What type of Catfish is this?

[Pkfish49]

Caught in upstate New York Today:

 

[soflabasser]

Do you have pictures showing the tail better and sides of this catfish? It looks like a bullhead catfish from the front angle of this picture and other pictures will make identifying the catfish easier.

[OCdockskipper]

From that angle I would say a dark colored Channel Catfish.

[Pkfish49]

1 hour ago, soflabasser said:

Do you have pictures showing the tail better and sides of this catfish? It looks like a bullhead catfish from the front angle of this picture and other pictures will make identifying the catfish easier.

 

10 minutes ago, OCdockskipper said:

From that angle I would say a dark colored Channel Catfish.

This is the only other picture that I have.  After some research, I thought it might have been a Brown Bullhead, but it is really, really, dark and Black Bullheads aren't supposed to be in the area where I'm fishing.  From the coloring, I initially thought it was a baby Largemouth Bass; but then I saw the whiskers.  Does this side view help the ID?

 

[soflabasser]

44 minutes ago, Pkfish49 said:

 

This is the only other picture that I have.  After some research, I thought it might have been a Brown Bullhead, but it is really, really, dark and Black Bullheads aren't supposed to be in the area where I'm fishing. 

 

This is a bullhead catfish and not a channel catfish. Channel catfish have a forked tail and this one has a rounded tail like bullheads do. 

[Pkfish49]

3 minutes ago, soflabasser said:

This is a bullhead catfish and not a channel catfish. Channel catfish have a forked tail and this one has a rounded tail like bullheads do. 

Thanks.

 

Is it clearly a Brown Bullhead, or do colors not mean too much for this type?

[OCdockskipper]

3 hours ago, soflabasser said:

This is a bullhead catfish and not a channel catfish. Channel catfish have a forked tail and this one has a rounded tail like bullheads do. 

You are correct, that view shows the tail, which is definitely a bullhead tail & not a channel one.

[NYWayfarer]

Looks like a Black Bullhead.

[Big-Bass]

Brown Bullhead.  Yellow would have a rounded tail and black would not be as mottled on the side with a more yellowish belly.  I don't think Black Bullhead are indigenous to the NYC area.

[NYWayfarer]

36 minutes ago, Big-Bass said:

Brown Bullhead.  Yellow would have a rounded tail and black would not be as mottled on the side with a more yellowish belly.  I don't think Black Bullhead are indigenous to the NYC area.

They are around a few places in Western and Central NY

 

I have never seen a Brown Bullhead with Barbels that dark. Wish there was a better view of the tail. Black's have a marking on them that is very distinctive.

[Big-Bass]

10 hours ago, NYWayfarer said:

They are around a few places in Western and Central NY

 

I have never seen a Brown Bullhead with Barbels that dark. Wish there was a better view of the tail. Black's have a marking on them that is very distinctive.

Good to know!  What's the tail mark to look for?  Thanks!

[Bluebasser86]

6 hours ago, Big-Bass said:

Good to know!  What's the tail mark to look for?  Thanks!

Channel cats have deeply notched or "V"d tails whereas bullheads tails are rounded with no notch. 

 

It's a bullhead for sure, what kind of bullhead is hard to tell. My gut says brown bullhead, but I wouldn't put money on it. 

[NYWayfarer]

9 hours ago, Big-Bass said:

Good to know!  What's the tail mark to look for?  Thanks!

On Black Bullheads there is a tan crescent around the tail right before the fin begins.

[Boomstick]

Looks like a good sized bullhead to me. As others have said, the tail gives it away.

[Pkfish49]

On 5/7/2018 at 3:11 PM, NYWayfarer said:

Looks like a Black Bullhead.

 

On 5/8/2018 at 11:00 AM, Big-Bass said:

Brown Bullhead.  Yellow would have a rounded tail and black would not be as mottled on the side with a more yellowish belly.  I don't think Black Bullhead are indigenous to the NYC area.

 

On 5/8/2018 at 11:42 AM, NYWayfarer said:

They are around a few places in Western and Central NY

 

I have never seen a Brown Bullhead with Barbels that dark. Wish there was a better view of the tail. Black's have a marking on them that is very distinctive.

 

On 5/9/2018 at 8:10 AM, NYWayfarer said:

On Black Bullheads there is a tan crescent around the tail right before the fin begins.

This was caught in Sullivan County, around 100 miles from NYC.  I took some pictures before throwing it in the frying pan  -Excellent meal by the way !.  From the closeups of the tail area, can anybody clearly state whether this is a Brown or Black Bullhead? 

 

[NYWayfarer]

13 hours ago, Pkfish49 said:

 

This was caught in Sullivan County, around 100 miles from NYC.  I took some pictures before throwing it in the frying pan  -Excellent meal by the way !.  From the closeups of the tail area, can anybody clearly state whether this is a Brown or Black Bullhead? 

 

Clearly, no. But my best guess is this is a Brown Bullhead.