WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA — The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission is proposing new creel limits for flathead catfish and considering catch-and-release status for blue catfish in the Ohio River Basin. The commission initiated the process to modify regulations during its April board meeting. If adopted, the changes would take effect on January 1.

Current regulations permit anglers to keep up to 50 flathead catfish per day in the flowing waters of the basin. The proposed regulation would reduce this limit to four flathead catfish per day, with only one of those four allowed to be 35 inches or greater in length. The commission is also considering making blue catfish a catch-and-release species in the same basin.

Blue catfish are native to the Ohio River Basin but were extirpated from the area about a century ago. The commission started a reintroduction effort for the species in the Pittsburgh area in 2022, releasing yearling blue catfish. While native to the basin, blue catfish are considered an invasive species outside of the Ohio River Basin in Pennsylvania. Flathead catfish are native to the Ohio River Basin but are considered invasive in eastern Pennsylvania.

Justin Cobbett, an angler from Kittanning, Armstrong County, has been fishing for flathead catfish for more than 10 years. He prefers the species over walleye and northern pike. "It's just that fight. You get them to the boat and they just want to hold tight to the bottom (of the waterway) and they don't want to come up off. It's just different. It's like being hooked to a small tractor," Cobbett said.

Cobbett fishes in the Allegheny River and other rivers, often two or three times a week when conditions are favorable. He lives approximately two minutes from the Allegheny River. "That's probably one of my favorite places just because you have the confluence of three rivers. You have the Allegheny, the Mon(ongahela) and Ohio. Most of the time you have three different water temperatures," Cobbett said.

Bow fishermen are permitted to shoot catfish in Pennsylvania. The proposed regulation changes would alter fishing practices for anglers in the region.