Millions of invasive blue catfish are upending the ecological balance within the Chesapeake Bay’s network of rivers and streams, thinning out native species with their voracious appetites.
Kevin “K.C.” Stangl is on a mission to slow them down—at least in one waterway on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.
Editor’s note: He did it! On Nov. 5, Stangl completed his goal of removing 1,000 blue catfish from the Choptank River in 2025. According to Choptank Riverkeeper Matt Pluta, Stangl caught his final blue cat at Tuckahoe Landing. Pluta writes, “In the grand scheme of things, 1,000 blue cats is just a drop in the bucket compared to the total biomass of blue cats now thriving in the Chesapeake Bay. But this challenge was never about the numbers… What K.C. accomplished this year sparked a community conversation about invasive species, stewardship, and what it means for everyday people to take action for the rivers they love.
From March through November, he fishes two to three times a day at different locations along the Choptank River, the Chesapeake’s largest tributary on the Delmarva Peninsula. He devotes one of those outings to rockfish, his favorite fish to eat. But others are calculated to subtract as many blue catfish from the river as he can.
Last year Stangl reeled in 440 blue catfish, which are native to river basins in the Southeast and Midwest. This year, as of Oct. 9, he had easily eclipsed that mark with 841 removals. That puts him within relatively easy reach of his goal for 2025: to eradicate 1,000 blue catfish by the end of November.
“It’s not a matter of having it in for them. The damage these guys are doing was enough reason for me,” said Stangl, 68, a retired naval flight officer and civil service sonar engineer. He paused, thinking. Then he added, “Well, OK. I have something to fish for, and they’re fun to catch.”
Stangl has more than bragging rights on the line. For the first time last year, the Cambridge-based Mid-Shore Fishing Club sponsored an invasive species tournament, encouraging members over nine months to target the blue catfish and another disruptive nonnative, the northern snakehead.
Stangl took home $350 for catching the most blue catfish and hauling in the largest specimen (33 inches). Overall, 10 fishermen participated, removing more than 809 “blue cats.”
Researchers and fishery managers say anglers represent the best line of attack against the proliferation of blue catfish. That is, until more effective eradication methods are developed.
“A big problem with invasive species is they often lack predators,” said Noah Bressman, a biologist at nearby Salisbury University whose lab also sponsors an invasive fishing tournament. “By having more anglers go after these catfish, we are creating predators. With people going out fishing over time, we can keep that population in check.”
The “gamification” of invasive species removal isn’t unique to the Chesapeake area, he added. Similar competitions can be found elsewhere in the U.S. to control, for example, lionfish and Burmese pythons in Florida or Asian carp in Illinois.
To be sure, the efforts of one determined fisherman won’t eliminate the Choptank’s blue catfish problem, Bressman said. But it helps. It’s estimated that a typical blue cat eats between 1 and 1.5 pounds of blue crabs every day. Permanently removing one from the water, then, saves the equivalent of one crab per day, the researcher explained.
“I like the fact I can save a few crabs,” Stangl said as he monitored a handful of fishing poles on the Kingston Landing pier.
The sunset was turning from pink to purple on that evening in early October, but the catfish were still tugging at his lines. These days, nightcrawlers do the trick at the end of this hook. After three hours, he called it quits, having brought in 10 blue cats.
All met the same, quick fate: a sharp metal pin to the top of the head with a short thrust down the spine. None were big enough for eating, so Stangl swept them back into the dark water where, ironically, they would likely be eaten by blue crabs.
He tends to bring home those measuring between 20 and 30 inches. He likes to eat them breaded and fried, or baked with Old Bay, Maryland’s signature seafood seasoning.
“They’re a nice, mild white fish,” Stangl said. If he needs to freeze the filets, he will add a little saltwater to the bag they’re kept in. That helps keep the meat from getting mushy.
This story first appeared at bayjournal.com on Oct. 20, 2025.
