Red sometimes bloody bubbly growth spots on catfish?

Question

I was catching some channel catfish today and caught 3 good size channel catfish. Then on my 4th catch, i caught what seemed to be a wound on it's top fin. Thinking that's all it was I threw it back. Then I caught 4 more after that and they all had the same kind of red bloody growth markings in several different spots on each fish. Some were just red spots, others had boils. After that I threw my original catches back fearing they had whatever it was as the rest, but not visible like the rest. Does anyone have any idea what I saw. I was fishing a few miles south a Navarre OH if geographical location helps with pointing out the cause.

Answer 1

What you have described is pretty common in our waters- it is on some of the bass that I catch. The wildlife biologist said it was a form of parasitic worm that's on the fish- he assured me that if fully cooked it was not harmful to eat them- I throw them back in anyway- there are too many good fish to eat then to eat the ones with worms on them

Answer 2

Channel catfish spawn in June and July so when they are trying to make their nest they sometimes rub against rocks and logs and other things that make these marks. It is not very uncommon to catch catfish that have these. Good luck!