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Giant Catfish

Are you kidding me !!!

This was caught in Italy's River Po, 9' 4" long. 

The think looks like a flipping dinosaur.

How would you like to be noodling and have this beast latch on.

Re: Giant Catfish

Reply #1 –

That'll require a massive deep fryer, and a cardiologist on site.  :cheesy: 

Noodling looks fun. People seem joyous in the act. My sensible side, if not paranoid, wonders what else may latch on under there.  :shocked: 

Re: Giant Catfish

Reply #2 –

It will require a enormous batch of hush puppies and a tanker of Cajun Chef (hot sauce) ... at least here, not sure how its commonly served in Italy.   Damn,  now I'm craving catfish ... going to need to go to the catfish parlor for lunch tomorrow :yum:

Re: Giant Catfish

Reply #3 –

A couple miles "up-lake" (Lake Havasu)  from the Parker Dam on the California side is a little resort called "Black Meadow Landing". They have a bar right on the Lake shore (or at least did when I lived in the area some 40 years ago, doesn't look like it's still there) that had a lot of pictures of the Parker Dam being built back in the mid 30's, and Dam-related memorabilia  - I think the guy, Gene, if I remember correctly, that built/owned it worked for/retired from the Metropolitan Water District that maintained the dam. Anyway, he also had a few pictures of divers down inspecting the dam over the years, and one I remember was odd..  it showed a diver with a couple of spots - sorta like this  (this is an approximation I have made from memory to give you an idea, in the actual picture the diver was facing the camera directly rather than a side shot..).

640.jpg

Supposedly taken a few feet from the base of the dam just above the bottom on the lake side in the late 1950s, hard to make out the diver due to the lighting and murkiness of the water, I asked him about the 'dots', positioned as if the diver were to reach out with both hands in a "Y" and point at them. Gene told me they were the eyes of a monster catfish behind the diver. Gene also said it was that divers last dive at the dam.

Now, the old hotel in Parker had some old-timey picts in the lobby, supposedly one with both Henry Ford and Louis Chevrolet were in Parker during a "cross country car race" (I've never been able to confirm actually happened), and another of the Hotel owner (who lived in a 4 room shack a block north of Arizona avenue, one room for his horse!) circa 1924 holding up a tarantula by its back legs, its body mostly covering his, with its front legs dragging on the ground (he was only 5'6" or so, but still..).

OK.. fun stuff, but Gene swore up and down the diver photo was genuine and not "retouched". 
Last Edit: June 07, 2023, 08:52:10 am by Steeley
// Deep inside every dilemma lies a solution that involves explosives //

Re: Giant Catfish

Reply #4 –

I'll have to find some classic B horror films about giant catfish, must be some out there:fish:

Re: Giant Catfish

Reply #5 –

Supposedly the one caught in Italy (9 ft., est. weight @ 300 lbs) possible record for "caught on tackle", but is actually a "little one"  :undecided:  :embarrassed:  :tongue:

Horror flick? Here ya go, Spuds..  :grin:  (supposed to be a 'killer catfish' - but with teeth/fangs?)

There are 'stories' of small kids swimming and dragged under and eaten by catfish -South America I think - where the natives' habit is to "dispose of" their dead in the river, and presumed the local catfish apparently developed a taste for human flesh, although catfish will eat dang near anything. There's another story of a catfish caught in a net dragged onto shore and found with a man's legs still protruding from its mouth .. that was in the Mekong River I think...  'Tall tail tales' (or are they? Be very afraid...)
Last Edit: June 07, 2023, 10:37:51 pm by Steeley
// Deep inside every dilemma lies a solution that involves explosives //

Re: Giant Catfish

Reply #6 –

Thanks!   Looks like my weekend will be all set ... Beer,  Bratwurst and B movies !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86Nskpe4Iws
 

Re: Giant Catfish

Reply #7 –

I've read this news a couple of days back,  it was also in TV. The giant was 285 cm, 4-5 cm longer than the actual record. It was impossible for the author to get the weight and he decided to release the giant.
Quote"I was sure that the fish I had caught was special, but I could never have imagined what would happen next when we measured it. The meter stopped at 285 centimeters, it's the new world record for a catfish. I was very curious to know its weight, but I was afraid of stressing that rare specimen too much, so I decided to release it safely, hoping it could bring the same joy to another angler that it gave to me."
Po river is 50 km far away from where I live. :wink: 
sorry for my bad english