Indiana Lake Depths

Catfish family

Channel catfish

Ictalurus punctatus · also called spotted cat, silver cat

Native to IndianaRecorded in 53 Indiana lakes
Illustration of a channel catfish in side view
AI-generated illustration, not a photograph and not to scale.
Typical size
15–25 in and 2–10 lb
Spawns
Early summer, when water reaches the mid-70s °F
Nests
In cavities: undercut banks, muskrat runs, hollow logs
Stocking
The DNR stocks about 100,000 a year where they can't reproduce
Indiana record
37 lb 8 oz — Lake, Vanderburgh County, 1980

Where channel catfish have been recorded

53 of the 111 Indiana lakes on this site with fish records list channel catfish, across 29 counties. Tap a dot to open that lake’s depth map.

J C Murphey Lake, Newton CountyLake Manitou, Fulton CountyCedar Lake, Lake CountyKokomo Reservoir, Howard CountyOliver Lake, LaGrange CountyCedarville Reservoir, Allen CountyKickapoo Lake, Sullivan CountyPike Lake, Kosciusko CountyWitmer Lake, LaGrange CountyStone Lake, LaPorte CountyDeam Lake, Clark CountyHoffman Lake, Kosciusko CountyWestwood Run Lake, Henry CountyBeaver Dam Lake, Dubois CountyHuntingburg Lake, Dubois CountyCedar Lake, LaGrange CountyStarve Hallow Lake, Jackson CountyYellowwood Lake, Brown CountyGriffy Lake, Monroe CountyDiamond Lake, Noble CountyOlin Lake, LaGrange CountyFish Lake, LaGrange CountyTroy-Cedar Lake, Whitley CountyWestler Lake, LaGrange CountyPrides Creek Lake, Pike CountyRockville Lake, Parke CountyLake Salinda, Washington CountyLittle Long Lake, Noble CountyRoyer Lake, LaGrange CountyMessick Lake, LaGrange CountyScales Lake, Warrick CountyProvince Pond, Henry CountyShakamak Lake, Sullivan CountyHackleburg Lake, LaGrange CountyLincoln Lake, Spencer CountyGreen Valley Lake, Vigo CountyElk Creek Lake, Washington CountySaddle Lake, Perry CountyFerdinand State Forest Lake, Dubois CountyCypress Lake, Jackson CountyMollenkramer, Ripley CountyRosser Park Pond, Lake CountyCedar Lake, DeKalb CountyBuffalo Trace Lake, Harrison CountyGordy Lake, Noble CountySpurgeon Hollow Lake, Washington CountyW Keith Ruble Lake, Vigo CountyRupel Lake, St. Joseph CountyPigeon Pit, Pike CountyChrisney Lake, Spencer CountySchlamm Lake, Clark CountyWest Twin Pit, Pike CountyMartindale, Wayne County

Recorded here Other lakes with fish records

How we know

  • 53lakes where a DNR fisheries survey caught them

A lake can appear in more than one line. A lake that isn’t listed may still have them: records exist only where someone caught, netted or stocked them.

Inland lakes on this list run from 15 to 1,014 acres (median 76) and from 6 to 90 ft deep (median 25 ft).

How many turn up in DNR surveys

Indiana DNR crews survey lakes the same way everywhere: timed night electrofishing along the shore, plus gill and trap nets set overnight. The standard method makes lakes comparable. These are the DNR’s own sampling rates from its community surveys, 2008–2025 — a measure of how many fish a lake holds, not how many an angler will catch.

Found in
49 of 100 lakes surveyed this way
Typical rate
1.2 per net lift where found
Highest
8.9 per net lift
Method
fish per net lift (gill and trap nets)

“Typical” is the median across the lakes where the survey caught at least one. Nets and electrofishing catch different fish: by the other method it turned up in 35 lakes at a typical 4.0 per hour of electrofishing. A single survey is a snapshot of one season.

Highest survey rates on this site

  1. Cedar Lake, Lake County 2018–2023 8.9
  2. Griffy Lake, Monroe 2016–2019 7.5
  3. Lake Manitou, Fulton 2017–2021 7.1
  4. Huntingburg Lake, Dubois 2012–2021 6.4
  5. Yellowwood Lake, Brown 2019 4.2
  6. Cedarville Reservoir, Allen 2017–2025 4.0
  7. Lake Salinda, Washington 2013–2025 3.8
  8. Prides Creek Lake, Pike 2013–2021 3.7
  9. Rockville Lake, Parke 2015–2019 3.7
  10. Lincoln Lake, Spencer 2016–2024 3.6

Fish per net lift (gill and trap nets), with survey years. Survey effort and season differ between lakes.

Often found with

Share of these lakes that also list each fish.

How to recognize it

No scales, eight barbels around the mouth, sharp spines in the dorsal and pectoral fins, and a deeply forked tail. Small fish are silvery with black spots.

Don’t confuse it with

Bullheads — Square or rounded tails, not deeply forked.

Life in an Indiana lake

Channel catfish live in many Indiana waters: streams, ponds, lakes and large rivers. They feed on the bottom mostly by touch and smell.

They are cavity nesters, laying eggs under rock ledges, rip-rap, undercut banks or hollow logs, and the parents guard the eggs and young. In rivers and large reservoirs they reproduce naturally; since the early 1960s the DNR has stocked ponds and lakes where they can't.

Source: the sources below.

Rules and eating

Check the rules before you keep fish. Each lake page shows the regulations that apply there, and the Indiana Fishing Guide is the official source. Before eating fish from a particular lake, check the Indiana Fish Consumption Advisory.

All 53 lakes with channel catfish

Show every lake, by county

Allen County 1

Cedarville Reservoir

Brown County 1

Yellowwood Lake

Clark County 2

Deam Lake, Schlamm Lake

DeKalb County 1

Cedar Lake

Dubois County 3

Beaver Dam Lake, Ferdinand State Forest Lake, Huntingburg Lake

Fulton County 1

Lake Manitou

Harrison County 1

Buffalo Trace Lake

Henry County 2

Province Pond, Westwood Run Lake

Howard County 1

Kokomo Reservoir

Jackson County 2

Cypress Lake, Starve Hallow Lake

Kosciusko County 2

Hoffman Lake, Pike Lake

LaGrange County 9

Cedar Lake, Fish Lake, Hackleburg Lake, Messick Lake, Olin Lake, Oliver Lake, Royer Lake, Westler Lake, Witmer Lake

LaPorte County 1

Stone Lake

Lake County 2

Cedar Lake, Rosser Park Pond

Monroe County 1

Griffy Lake

Newton County 1

J C Murphey Lake

Noble County 3

Diamond Lake, Gordy Lake, Little Long Lake

Parke County 1

Rockville Lake

Perry County 1

Saddle Lake

Pike County 3

Pigeon Pit, Prides Creek Lake, West Twin Pit

Ripley County 1

Mollenkramer

Spencer County 2

Chrisney Lake, Lincoln Lake

St. Joseph County 1

Rupel Lake

Sullivan County 2

Kickapoo Lake, Shakamak Lake

Vigo County 2

Green Valley Lake, W Keith Ruble Lake

Warrick County 1

Scales Lake

Washington County 3

Elk Creek Lake, Lake Salinda, Spurgeon Hollow Lake

Wayne County 1

Martindale

Whitley County 1

Troy-Cedar Lake

Sources

← All fish of Indiana