Catfish don’t “sting”, let’s go ahead and get that out of the way now.
Catfish whiskers don’t sting. Their barbels or fins don’t either. They can cause some discomfort though (if you’re not careful) so let’s cover what you need to know.
I was digging through the mailbox and some Twitter questions the other day and the same question kept appearing “how do you hold a catfish without being stung”. After looking through the files and counting how many times this question had come in, I stopped counting at 175 and was less than half way through before I decided I’d break down and cover the topic.
There is a common misconception that catfish will “sting” but this is nothing more than a myth or misunderstanding of catfish.
Let’s cover everything you need to know about how to hold a catfish, the truth about “catfish stings” and what you need to do to keep from getting hurt.
Catfish Anatomy 101
Catfish of all species and types have the same anatomy when it comes to fins.
There are slight variations of the numbers of rays in the anal fin of the big three catfish species and other minor physical differences. What we’re concerned with are the dorsal fin, pectoral fin and the whiskers.
For the purposes of how to hold and catfish and the great myth that a catfish will “sting you” we’re going to cover three parts of the anatomy, the dorsal fin (on the top), pectoral fins each side behind the head) and the whiskers (around the mouth).
I’ve got countless people that fish with me on guide trips that are concerned about catfish whiskers and being hurt by the whiskers.
CATFISH WHISKERS ARE HARMLESS. They’re soft, pliable and touching them or having them touch you is no different than touching the whiskers on a dog. There’s absolutely no concern with being stung by catfish whiskers, they’re not going to hurt you.
The areas of concern in regard to being “hurt” or “stung” are the dorsal and pectoral fins.
These fins are located behind the head on each side and on the top of the fish behind the head (refer to the image above). The fins are soft if approached from the back but there is a hard spine that runs the length of the fin in the front (the nearest portion of the fin to the head).
The tip of these spines are pointed and very sharp (especially on smaller catfish, and especially channel cats).
These spines don’t “sting” and you can touch them without any pain occurring. Pain (and injury) occurs when these spines puncture the skin.
The spines contained in the dorsal and pectoral fin contain a venom that causes edema (swelling) and a hemolytic (causes increased blood flow in the area of the injury) if these spines puncture the skin.
Smaller catfish are the fish that most often hurt people. The larger catfish spines are typically dull and they’re also larger as well (the tips of these spines in smaller fish are often like needles but in larger fish the spines are blunt).
How To Hold A Catfish
Smaller catfish are what you’ve got to watch for and be careful with, especially the really small ones. Once the fish reach about sixteen to eighteen inches the spines are much more dull and the chance of being finned is greatly reduced.
Fish larger than two to three pounds are rarely a concern. Smaller catfish are a different story though and the smaller they are the more careful you have to be. Injuries from small catfish fins or spines usually occur during the release of the fish. You’re hold them, you remove the hook, and at some point you go to release the fish into the water or put it in an ice chest and “BAM”, it happens, you get finned by the fish.
Even thought catfish don’t sting, it can be uncomfortable, painful even, when you get finned.
There’s two approaches you handling smaller cats to keep from getting hurt.
Small Cats Holding the fish from the top is the preferred method. Place your hand directly behind the pectoral and dorsal spines with the area between your thumb and forefinger resting behind the dorsal spine. This is the preferred method of holding or handling any catfish that’s small enough for you to get your hand around and hold firmly. As the fish get larger (up to about two or three pounds), this approach becomes more difficult so some anglers prefer to hold the catfish from the top, putting their hand in front of the dorsal fin and behind the pectoral fins.
- Medium Cats – Fish from one to two pounds up to about seven or eight pounds can usually be handled as outlined above (in front of the dorsal fin and behind the pectoral fins). They’re relatively easy to handle until they’re a size that you cannot easily get your hand around. The best bet for handling fish you can’t get your hand around is using a “lip grip” like the Berkley Big Game Lip Grip or the Team Catfish Lip Grips.
- Big Cats – Getting finned by big fish is rarely an issue. Scoop them up with a dip net and use lip grips to handle them during landing, photographs and the live release (please practice catch and release of larger catfish). Be careful sticking your hand in the mouth of a big catfish, their mouths are much more dangerous than their fins!
What To Do When You Get “Finned” By Catfish
There’s two options here, the first is what a doctor will tell you and then my “real world” advice. I also spent the better part of ten years as a paramedic so I can speak with authority from the medical perspective.
What a Doctor Will Tell You: If you get finned by a catfish clean the wound immediately with antiseptic and then cover the wound. Hydrogen Peroxide or any other antiseptic to clean with and then cover with a clean dressing, it’s basic first aid. They’re not going to tell you what fishermen do when they get finned by a catfish to stop the sting.
The Belly Slime Treatment: If you ask ten doctors about this they’ll all tell you it’s a bad idea but this is an “old school” catfisherman’s tip that I’ve been using for decades and it works!. Rub the wound on the belly of a catfish it will stop the stinging almost immediately. Simply rub the puncture on the belly the fish for ten to fifteen seconds after getting finnned and the pain stops almost immediately. Once you do this and the pain stops use an antiseptic to clean the wound and cover with a clean bandage.
I had people claim that they got infections from this practice. There’s no way to tell if the infection is from the puncture or the slime. I suspect that in most of these instances the infection occurred from the puncture after being finned.*
Disclaimer: I’ve been using this belly slime trick for over thirty years and never had an issue but if one of your hands falls off don’t come crying to me.
There’s really no difference between handling catfish and any other species of fish. Handling white bass is much more painful (and dangerous) in my opinion. Make sure you use some caution, especially when handling the smaller fish. Keep a firm grip, and be conscious of where your hand is in relation to the pectoral fin.
Your’re not going to get “stung”, but if you spend enough time handling them you will eventually get finned, it will hurt or be uncomfortable for a few minutes and you’ll get over it.
There’s instances where people will get finned and get serious infections but they’re the exception and not the rule.
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I absolutely love your articles, but as I was reading this I found myself wondering why you said that a catfish’s mouth is more dangerous then the spins in larger fish?
I would imagine it’s due to how strong their jaw muscles can be and the rough texture of their mouth.
I got finned today by a small creek cat fish and its swollen and purple
My sister was wading in a small lake in Arnold CA last weekend when she suddenly felt a “bite” on her calf. Her husband had earlier claimed to have been being chased by fish in that location which she laughed off as some heatstroke induced paranoia. She saw a fish immediately after her “bite” and realized something was down there causing mischief. After a few minutes the bite began to hurt and she got out of the water. At that point she noticed she was bleeding at the “bite” site. To be clear, once examined it didn’t look like a bite at all. It was a 3 inch scratch/scrape.
We’re all baffled. I’m wondering if she might have been scraped by a catfish and got finned. Is that even possible? At this point she has a rash near the scratch and it’s bugging her. Worth mentioning, this all happened in a small, man-made lake where others have complained of being harassed by some fish. These folks don’t fish and I don’t know if there are even catfish in that lake. But it sure isn’t a trout or perch wound.
I’d be grateful for any feedback or suggestions.
I would think this may have been a catfish or similar. I am no pro fisherman but I do swim in a lot of inland lakes and have been bumped, scraped, or even “nibbled” by fish. I would think that either you got in the way of the fish and it swam past you at the inopportune time, or yes you scared it and it finned you. Regardless of the fish species, most have a territorial instinct and will protect its claimed area when threatened.
I was removing a 2-3 pounder from my daughter’s fishing line in the keys when it squirmed and popped me through the glove I was wearing. To call this minor discomfort as you do above must mean I truly a wussy! It was in fire for about 3 hours and sore for a few days.
My oldest brother was catching baby catfish, about two inches long, with his bare hands. He got finned by one in the palm of his hand which immediately began to sting and swell. After about one hour the swelling was so bad my father took him to the emergency room because he feared the flesh would rip open from the severe swelling. The doctors said it was a allergic reaction to the venom. Treated him with three different meds. To me venom being injected by a spine is a sting. You call it a myth or finning or whatever you like. To me it is a sting.
I totally agree with Joe Cook! My dad was a WWII paratrooper, whos favorite pasttime was fishing, and usually it was for catfish. He was raised in the country and he always warned us to be careful because catfish can give you a painful sting. I will continue to call it that and when I teach my granddaughter to fish she will be told the same thing! Saying that you were “finned” by a catfish might be accurate, but it just doesn’t sound right. Do you realize how long that saying has been around? I know, in my family alone, for more than a century. These people were trying to get some solid advice from their fishing idol.. and you gave it. But I don’t think you did yourself any favors by ridiculing their terminology. Especially with a saying that’s as old as the hills.
I’m not ridiculing anyone, just setting the record straight on what actually happens.
I agree with Chad on this! Only with the proper information can you teach your grandchildren the correct way to hsndke the fish if need be. Hes explsiningthe “myth” of being stung by their whiskets. Can you imagine someone grabbing the dorsel fin and getting cut by it in a grest attempt to avoid the whiskers? Call it a sting or whatever you like, but hes teaching you a valuable lesson.
I was just typing with “slime” on my hands and obviously mis-typed some words! Spellcheck didnt pick up on them either!
Use whatever nomenclature you like, but cats do not have stingers. Catfish venom is produced by the epidermis of the fin itself, their fin spines do not inject venom. Getting ‘stung’ by a catfish is akin saying you got ‘stung’ by a rosebush.
Well said
Our family have always been avid bulkhead fishermen. We call it getting horned.
I live cat fishing handled them all my life have never been “stung” maybe a little scrape here or there but nothing a band aid coundnt fix I completely agree with you
I was fishing today and caught a small catfish (and a turtle on the same rig) and released the fish without injury…..it was the damn Sunny I caught later that “finned” me in the palm. The fish was about palm sized and I figured I could grab it around its body close to the head, but felt the barb go in. I’m relatively new to fishing…..should I grab all fish of this size behind the dorsal fin?
If you can.
personally I don’t see the big deal about calling it a sting. Its pretty close to the definition. As A) it has a sharp device that pierces the victim. B) it has at least according to what I have read, a substance that is defined as a venom. The only main difference I can see as the victim is sort of causing the sting by forcing itself onto the barb as apposed to a bee or scorpion etc which is actively stinging its victim. But other animals do the same thing such as sea urchins which you step on etc. thus causing the sting.
My husband just dropped a small catfish on his foot, the fin went straight deep into his foot and broke off inside. He said it was the most painful thing he ever experienced. 3 days later it’s all infected. He’s been admitted to the hospital and scheduled for surgery tomorrow to try and get the barbel out. Freak accident what a mess, all from a little fish.
Sorry to hear that!
Yes…Jellyfish sting.Catfish poke/scrape.Been catfishing for over 40 years.Everything Chad said is true…
I must also add that I have seen some freak accidents regarding not only Catfish but Bass,and even Bluegill.Ya gotta use care when handling fish with sharp spines on them.Large fish I grab by the lip,..even Catfish.
Informative, thanks!
Only comment is that I don’t believe hydrogen peroxide has any antiseptic properties, it merely buggles and dislodges dirt and debris from a wound.
Agree. Hydrogen peroxide is bad for any kind of wound. They’ve found that it kills, damages good tissue and causes delayed wound healing among other issues. Just plain soap and water works best. I’ve been a nurse for 24+years. The rest of the article hits the mark. Although I did get tickled. Never knew folks were afraid of catfish. I have a fresh scrape on my forearm where a catfish finned me the other night. Not a big deal, lol.