Fish samplings at area lakes yield positive results

Fish samplings at lakes Nocona, Ray Roberts and Weatherford by the park and wildlife department’s Lake Texoma fisheries office indicate positive results regarding blue and channel catfish.

The gill net catch rates for numbers of blue catfish at Ray Roberts were the highest on record, according to state biologist Bruce Hysmith.

“Historically, it takes time for blue catfish to build in a lake,” Hysmith said. “The samples have increased nine fold since the 1998 collection when the largest bluecat was 6.2 pounds. This year’s collection produced blues up to 20.5 pounds.

Lake Nocona, a city-water supply lake, produced numbers of blue catfish weighing up to 21 pounds and Lake Weatherford, also a city-supply water lake, yielded 12 channel catfish per net with the largest weighing 13 1/4 pounds.