Fish Stories...

Here's a photo of a nice catfish that my Uncle and Aunt in the Amazon Jungle just sent me. Believe it or not, this is a fairly typical sight at the local fish market. Peru has several species of Catfish and Lung Fish that get this large or larger, and you often see them at market. Even the familiar aquarium fish - the Arrowana - I've seen for sale up to 10-feet long.

Sabu

Dayum!!! That's one humongous catfish. Do they serve hushpuppies and tartar with that? A friend of mine spent about two years traveling through Central and South America in the late '60's and he tells me incredible stories about the Amazon. The wildlife (animal variety) there is amazing.

On 2004-08-10 19:14, Shipwreckjoey wrote:
Dayum!!! That's one humongous catfish. Do they serve hushpuppies and tartar with that?

Excuse my ignorance, but what are 'hushpuppies'? Over here it's a brand of shoe!

Nice fish, by the way, Sabu.

Trader Woody

TW, think cornbread donut-holes.

When I first saw that photo I thought it was a Buring Man Parade Dragon. Quite a fish!
Just last night some vermin bit the head off my Tiki Ponds largest 10 year old gold fish. The rest of the fish, was floating in the pond, so I don't think it was a Racoon or 'Possum.

How does one keep local wildlife from smorgasbording in one's pond? (Or is it easier to just go with the blue chemicals and no fish)

Fishless Gigantalope

[ Edited by: Gigantalope on 2004-08-11 14:22 ]

Sabu, great picture! I have a photo of my last fishing trip that I'd like to post soon.

Gigantalope, funny you should mention that.

The night before last my ponds were devastated by raccoons. They ate my biggest fish, and a bunch of the little ones I bought to replace the other feast a few weeks ago. They ate all the snails, leaving bits of shells everywhere, broke all the stems on my purple taro, knocked all the slate in and pulled all the plants out of the pots. Oh and somehow disconnected the fountain/filter. What a mess. I was pretty sad on my way into work yesterday morning.

I picked up something called a "Scarecrow" it's a motion sensitive sprinkler that you hook up to a garden hose. It uses one 9 volt battery to blast any intruder that dares cross it's path. I just can't set traps or electric fences, especially since I have two cats. They are available all over the place, and are actually made here in Victoria!
http://www.scatmat.com

Good luck, I know how disheartening it can be.

Does anyone in the Bay Area want a full-grown oscar? I need to find a new home for mine...

Cynfulcynner-I wish we had room-There's an Oscar at a local petstore that I would love to have-his lower jaw had been broken so he looks like James Cagney saying "Alright youse guys,O.K.,youse guys"-pretty amusing.

A friend of mine runs trot lines in the Arkansas river and is always catching catfish that are over 5 feet long and up to three hundred pounds. Occasionally he will catch a real strange looking catfish called the spoonbill.It is one ugly mother.

Oh yeah! The Spoonbill Catfish. I've heard it called Paddlefish as well. I'd love to catch one of those babies!

North America is home to giant fish, just like South America - as illustrated by these photos:

And Here's One From France!

[ Edited by: Sabu The Coconut Boy on 2004-08-11 22:08 ]

That's those crazy bastards who catch catfish by letting them bite their arms, isn't it? Didn't we have a thread here about that?

Oh Yeah. I love Cat-fishin'!

Sabu

I think in the South it's called "Noodlin" fishin by hand...

A friend once took me in the employee section of the SF. Acad of Sci Aquarium.

I peeked in at the Gar (which are tasty) They have scales like fingernails...I was giving it a close look and it jumped out of the tank at me, snapping like a Croc!

Crikies! She's a beaut!

On 2004-08-11 13:36, Kava King wrote:
TW, think cornbread donut-holes.

I remember my mom telling me that as a little girl she and her mom would make something, I guess it was cornbread biscuits, to throw to the dogs during dinner if they were whining for food in order to shut them up. As they'd throw them they'd say "Hush puppies!"

I would imagine they were tasty and often were consumed by the non-canine members of the house, too.

Man I wish I could remember exactly what my mom told me about that.

~Hanford

[ Edited by: hanford_lemoore on 2004-08-12 00:46 ]

Gigantalope says:
Just last night some vermin bit the head off my Tiki Ponds largest 10 year old gold fish. The rest of the fish, was floating in the pond, so I don't think it was a Racoon or 'Possum.

How does one keep local wildlife from smorgasbording in one's pond? (Or is it easier to just go with the blue chemicals and no fish)

I believe it probably was raccoons who did the head biting off thing -- I had the same thing happen when I moved some hapless gold fish out of the koi pond where they have a good hiding place to a defenseless half wine barrel of water. Raccoons, as every pond owner knows, are evil creatures of Satan.

What can you do? Well, I've tried:

• Sonic devices (these are just a scam)
• Motion detector sprinkers (there's one called The Scarecrow that I'm told works for some people, but not on my raccoons)
• Red Fox urine (available from some water garden shops
• Human urine (the more readily available option that is suggested to try before the more pricy fox version)
• Electric fences
• Box traps (bait with tuna fish or cat food, drive them out and let them go far, far away from your house.

If it's practical to surround entries to your pond with a wire a few inches off the ground/fence/etc., a low voltage electic fence (available at places like Home Depot) is the most likely to be effective from my experience.

Good luck!

[ Edited by: monkeyskull on 2004-08-12 01:31 ]

[ Edited by: monkeyskull on 2004-08-12 01:33 ]

A few more big fish.

Here's a photo of an Arapaima (called Paiche in Peru). I've seen a ten-footer leap just feet away from my canoe. I've also seen them swallow ducks whole. These are the tastiest fish I've ever had. Their meat is indescribably good - better than any other meat I've ever had, including lobster.

Arent they the largest freshwater fish?

On 2004-08-12 00:10, Gigantalope wrote:
I think in the South it's called "Noodlin" fishin by hand...

More on Noodling:

http://www.snopes.com/photos/noodling.asp

Geez, the pictures of some of the fish that are being caught in rivers & lakes, i would be nervous to swim in, fish might think i was bait!

Ok, here's my fishing picture. That's me on the left, the in-laws and fiance on the right. We're holding our biggest catch of the day.

We caught our quota, then had to start throwing them back!

don't have any pictures, but...I was working a sleepover at the Roundhouse Aquarium at the end of the Manhattan beach pier one night when we heard a loud commotion among the night fisherman at around 11:00pm. We rushed outside to see what they caught, and this guy reeled in a Bat Ray that must have had 7 foot wing span! That's pretty dern large for a so cal bat ray.
Also, for you northern californians, your halibut can grow to 10+ feet in length...that's big too!

On 2004-08-13 10:44, Tikiwahine wrote:
Ok, here's my fishing picture. That's me on the left, the in-laws and fiance on the right. We're holding our biggest catch of the day.

You guys look great! But what are the names of the humans?

Here's mine: Medium sized crappies.

MMM good.. better eatin than any of those monsters you guys have posted up :)

That gar is pretty scary, and I've never seen one that big in Iowa.

The paddlefish are pretty rare in Iowa, but you can catch them down in southern Missouri in the ~100 lb range!!!

They are prehistoric like the gar... (not that any of you probably care)

I love fishing, because it's one of the only things that's really hard to screw up!

I have the Okie Noodlin dvd http://www.okienoodling.com/

I suggest everyone check it out, if you've never seen handpicking before. It's a great documentary.

[ Edited by: luke_trash on 2004-08-22 20:57 ]