100-pound catfish invade Susquehanna

http://www.post-gazette.com/ ^ | Friday, July 26, 2002 | By The Associated Press

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

LANCASTER -- One-hundred pound flathead catfish could eventually take over the Susquehanna River and disrupt its ecosystem, according to the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission.

Last week, commission officials confirmed that the species recently entered the Susquehanna River. And officials are worried the predatory fish, which can reach more than 100 pounds, could cause problems for other species.

[AM2000]

you have a knack for narrative :) (that's a compliment)

[prisoner6]

TY!

Here's a better explaination of the cnn story I posted a couple of replys back.

Fishing - it's a REAL MAN'S sport!

Column: Hand fishing provides new challenges, risks for those willing to get dirty

Published on Thursday, April 25, 2002

Michael Noll

Kansas State Collegian

So you don't think that fishing is a sport, huh?

Try noodling some time.

This isn't your grandma's fishing -- not unless the lady has forearms the size of baseball bats. This outdoor sport doesn't use lures, bait or hooks. The Walt Disney company doesn't make rods and reels for noodling.

There are no bobbers, either, unless you include your body floating face down in a stream or river -- I probably should back that one up.

For those among you who are not from the back country, noodling, also known as hand fishing, hogging and stumping, consists of fishing for catfish with your bare hands.

The hunt goes something like this. Find an innocent-looking female, take her out to a country road where an unusual species of bird lives, let her out of the '76 Chevy truck so she can hunt the bird and then drive off.

Wait a second, that's snipe hunting.

Back to hand fishing, which is almost as ridiculous.

The first step is to find someone who is knowledgeable about the river and can find holes along the bank. Once the hole is found, then the two of you walk out into the water in jeans, T-shirts and tennis shoes, and stand near the hole looking at one another.

Eventually, the expert will tell you to -- I am not kidding -- dive down to the hole, which usually is about four or five feet under water, and stick your hand in. If you're lucky, a 20-60 pound catfish will be waiting inside the hole. If it's an unlucky hole, a snapping turtle or beaver will be waiting, but either way, it's all part of the fun.

If a catfish is home, the technique says to -- again, I am not kidding -- stick your hand in the fish's mouth and grab its throat, upon which the cat will begin thrashing wildly.

At this point, I feel it is important to warn readers that even though fish have no teeth, they do have what is informally called "80-grit sandpaper" in their mouths. As a result, any true noodler has giant scrapes and scars on their hands.

But I digress. Once the fish is on the hook -- hand -- just pull it out, and wrestle it to shore.

Of course, the hard part is actually finding a fish. While many might consider each empty hole a failure, each hole is actually a laugh riot for the expert for one reason -- experts are jerks.

It takes a lot of courage and/or testicular fortitude to stick one's hand down a hole that might or might not have teeth or sandpaper in it. As a result, the newcomer usually ends up jumping up and swallowing approximately two gallons of riverwater the first time he or she touches anything that could even resemble a fish, such as his or her own foot.

The expert proceeds to laugh a lot, and makes the newcomer look stupid by diving down, checking out the hole, and coming back to surface to tell the newcomer that, "Hey, I think there's something down there." It is then, of course, the newcomer's turn.

Now, as much fun as this sounds, it is important to know that the game wardens in Kansas and Missouri do not think it is fun, as it is illegal in those two states. The reasoning behind the ban is that noodling isn't fair to the fish and could diminish their numbers.

I disagree.

The noodlers earn every last fish they catch. Plus, I have never seen a fish nearly lose bladder control when a newcomer stuck a hand down its hole.

prisoner6

[Free Trapper]

From books I have it looks like a fifteen inch flathead would be 4 to 6 years old and nearly mature.Eighteen inchers are considered mature.In Oklahoma there's a 20 inch length limit.

The eggs are laid in a compact yellow mass that may contain 100,000 eggs or more.

Looks like some folks might be getting to do some flathead fishing.I hope they don't mess things up in their new waters.

[Servant of the Nine]

You're right about good flathead grabbin' in the Red.Nothing like wigglin' your fingers in a hole to see what grabs 'em.

Course what grabs on could be an Aligator Snapping Turtle.
You will know right away, cause you arm will end at the wrist.

So9

[Willie Green]

In fact there are stories of trout above the Emsworth dam, even in the channel between Brunot's Island and the South Shore!

I can vaguely recall launching a boat there, back before my buddy & his wife had kids. (They live across the river in Avalon.) Used to have a good-time drinking beer, fishing and water-skiing. But when the kids came along, we switched our get-togethers to Pymatuning: camping, drinking beer, fishing and sailing/kayaking.

The thing I find impossible to believe and yet every summer I hear more about it is gamefish in Chartiers Creek (sewer)....
I guess if all that is there, gamefish are probably around too.

Well if the water has cleaned up enough, I sure hope the Fish Commission came around to do some stocking. Some people are critical of state involvement in this activity, but when I was a Pa. resident, I didn't mind at all that my fishing license fee went to support the Pennsylvania Fish Hatchery Program. (WARNING: 1.66 Mb PDF file)

I always enjoyed an occasional visit to one of the hatcheries. I hope they're being kept up-to-date, maintained, sufficiently staffed and operational. Fishing is good!!!

[Free Trapper]

I catch turtles too,the bigger the better.On a snapper the only easy handle is the tail.

The problem with snappers is that when young they sometimes get their tails bit off by their buddies.Then when they grow up they don't have the handle.:)

[Free Trapper]

I should have mentioned that alligator snappers aren't legal to take in Okla. but they are legal in some places.

The common snappers don't get as big as alligator snappers but they're more pugnacious and dangerous.Mean critters.:)

[Rebelbase]

Cool! Thanks for the video link.

[2sheep]

Just another sign that bottom feeders are taking over the nation.

[rdb3]

100 lb. catfish?

I got the Wesson and the tartar sauce!

[RedwM]

Did they significantly reduce the other fish populations in the rivers in the Ohio basin. If not then this is pure bullhead.

[Free Trapper]

In some places noodling with SCUBA is allowed but because of the wording in the laws working off a hookah rig isn't.

In other places any air supply is legal to use while grabbin' and diving opens a wider depth option to work in.

When you have neutral bouyancy in the water a good fish can really take you for a ride.I've even had a lot of fun with a rod and reel underwater with smaller fish because they can swim all around or over you.

Many places have no legal noodling at all.

I'd advise anyone to check game laws closely before noodling.I stay within the law and on a friendly basis with the game wardens.Many wardens I've known have been a lot of help to me and a few have become good friends over the years.I don't think I would be able to say that if I didn't go by the letter of the law.

[Free Vulcan]

As big around no probably not, but as long, I don't doubt. Most of these stories are from along the dam, alot of cat is caught there because of the amount of food coming to rest just above the dam. They just sit there and feed all day long. That's where the biggest ones have been caught.

[Temple Owl]

Well, you have convinced me to not go near the water. Catfish filets are on sale ($3.99 a pound at the ACME) this week. I think I'll catch my fish there.

[Free Trapper]

That was what I was getting at.The tales of fish big enough to swallow a diver for a snack and be looking for another dozen to finish off. :)

Just after the Civil War catfish weighing 125-200 pounds were reported as commonly caught in the Missouri.

In 1879 a 150 pound blue was shipped to the U.S. National Museum that was caught in the Mississippi.A large catfish had been requested and the day the letter was received by a Dr.Steedman,he went to the St.Louis fish market,found a 144 and a 150 pounder for sale and shipped the bigger one back East to the museum.These two fish were just the two largest that happened to be there that day.

The book "Steamboating Sixty-five Years on Missouri's Rivers" mentions a 315 pound blue caught in the Missouri near Morrison in Gasconade County.

Yes,multi-hundred pound fish are easily believable. :)

[ASDFGHJK]

cherry bombs would work nicely. Then they could ship the fish off to the welfare recipients who would eat good for a change.

[Free Vulcan]

You'd probably never talk the Army Core of Engineers into it because of the envirowackos, but would love to see what they would come up with is they drug some big nets near the dam.

[Free Trapper]

My brothers' inlaws have a diary handed down from ancestors that settled in S.E.Kansas in the 1800s.It's an interesting read.

The diary said they were catching over 100 pound catfish regularly and had weighed one of the bigger ones at about 204 or 206.

The diary didn't say what kind of cats but the river they fished was either the Verdigris or Elk,I don't recall which but do remember where they fished was not too many miles from the convergence of the two.

I used to fish both rivers and from my experience they were good for flathead but not blues.

[OverPowered Godzilla]

I have seen people catch 6 foot plus Cat's on tv. They were almsot 200 pounds. So Flathead Cat's do get big for sure. Also my grandpa told me that some body found a huge skeliton on a sand bar on the wisconson river and they called the DNR and they found out it was a sturgeon that measured 15 ####ing feet long!!! Hell you can't even get that thing in the boat.

[Petronski]

Holy cow! Let's see, I'll need five pounds of cayenne pepper, twelve dozen eggs, five gallons canola oil, two bushels of bread crumbs and one seriously big-ass frying pan.