A Day in the Field: Roosevelt Lake Flathead Catfish Survey Results Fall 2016

Flathead Catfish caught at Roosevelt Lake in Fall 2016.
The Arizona Game and Fish Department conducted their annual Flathead Catfish electrofishing survey last week at Roosevelt Lake, October 3rd through October 5th. We caught a total of 131 Flathead Catfish in the 3 day survey! The Flathead Catfish were collected, weighed, measured, and tagged with an anchor tag. All of the Flathead Catfish caught during the survey were released unharmed. By tagging Flathead Catfish, we learn about how fast they are growing in our Arizona Lakes.

Game and Fish Biologists holding 3 large Flathead Catfish caught during Roosevelt Lake surveys in Fall 2016.
The Flathead Catfish we caught ranged from 4 inches to 46 inches in length. The largest Flathead Catfish weighed in at just over 51 pounds! Out of our surveys at Bartlett, Pleasant, and Roosevelt, this was the heaviest Flathead Catfish that we caught this fall! Even more impressive was eight Flathead Catfish in our survey weighed in at over 40 pounds and 19 weighed in at over 30 pounds.
We added up the weights of all the Flathead Catfish we caught at Roosevelt Lake. The total weight is 1,317 pounds of Flathead Catfish! The Department will continue to monitor the Flathead Catfish population in Roosevelt Lake on an annual basis.
If you liked this post, learn about the Lake Pleasant Flathead Catfish Fall 2016 results and go to A Day in the Field: Lake Pleasant Catfish Survey Results for Fall 2016! Also check out a video of the Lake Pleasant Fall 2016 Flathead Catfish Video!
To learn about Bartlet Flathead Catfish Fall 2016 results go to A Day in the Field: Bartlett Flathead Catfish Survey! Also check out a video of the Bartlett Lake Fall 2016 Flathead Catfish Video! Do you want to learn more about tagging fish? You can also learn more tagging fish from the Research Branch’s trout tagging project!