Reply by: FISHRANGLER      Posted: 7/7/2012 8:56:27 PM     Points: 4429    

Probably not dying I think spawning and making nest to lure a female in. Some times they get real beat up.
The males head will swell on top
First picture is of male with swollen head I caught a couple weeks ago.
The bigger the head, the more chicks the catcfish is gonna get.

Second picture is a cat I also caught a month ago NOTICE THE BEAT UP TAIL from spawning the head was beat up also with some sores
Two different lakes and way different temps Cats will spawn in CO over a longer time frame then other places in the country. They will also spawn at different times in the same lake and river, but only last a few days.

The Arkansas River below Pueblo Reservoir is prime time and temp for spawning right now.

They will swim in circles a lot
sometimes I think it will be a battle between males like in my second picture Have seen it happen many times
Other times I think it is the male circling the female luring them to the nest.

 Reply by: dcatman      Posted: 7/8/2012 10:00:23 AM     Points: 0    

I sure don't think its the same but I really hope so. With the one that was dieing swimming around lost.

 Reply by: FISHRANGLER      Posted: 7/8/2012 10:47:55 AM     Points: 4429    

When in Question release the fish and do us and the fish a favor.
Did you just grab this fish? How is it this fish ended up on your stringer if it was dying?

 Reply by: dcatman      Posted: 7/8/2012 11:37:11 AM     Points: 0    

As we were walking back we seen one swimming in very shallow water its head had sores all over it eyes starting to pop out. We were standing over it and it never swam off touched it with a stick and it didn't care. We pushed it in deeper water and it would swim in circles and came back to shore... it was dieing! The one in the picture was caught 10 minutes before we seen the one in shallow water. Compared fish and they had the same symptoms. I did not if there was a virus or something killing the cats.