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Southeast fisheries regional staffs are concerned about the low abundance and poor size structure of channel catfish populations in many of their impoundments. These conditions result in undesirable sport fishing opportunities. Some of these impoundments have received high stocking rates (up to 300 fish/acre) of channel catfish in an attempt to improve population densities and enable some fish to survive to larger sizes. However, subsequent sampling has resulted in low catch rates with most fish appearing to be from the most recent stocking.
MDC is analyzing whether the implementation of a 16-inch minimum length limit on channel catfish in five southeastern Missouri impoundments will improve the abundance and size structure of these populations.