Brown Bullhead Catfish
Brown Bullhead Catfish (Ameiurus nebulosus) is a freshwater species. The first thing to check: chin barbels that are dark grey to black, not white. The look-alike to rule out is Yellow Bullhead Catfish: a yellow bullhead's chin barbels are white or cream, and its pectoral spine serrations are weak. This is the single check that separates them.
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| Scientific name | Ameiurus nebulosus |
|---|---|
| Also called | brown bullhead, mudcat, horned pout |
| Water | Freshwater |
| Group | Catfish |
| Temperature | Feeds best between 70 and 82 °F, and stays active in warmer, poorer water than most fish. |
How to identify a Brown Bullhead Catfish
- Chin barbels that are dark grey to black, not white.
- Strong, obvious sawtooth serrations along the rear edge of the pectoral spine — run a fingertip down it carefully.
- A squared or very slightly notched tail, mottled brown flanks, and 21 to 24 anal fin rays.
If you would rather not work through a key on a wet deck, photograph the fish and let the app name it — you get the common and the scientific name back, and the record is filed before you release.
Fish it is mistaken for
| Species | How to tell them apart |
|---|---|
| Yellow Bullhead Catfish | A yellow bullhead's chin barbels are white or cream, and its pectoral spine serrations are weak. This is the single check that separates them. |
| Channel Catfish | Channel cats have a deeply forked tail; every bullhead's tail is squared. |
Side-by-side comparisons
Read the full entry for Yellow Bullhead Catfish and Channel Catfish.
Where it lives
Ponds, lakes, sluggish rivers and mucky backwaters across the eastern and central United States and southern Canada, and widely introduced beyond that.
Temperature
Feeds best between 70 and 82 °F, and stays active in warmer, poorer water than most fish.
The conditions that matter
Bullheads feed by scent and taste and are strongly nocturnal, so the reliable bite is after dark and in stained water. They tolerate very low dissolved oxygen and high temperature, which is why they are often what still bites in a warm, still pond in August.
Global Fishing League records 18 weather and water readings against every catch automatically — tide stage, barometric pressure, water temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll, swell, current, moon phase and more, taken at your GPS position at the moment you log the fish. Over a season that turns a hunch about brown bullhead catfish into a pattern you can read.
See every reading recorded with a catch, or the guides to what each reading means.
Size limits, bag limits and seasons
Size limits, bag limits, slot limits and seasons are set by your state wildlife agency — and for many offshore and migratory species by federal regulators — and on many waters they differ from the statewide rule. They also change between seasons. Check the current regulations for the exact water you are fishing before you keep a fish — we do not republish limits here, because a number that is a season out of date is worse than no number.
What the app does do is make your side of it accurate: every catch carries a length measured from the photograph, a GPS position and a timestamp, exportable if you ever need to show your work for a tournament or a record claim. It is also what a Global Fishing League entry is built from — a record that verifies itself, without publishing where you caught the fish.