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My monster catfish story


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By: Colt86 | Location: Dallas texas

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This is my monster catfish story that occurred in the summer of 1995. It was on the old lake dallas damn near little elm texas..there was a severe drought that summer..back before Sept 11 and the new laws that followed you could walk the damn...lake dallas is an old lake filled in 1927 I believe and fed by the trinity river...me and my father had always went out and "treasure hunted" old bottles..indian artifacts..fossils..anything interesting really..the lake was down drastically that summer exposing the dam all the way to right at the lake floor...we had been told stories by old timers that in the early days of the lake this was the area people from dallas would congregate in their boats regularly to fish..drink..have fun. So we went out looking for anything old and interesting we might find exposed by the drought..

More: https://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/stories/112391/my-monster-catfish-story

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The interesting thing about big fish stories is that many have indeterminate growth, meaning they continue growing well past adulthood as long as there is plentiful food and space. It really wouldn't surprise me at all to find out there are enormous examples of these. There's a lake here that is very popular for catfish and you have the obligatory tales of them being the size of Volkswagens. Of course no footage or pics or anything. I also remember them finding a skull of a pike somewhere up north (Michigan?), that, if corrected for proportions, would make it the largest of it's kind by a long mile. 

Big fish stories are fun even though they're PROBABLY bull****. 

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Some of those catfish get pretty big.   There is a lake just north of San Antonio, Tx called Canyon Lake where many years ago divers pledged they would never dive near the dam again.  They said there were catfish there where the water was very deep that could swallow a man whole.  

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7 minutes ago, Dustyrose33 said:

Some of those catfish get pretty big.   There is a lake just north of San Antonio, Tx called Canyon Lake where many years ago divers pledged they would never dive near the dam again.  They said there were catfish there where the water was very deep that could swallow a man whole.  

I think just about every state has a lake with monster catfish stories lol. Ours is Lake Marion in SC. 

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10 minutes ago, HandsomeGorilla said:

The interesting thing about big fish stories is that many have indeterminate growth, meaning they continue growing well past adulthood as long as there is plentiful food and space. It really wouldn't surprise me at all to find out there are enormous examples of these. There's a lake here that is very popular for catfish and you have the obligatory tales of them being the size of Volkswagens. Of course no footage or pics or anything. I also remember them finding a skull of a pike somewhere up north (Michigan?), that, if corrected for proportions, would make it the largest of it's kind by a long mile. 

Big fish stories are fun even though they're PROBABLY bull****. 

I wouldn't be surprised if some of those catfish got as big as Volkswagens.   I had a brother who flew a small plane over Medina Lake in the Texas Hill Country many years ago say he saw something as big as a car in the water.   He said he circled around to take another look and it was gone.

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2 hours ago, HandsomeGorilla said:

I think just about every state has a lake with monster catfish stories lol. Ours is Lake Marion in SC. 

We have Atlantic sturgeon in all the lower Rivers in South Jersey and in Michigan they have lake sturgeon and they could both grow into monsters.

I think the big pike and pickerel stories here and up North are just misidentified Atlantic and lake sturgeon. 

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Just now, Piney said:

We have Atlantic sturgeon in all the lower Rivers in South Jersey and in Michigan they have lake sturgeon and they could both grow into monsters.

I think the big pike and pickerel stories here and up North are just misidentified Atlantic and lake sturgeon. 

The skull had supposedly been identified as a muskie, but I don't have a source right off hand. 

A lot of people don't realize how big sturgeon can get. Likely the reason for stories of lake monsters. White sturgeon can be 20 feet long and weigh 2000lbs. There have also been instances of large captured sturgeon injuring and killing people. 

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1 minute ago, HandsomeGorilla said:

There have also been instances of large captured sturgeon injuring and killing people. 

There is a lot of stories about Russian caviar fisherman getting messed up by them on the Delaware River.

Considering the size of some of the fauna remains we dug up on Eastern Woodland sites, I could see a 4-5ft. muskie before all the over fishing.

 

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41 minutes ago, Piney said:

There is a lot of stories about Russian caviar fisherman getting messed up by them on the Delaware River.

Considering the size of some of the fauna remains we dug up on Eastern Woodland sites, I could see a 4-5ft. muskie before all the over fishing.

 

And they deserved every bit of it. They cut open the females, remove the eggs and throw the body back in the water. 

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3 hours ago, Dustyrose33 said:

Some of those catfish get pretty big.   There is a lake just north of San Antonio, Tx called Canyon Lake where many years ago divers pledged they would never dive near the dam again.  They said there were catfish there where the water was very deep that could swallow a man whole.  

Ought to see some of the sturgeon they pull out of the Colombia.  The big ones have to go back now.  Catfish do take some live prey, maybe a big one could challenge a diver.  It is hard to guess which is the ugliest of those two fish or how either one eating all the stuff off the bottom could taste good.

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28 minutes ago, Tatetopa said:

Ought to see some of the sturgeon they pull out of the Colombia.  The big ones have to go back now.  Catfish do take some live prey, maybe a big one could challenge a diver.  It is hard to guess which is the ugliest of those two fish or how either one eating all the stuff off the bottom could taste good.

I never have cared for catfish, but I've been told the blue channel cats don't have that muddy murky taste the mud cats do.

 

 

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2 hours ago, Dustyrose33 said:

I never have cared for catfish, but I've been told the blue channel cats don't have that muddy murky taste the mud cats do.

 

Before I moved out of Texas and up to Oregon, it was catfish and bass most of the time unless you went to a fancy restaurant or to the coast for shrimp.  Up here there are trout and salmon. I have not touched a catfish or bass in 40 years.  Don't miss em a bit.

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10 hours ago, HandsomeGorilla said:

The skull had supposedly been identified as a muskie, but I don't have a source right off hand

Are you the guy on the monster quest killer fish episode who found and donated a muskie skull that when proportioned out and a fiberglass fake was made it was the largest muskie on record?

 

In a small lake in orlando i saw 5 to 6 foot dead gar many times and it was known to have cats that large, once in a while a guy with a cast net would get one way too big for his net or a huge turtle,  end of net,

Im not sure i would consider big lake fish "monsters"

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7 minutes ago, the13bats said:

Are you the guy on the monster quest killer fish episode who found and donated a muskie skull that when proportioned out and a fiberglass fake was made it was the largest muskie on record?

 

In a small lake in orlando i saw 5 to 6 foot dead gar many times and it was known to have cats that large, once in a while a guy with a cast net would get one way too big for his net or a huge turtle,  end of net,

Im not sure i would consider big lake fish "monsters"

Yea that's the one. 

And alligator gar can be 10 feet. 

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3 minutes ago, HandsomeGorilla said:

Yea that's the one. 

And alligator gar can be 10 feet. 

I was i guess about 12-13 to about 15 16 when i fished daily, dad showed me how to make gar lures, i caught many never landed a single one, same with huge cats, it sucked to be 14 and see a 4 to 6 ft fish on your line out in the water and never once land one.

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A few of years or so ago i was Roach fishing in a lake i used to fish i'd always been told of Catfish getting huge in the said lake but never encountered one despite trying whith carp gear this particular day i hooked one on a size 18 hook and single maggot i got it or rather it came to the surface and away it went i was only using 3lb line so i never stood a chance really...........but at least i saw it  

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13 hours ago, Tatetopa said:

Before I moved out of Texas and up to Oregon, it was catfish and bass most of the time unless you went to a fancy restaurant or to the coast for shrimp.  Up here there are trout and salmon. I have not touched a catfish or bass in 40 years.  Don't miss em a bit.

I do like bass and talapia.   Several years ago caught some great tasting bass out of Lake Texoma in Oklahoma.   Put them in a pressure cooker till the fish fell off the bones, then made the fish into patties and fried them like salmon patties.   Sure were good.

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21 hours ago, Dustyrose33 said:

Some of those catfish get pretty big.   There is a lake just north of San Antonio, Tx called Canyon Lake where many years ago divers pledged they would never dive near the dam again.  They said there were catfish there where the water was very deep that could swallow a man whole.  

I saw some photos at a fishing camp on the Tensaw river in Alabama that had several catfish hung from a pole with men standing in front of them.  They were longer than the height of the men.  The clothing dated the pics to turn of the century so average height was less than today but the fish's heads were bent on the ground while the tails were just a bit higher than the tallest guy there.  

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11 minutes ago, and then said:

I saw some photos at a fishing camp on the Tensaw river in Alabama that had several catfish hung from a pole with men standing in front of them.  They were longer than the height of the men.  The clothing dated the pics to turn of the century so average height was less than today but the fish's heads were bent on the ground while the tails were just a bit higher than the tallest guy there.  

Those were some big fish!

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On 6/15/2020 at 3:14 PM, XenoFish said:

Just blame it on radiation. 

image.jpeg.53860b1f0d54ab222dab7929daea6bbd.jpegSo true, yes, radiation

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On 6/15/2020 at 1:00 PM, Dustyrose33 said:

Some of those catfish get pretty big.   There is a lake just north of San Antonio, Tx called Canyon Lake where many years ago divers pledged they would never dive near the dam again.  They said there were catfish there where the water was very deep that could swallow a man whole.  

Same exact story at lake britton dam.

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  • 4 months later...

when I was  a  kid my grandfather lived on Grand Lake (Lake of the Cherokees)  in Grove, Oklahoma.  His next door neighbor harpooned a 40 pound catfish under his dock while snorkeling.   That lake dropped off 40 feet just off of the shore line.   I have seen Koi in a little neighborhood lake 3 feet long.  Also in a Texas drought.

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  • 1 month later...

This is a different version of the many legends out there. Google this.

"Giant Catfish seen at Dam during work", or similar to that.

In Nevada, I heard a "true story" about Rypatch reservoir. Workers were diving to clear debris from the dam. One touched what he thought was a very large log, and the log moved. Heard this one in around 1979. Fast forward to Oregon, 2010. Hear an almost identical story, only the log was a Volkswagon Beetle that they were removing. And it swam away. (Giant catfish)

Arizona, 2015. San Carlos Reservoir. Again, debris being removed. Giant catfish. In all 3 stories the diver was so afraid, they swore they would never dive in "that lake" again.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/cat-o-nine-tales-2/

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