Big Al

Spiritbass · July 04, 2011, 09:35:22 AM

If you've never seen an albino catfish before - now you have!

I'd never seen one before five years ago. One of my friends has one that was included in an order of fingerlings he'd purchased for re-stocking. I have heard of catfish being caught on artificial lures, but before this year, I'd never had the experience. One of my brothers bought a new house a few weeks ago and the BEST part of the purchase IMO is the lake. I've been using Berkley Power Grubs, a small soft plastic bodied lure with a long wiggly tail to catch bass, bluegill, and crappie, but I have been surprised by catching five catfish so far (two albinos, three channel cat). This one weighed four pounds, seven ounces and is getting fileted this afternoon and given to another friend for taste-testing. It was a fun catch - I had to let it tow me and my boat around for a while before it tired enough to let me pull it out of the water ( I was only using 8 Lb. test line)...

Nocturnal · July 04, 2011, 11:21:09 AM

I've only seen those in pictures. Nice catch!

uwe · July 05, 2011, 01:44:30 AM

Bad kharma: Probably a Grand Wizard of the Imperial Knights of the KKK in his former life. A white supremacist fish. Serves him, errrm, right. ! - ) Speaking of serving: Will he be eaten?

Uwe

Spiritbass · July 05, 2011, 05:08:44 AM

It turned out to be a she. My brother's felines had servings of kitty caviar last night. My cat doesn't think fresh water fish is food. She's a little different, but she does eat canned mackerel. The albino filets looked pretty good and are going to a friend who loves to chomp on catfish.

Dave W · July 05, 2011, 08:07:28 AM

Come on, guys, couldn't you see its delicate feminine features?

uwe · July 05, 2011, 10:50:35 AM

Those whiskers could be sensory quite revelatory I guess ... blowfish.

They don't have teeth, do they?

Spiritbass · July 05, 2011, 04:58:55 PM

No teeth. Their 'lips' are tough, serrated cartilage. They won't even break your skin if they clamp down on a finger or thumb.

uwe · July 05, 2011, 05:05:16 PM

What a relief then.

TBird1958 · July 05, 2011, 05:54:11 PM

Spiritbass · July 05, 2011, 08:25:41 PM

Quote from: uwe on July 05, 2011, 05:05:16 PM
What a relief then.

I'm glad that your dreams won't be haunted by flesh-eating catfish...

Pilgrim · July 05, 2011, 09:58:49 PM

Quote from: Spiritbass on July 05, 2011, 08:25:41 PM
I'm glad that your dreams won't be haunted by flesh-eating catfish...

Absolutely. And don't spend a minute thinking about them next time you go skinny-dipping.

Dave W · July 05, 2011, 10:15:35 PM

And don't spend any time thinking about fugu either.

uwe · July 06, 2011, 05:30:16 AM

Our catfish in the Rhine and Danube river can reach sizes of 6 to 10 feet! There is lore that they gulp down water fowl and even swimming dogs from the surface and attack human swimmers, but nothing that would withstand the excruciating scientific standards of this forum of fora!

They taste well. Funnily enough for a bottom dweller not muddy like, say, carp at all.

Iome · July 06, 2011, 07:22:45 AM

The one you refer too, Uwe, is not a catfish but the Silurus Glanis. Very similar all over but not of the same family. It's infesting the rivers here in Italy too where it's considered a menace to the native fish and even to smaller mammals and aquatic birds.

uwe · July 06, 2011, 07:30:25 AM

True, there are no catfish in the sense of North America indigenous in Europe, but like a lot of other species they've come over some time in the past and have done quite well here. In our waters the North american Catfish seldomly reaches more than two feet, a three feet one would be regarded a giant. Do they get any bigger in their home habitat?