Noted in Passing: Trying out my new Bathbubbles lure

Mitchell Strand August 12, 2021, 9:11 PM

What. In the Sam Hill. Is that?!?

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Mike Austin August 13, 2021, 1:07 AM

Great. I stopped swimming in the ocean because of “Jaws”. I was stopped from swimming in the Nile because of Schistosomiasis. I cannot swim in the Amazon because of Piranha. I did not dare swim in the rivers of Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica because of crocodiles. I could not swim in Andean lakes because they are too damn cold. I do not swim in public pools because a certain type of folk urinate in them.

Now you tell me I cannot swim in some random lazy stream because that bestial leviathan will be swimming alongside me?

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Jeff August 13, 2021, 1:24 AM

That was a Wels catfish. They’re native to Eastern Europe and invasive in Western Europe. They’re not in the United States, yet……

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gwbnyc August 13, 2021, 2:59 AM

oh, so it’s castin’ fer minners y’talkin’ about…

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mmack August 13, 2021, 3:34 AM

If that’s the one he caught, I’d hate like Hell to see the one that got away. 😳

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ghostsniper August 13, 2021, 4:25 AM

4 foot long?
maybe 30 lbs?

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gwbnyc August 13, 2021, 4:46 AM

Beats four I’d reckon; five foot+.
…after all, this is a fish story.

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Aggie August 13, 2021, 5:46 AM

“It’s a Wels Catfish…”. As the story goes, the first guy to hook one stood up in his boat and was hollering : “Well, SH*T!!” but he fell in the water and got eaten before he could get it out.

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yaacov ben Moshe August 13, 2021, 6:03 AM

Starting at 2:09
https://youtu.be/UaEC-lWSlmI

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gwbnyc August 13, 2021, 6:05 AM

Aggie

I believe another name for this fish is “sheatfish”.

-so, dang close to the truth.

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Yaacov ben Moshe August 13, 2021, 6:07 AM

Here’s the embed- sorry for the first post-

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John Venlet August 13, 2021, 6:16 AM

Fish on!

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wcgreen August 13, 2021, 6:16 AM

Is there also a Elca catfish?

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azlibertarian August 13, 2021, 7:32 AM

Who caught who?

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Terry August 13, 2021, 7:48 AM

Excellent info on this fish, including recipe’s here:

https://tastycraze.com/n7-57885-Wels_Catfish

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Jack August 13, 2021, 7:48 AM

I’ve never seen a catfish yet that wasn’t a notorious predator and killer. I caught one that weighed in the vicinity of 12 lbs earlier in the year on a 5 wt Sage fly rod using one of my own shrimp imitators and he hit it like a freight train. It took 20 minutes or more to land him and I paid my respects by frying his ass the next evening.

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Casey Klahn August 13, 2021, 10:03 AM

After some time in jungles, I am a firm believer in giant animals. Also, here in eastern WA some giants exist.

I could never find the trigger on a fishing pole and so I skipped that sport.

Mike Austin, you forgot to mention river sharks in Costa Rica. They actually have those because the Rio San Juan is sea water. I once saw a 15′ croc on a tributary of that river. Also, a giant scorpion whose tail was as big around as a beer can. He gave me the shivers.

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PA Cat August 13, 2021, 10:31 AM

Just for ghost– here is a video of the wels catfish that live in the cooling ponds around what’s left of the Chernobyl power plant. The narrator says that the catfish at 0:24 is 2 m or 6′ long, and that it’s not mutated– the catfish in these ponds can grow to be humongous because they have no predators. Tourists are not allowed to fish in the ponds, but they can feed bread to the catfish– who get heavy as well as long. This one could weigh as much as 120 pounds.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cEj8R5m3AI&ab_channel=bionerd23
I’m thinking that Hunter Biden would make an excellent dinner for the Chernobyl catfish.

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Dirk August 13, 2021, 10:45 AM

Anybody know if he landed the cat? Pole didn’t look up to the job.

We have a pool. It’s three ft deep, I blow it up! We spend 50.00 yearly for a new one. Wife’s still fit and good looking. Likes to tan in the privacy of our back yard.

95 plus, is a ball buster above 4200 ft.

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Fred August 13, 2021, 11:01 AM

I’d like to see Hannah Baron tackle that one! (ok, maybe not. Be careful Hannah!)

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tim August 13, 2021, 1:00 PM

Most fishing poles are @6-1/2′ – 7′, so as a reference, taking into account distance from camera…it’s feeking bigger than you think.
Show of hands who’d get in water with that fell’a.

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Dave Jenkins August 13, 2021, 1:48 PM

BTW, Those baits with the spinning tail are called whopper ploppers…the chicoms are now marketing knock offs available even on amazon of course.

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Jack August 13, 2021, 5:17 PM

Actually Dave, there is a company that makes baby duck lures from a hard plastic. I live on a large lake and I have fished several but I’ve never had a fish make a pass at it. They have little duck looking feet on spindles that churn the water during a retrieve but I think the lure would be more realistic if it was made from a softer plastic.

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Mike Austin August 14, 2021, 11:59 AM

Dear Casey Klahn:

You are so right.

I had a run in with those sharks while on one of my solo backpacking journeys to Corcovado National Park on the Osa Peninsula. I was attempting to cross three rivers in six hours along a beach that lead to La Sirena ranger station. The problem was that each river emptied into the ocean; and besides they were very saline as the sea would rush in as the tide came in. During high tide they were impassable, so I had to time it just right to safely cross each river. I almost made it.

When I got to the third river, it was already beginning to swell as high tide was in full sway. I decided to attempt a crossing. Bad idea. I was scarcely 20 feet across when the bottom of the river fell away and found myself in about 30 feet of water, backpack and all. To my horror I was surrounded by a bunch of those damned sharks.

To this day I have no idea how I made it back to the safety of the riverbank. Truly God was watching over this fool.

Six hours later when the tide was completely out, I crossed safely.

As for scorpions: Once I got to La Sirena ranger station, I set up camp and went to bargain with the rangers for some rice and beans. As I was chatting with one on the outside of the station I felt a thud on my hat. I looked down at the ground to find that a large yellow scorpion and fallen off the station’s roof, landed on my hat and then to the ground. On its back were dozens of baby scorpions clinging to their mother. The ranger looked at me and said, “That was close!” Yes it was.

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Noted in Passing: Trying out my new Bathbubbles lure

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