A catfish stocking drive that began in April 11, 2025 throughout Texas signs off end October, in the San Angelo area. 

According to the Concho Valley Homepage, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Neighborhood Fishing Program (TPWD) was readying to stock a final 600 catfish.

The Concho River will receive fish measuring 9 inches apiece, after which the river will welcome the November-February rainbow trout stock.

Since mid-April, employees of Neighborhood Fishing have been populating 18 of the state’s lakes with catfish fortnightly.

Stocking allows anglers to easily find this aquarium, freshwater and marine fish, along with some other select species.

The TPWD initially offered anglers a daily catch limit of 5 fish and an extra bass of 14 inches or larger.

Commercial fishers often choose a 30-dollar annual license option that offers year-round access to the state’s waters.

Which Types Cut the Stocking List?

During stocking, licensed anglers access five major catfish types, namely channel, blue, flathead, white and yellow bullhead catfish.

Although the 1 to 3-pound bullhead types are not as popular with anglers as the others, they still provide marine diversity.

Channel catfish or Ictalurus punctatus, a slender type with forked tail and a savory taste, is perhaps the most commercially important.

The sometimes invasive blue catfish with its teal gray smooth body is also popular with anglers for its impressive size.

With the culmination of the fishing and stocking season for 2025, Texas now gives these catfish breeds time to rejuvenate. The statistics below further explore numbers in terms of state-based sales.

Texas Catfish Sales Statistics 

Along with Alabama, Arkansas, and Mississippi, Texas is one of the chief sources of catfish in the United States. According to the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), Texas sold 23.498 million pounds of food grade catfish in 2023, sevenfold above 2005’s. Here is a breakdown of select total sales in the 2005-23 period.

Year	Sales [Pounds]
2023	23,498,000
2018	20,108,000
2013	18,991,924
2005	7,012,477

Is the catfish fishery economically important for Texas?

Texas earns at least $336,000 per year from food fish catfish sales, as of 2023, according to the NASS. The state sells some 96,000 mature catfish units annually, which comes to 5.097 million units inclusive of fingerlings (2023).

Which other states produce catfish?

The southeast United States comprising Alabama, Arkansas and Mississippi leads federal catfish production at 322 million pounds (2023). Mississippi tops the per-pound landings at 57% of the entire southeast while Alabama follows with 29% and Arkansas 5%.