Catfish rumor
 

There's been more than one person now telling me about catfish in ghost lake. Anyone ever heard of this before?

It's too cold for them to survive there.

Not impossible
 

They survive in Lake Winnipeg , pretty cold there . They are very predatorial
Could explain tough trout fishing .....We need pics ....

Maybe Burbot, sometimes referred to as cats by old-timers.

My first thought was Burbot too, but a new introduced species wouldn't surprise me

Lake Winnipeg water is much warmer in the summer than a lake that is fed from snow melting in the mountains !

X2

X2 Ghost is way too cold for any catfish to survive

Burbot for sure

Catfish can survive in very cold water just like trout or salmon

Mack

Historically there was a population of channel cats in the sask river. I'd have to look up the source to give more accurate info.

Extremely unlikely that there are catfish in Ghost.

As mentioned, the water temp is too cold, year round. Lk Winnipeg at least warms up during the summer. Ghost remains cold during that time.

Releasing catfish into Ghost is also unlikely because the nearest catfish populations are too far away and would make chances of the fish surviving the trip unlikely.

As Mackinaw mentioned, catfish can survive in cold water, but I believe that the warmer water is needed for spawning.

Probably burbs-cats will thrive
 

Probably som eold timer as mentioned really meaning burbs.

On the Catfish side they thrive just fine in the cold water. Grew up in Winnipeg and in that area they thrive and grow monsters. Warmer in summer but colder winters so don't think cold water would be a big issue. Food is also different than here so that would probably be more factor in growth.

Cats can spawn in as low as 65° and as late as August if need be. Have not been to Ghost so don't know what water warms up to so you could be quite right about the spawning.

Mack

Rumour or not this has me intrigued

Surprised with the turn out on that. I've never tried fishing for them so maybe I'll give it a shot one day. Even if I catch a burb I'll be happy

There are no catfish in ghost.

Maybe they came in on Bird legs as eggs.:thinking-006:

On a Stork? :thinking-006:

you can buy channel cats at most pet stores

I'm a Winnipeg boy and spent many an hour as a kid fishing the Red River for channel cats. The Red River has a thick mud bottom for 99% of its length. It is very murky and looks like chocolate milk (literally) all summer. It does warm up to mid 70sF during the summer. Channel cats do live in good numbers in Lake Winnipeg, and the Saskatchewan River flows into Lake Winnipeg at the north end. If conditions were suitable around Edmonton or further east you would think there would already be channel cats in Alberta, but there aren't. I'd say no chance in Ghost Lake for a spawning population.