfish do not typically ‘sting’ you, there is a correct way to hold them to avoid booming finned or having your hand bitten! The idea that catfish whiskers can sting is a myth that causes a lot of harm as people will avoid touching the whiskers without understanding how to avoid the needle-like fins contained in smaller forms of catfish.
