Reasons to Keep Every Gafftop You Catch

[MathGeek]

The benthic food web in Calcasieu Estuary is much different since the overharvesting of oyster stocks in 2010 and the failure to restore valuable oyster reef habitat since that time. The gafftop catfish has moved into a much more pelagic predatory role in the food web, and rather than being primarily a benthic feeder, it is now a strong competitor with specks and redfish.

Every year since 2011, we have measured relative condition factors of specks, redfish, black drum, and gafftops in Calcasieu Estuary. The gafftops have been consistently about 10% under their expected weights, meaning that they are very hungry and somewhat overpopulated relative to their available food sources. Rather than wait for the benthos to recover, they have moved up in the water column and are actively and voraciously feeding on menhaden, mullet, and croaker, and likely also on age zero specimens of specks and redfish (and whatever else they can catch).

Our extensive sampling data allows us to estimate that gafftops have about a 53% forage overlap (food competition) with specks and about a 56% forage overlap with redfish over the past 5 years in the estuary. This means that for every 5 lb gafftop you throw into your ice chest, you are saving enough forage to produce 2.5 lbs or so of specks or redfish instead. Leaving more forage for specks and redfish means that these preferred sport species will be fatter and grow faster than they would if there are more gafftops in the estuary competing strongly for food.

Gafftops are so abundant in the estuary that they are very easy to catch right now. My children and I put close to 100 lbs in the box in a few hours of fishing on several occasions in the last two years. Cut mullet on the bottom at the jetties works very well, but we've also caught them readily on live croaker free lined in the current.