The forktail cat is one of the most popular catfish, to angle for and grows to over one hundred twenty lbs.. Today's competitor for the American recordbook of one hundred tewnty four pounds is from the Alton Ill. May 22, 2005. There are five hundred seventy two million lbs. of catfish grown in commercial ponds. The recent , 6 28 2005, find of the Lacantunia enigmatica catfish in Mexico is the only known specie of catfish of prehistoric origins dating back to the time before the ice age.

The World's largest catfish, was weighed at 646.2 lbs., caught in the Chiang Khong Region,Thailand, May 1,2005, and is known as the Mekong Giant Catfish, and is being studied as a critically endangered species.

The channel catfish grow to 45 pounds averaging 14 years but are known to live to 20 years.

The flattened head, of the goujon and the yellow skin denotes the second heaviest inland water catfish. The American record is 98.50, pounds, Near Tyler, TX, in 1998. These catfish should live 19 years and longer. Virtually all species of catfish from fresh water is very good table fare.

Catfish Lure in the traditional stink bait, subsidise dead minnows for the favorite bait for catfish.