The forktail cat is the most popular catfish, to fish for and matures to above one hundered pounds. Today's competition for the United States record of one hundred tewnty four pounds is from the Alton Illinois 5 22 2005. There are 572,000,000 million lbs. of catfish farmed for profit. The recent June 28, 2005 discovery of the Lacantunia enigmatica catfish in Chiapas, Mexico is the only example of catfish of the ancient Tertiary age dating to the time before the ice age.

The World's biggest catfish, was weighed at 646.2 pounds, caught in the Area of Ton Le Sap in Cambodia., May 1,2005, and is known as the Pangasianodon gigas 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 appaluchion and the yellow skin denotes the second biggest freshwater catfish. The American record is ninety eight and a half, pounds, Lake Palestine, Texas, in December 1998. These fish may survive 19 years and more. Most species of catfish from running water is very good table fare.

Catfish Stinkbait in the traditional stink bait, subsidise live bait for the preferred lure for catfish.