Indiana Lake Depths

Catfish family

Channel catfish

Ictalurus punctatus · also called spotted cat, silver cat

Native to IndianaRecorded in 77 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

77 of the 186 Indiana lakes on this site with fish records list channel catfish, across 39 counties. Tap a dot to open that lake’s depth map.

Lake Freeman, Carroll CountyBass Lake, Starke CountyJ C Murphey Lake, Newton CountyLake Manitou, Fulton CountyCedar Lake, Lake CountyHardy Lake, Scott CountyWinona Lake, Kosciusko CountyKokomo Reservoir, Howard CountyLake of the Woods, Marshall CountyOliver Lake, LaGrange CountyGlenn Flint Lake, Putnam CountyKoontz Lake, Starke CountyLake Gage, Steuben CountyCedarville Reservoir, Allen CountyHurshtown Reservoir, Allen CountyKickapoo Lake, Sullivan CountyPike Lake, Kosciusko CountyWitmer Lake, LaGrange CountyBig Lake, Noble CountyStone Lake, LaPorte CountyWabee Lake, Kosciusko CountyBischoff Reservoir, Ripley CountyDeam Lake, Clark CountyIrish Lake, Kosciusko CountyHoffman Lake, Kosciusko CountyWestwood Run Lake, Henry CountyAtwood Lake, LaGrange CountyBeaver Dam Lake, Dubois CountyHuntingburg Lake, Dubois CountyFox Lake, Steuben 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 CountyDiamond Lake, Kosciusko 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 CountyPisgah Lake, Johnson CountyGreen Valley Lake, Vigo CountyElk Creek Lake, Washington CountySaddle Lake, Perry CountyFerdinand State Forest Lake, Dubois CountyCypress Lake, Jackson CountyMollenkramer, Ripley CountyGilbert Lake, Marshall CountyRosser Park Pond, Lake CountyCedar Lake, DeKalb CountyBuffalo Trace Lake, Harrison CountyGordy Lake, Noble CountySpurgeon Hollow Lake, Washington CountyW Keith Ruble Lake, Vigo CountyGrouse Ridge Lake, Bartholomew CountyRupel Lake, St. Joseph CountyOgle Lake, Brown CountyStone Arch Lake, Johnson CountyPigeon Pit, Pike CountyChrisney Lake, Spencer CountySchlamm Lake, Clark CountyWest Twin Pit, Pike CountyMartindale, Wayne CountyBoone's Pond, Boone CountySmalley's Pond, Fayette CountyBryant Creek Lake, Monroe County

Recorded here Other lakes with fish records

How we know

  • 77lakes 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 7 to 1,560 acres (median 92) and from 6 to 91 ft deep (median 28 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
69 of 170 lakes surveyed this way
Typical rate
1.2 per net lift where found
Highest
17.0 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 48 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. Bass Lake, Starke 2018–2022 17.0
  2. Cedar Lake, Lake County 2018–2023 8.9
  3. Lake Freeman, Carroll 2021 8.0
  4. Griffy Lake, Monroe 2016–2019 7.5
  5. Lake Manitou, Fulton 2017–2021 7.1
  6. Glenn Flint Lake, Putnam 2018 6.5
  7. Huntingburg Lake, Dubois 2012–2021 6.4
  8. Ogle Lake, Brown 2017 4.2
  9. Yellowwood Lake, Brown 2019 4.2
  10. Cedarville Reservoir, Allen 2017–2025 4.0

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 77 lakes with channel catfish

Show every lake, by county

Allen County 2

Cedarville Reservoir, Hurshtown Reservoir

Bartholomew County 1

Grouse Ridge Lake

Boone County 1

Boone's Pond

Brown County 2

Ogle Lake, Yellowwood Lake

Carroll County 1

Lake Freeman

Clark County 2

Deam Lake, Schlamm Lake

DeKalb County 1

Cedar Lake

Dubois County 3

Beaver Dam Lake, Ferdinand State Forest Lake, Huntingburg Lake

Fayette County 1

Smalley's Pond

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

Johnson County 2

Pisgah Lake, Stone Arch Lake

Kosciusko County 6

Diamond Lake, Hoffman Lake, Irish Lake, Pike Lake, Wabee Lake, Winona Lake

LaGrange County 10

Atwood Lake, 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

Marshall County 2

Gilbert Lake, Lake of the Woods

Monroe County 2

Bryant Creek Lake, Griffy Lake

Newton County 1

J C Murphey Lake

Noble County 4

Big Lake, 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

Putnam County 1

Glenn Flint Lake

Ripley County 2

Bischoff Reservoir, Mollenkramer

Scott County 1

Hardy Lake

Spencer County 2

Chrisney Lake, Lincoln Lake

St. Joseph County 1

Rupel Lake

Starke County 2

Bass Lake, Koontz Lake

Steuben County 2

Fox Lake, Lake Gage

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