Monster Catfish !

[Mullaway_Chaser]

These Are pics of some monster catfish ( Barbel ) sent to me by a friend . They were caught somewhere in South Africa , and aparently when the divers go down the dam retaining wall , they go in cages !!! enjoy :)

[Mullaway_Chaser]

just unreal !

[Mullaway_Chaser]

Huge !

[Mullaway_Chaser]

:o

[Mullaway_Chaser]

:o

[Doctor_Bait]

The last 3 blokes look like they're dancing with them

[thisbig]

how do you catch these mothers

[Mattman]

ROFLMAO Dr Bait,
they are some huge fishies :o :o :o
Matt

[Fisherman02]

hey fellas
from what i have read, they catch them by wiggling their finger in front of holes (where the catties live) like a worm and apparently the catfish latches on and then the guy pulls them up, many anglers would have been pulled under and drowned. But i imagine this is part of the appeal
cheers jack

[crab_xp]

Oh~~my God is that real fish?

[el_carpo]

Those are incredible! I wonder, what do they eat-----besides divers, I mean? ;D

I've heard of that style of fishing. It's mostly done down south in the U.S. They find a log, feel for a fish, and stuff one end of it full of sand bags (preventing escape) and go and grab it with their hand in the open end. Another method they use is called noodling. They take a rope and let the fish bite their arm. They then feed the rope out of a gill and haul them out. Both, in my humble opinion, are completely insane!!! The catfish here get only to about 100 pounds-- Flatheads and Blues (that is very unusual but they do get that big). What is extra dangerous is the fact that huge snapping turtles live in the same holes and logs. The rare alligator snapping turtle grows to 500 pounds!!! :o Guys get grabbed by them and they don't let go. They then lose a limb or drown. Also, they get bit all the time by poisonous snakes. Our cottonmouth (a.k.a. copperhead) is a very agressive son of a gun and highly venemous (not that you Aussies don't know about poisonous snakes yourselves.) I don't even want to think about what a crocodile or alligator would do to one of these people. Not for me, no thanks. I'll stick to my rod and reel thank you very much. ;D

Thanks for posting the pics! Absolutely incredible!

[northsboy]

Wholy shit!! Are they reel?? Them things would eat ya whole :o :o :o :o :o

[Mugil]

These catfish pics have been doing the email rounds with the description of ‘noodling’ or catching by hand. Some say they were caught in southern USA, others Asia and now it’s Africa.
It’s kind of amusing when they are actually European catfish or Wels and as far as I am aware have not been introduced into any other continent.
They were introduced into Great Britain and are a quite popular angling species there now.
The size however is real, they are one of the largest species of freshwater fish.
Cheers

[el_carpo]

Here ya go! Further information.

http://www.snopes.com/photos/noodling.asp

[Mugil]

Thanks for the link el-carpo, quite interesting. Goes to show though that you can’t believe all you see on the net.
They are not American cats.
I’ve attached some pics of record blue and flathead catfish which are the biggest North American species. Very impressive but quite different (and smaller) to those previously posted.
And if you think they’re big, check out some of the South American and Asian species.
Cheers

[Mugil]

Seems I can only post one pic per post.
The last one is the flathead catfish, this one (hopefully) is the blue catfish.

[el_carpo]

Thanks for the pics Mugil. The biggest flathead cat caught by anyone I know personally (my brother) was 15 pounds. I've seen big ones floating dead before but not anywhere near as big as that monster! I've only caught little ones and have never caught a blue (biggest species here). The most common catfish near me is the "Channel cat." We mostly use chicken liver for bait. They look like blues but have little black dots on them. They get big too but not as large as the others. Thanks again for the pics. That was cool to see! Do you or anyone else over there target cats? What kinds do you have?

[Mugil]

El-carpo
Catfish aren’t particularly popular in Australia. Briefly we have a few varieties of eel-tail catfish, one, the tandanus is reasonably common in the east although in decline due to many factors and is actually protected in some areas. It grows to about 5 or 6lb and is one of the more sought after species. A very similar species lives in Western Australia and is called a freshwater cobbler.
There is also a saltwater eeltailed catfish (also called cobbler in WA) , grows to about the same size is more elongated, but not fished for except in WA where they are quite highly regarded.
In the northern half of Australia there are a few types of fork tail catfish (similar in appearance to your flathead cat). They grow to about 20lb and are generally regarded as a nuisance fish although they are quite ok to eat. They live in fresh or saltwater.
One species of saltwater forktail catfish grows to about 30lb or more and is known as either golden catfish or salmon catfish. Again they are regarded as a nuisance although they are IMHO one of the toughest fighting fish in Australia and quite ok to eat.
You’ll probably find pics of all on the net.
Cheers

[el_carpo]

Thanks for the info. Mugil.

[saen]

well its some nice pics

as most know im from south africa and we used to catch them all the time
and it's "BARBER" catfish
the one's that big is a prized catch but the common catch is about a 1m long
weve caught 2 that big weighed around 90kg

and they put up a huge fight

as for bait, we use dead birds, frogs (platana's) chicken liver anything like that

i havent seen one of them for about 7years,its really good to see!!!!

Regards

JJ

[bazzaman]

Holy Shit!!!! Im meaning to mugil, you have actually eaten a catfish before!!! Now thats desperate for feed!! No thankyou, would never consider it! And why would anyone waste their time catchin those ugly pests!!! Im sure they would taste like shit!! Am i the only one thinkin this but i would rather be chasin whiting or bream and i thought that was boring!!! heheheheheh sorry guys!!

Cheers
Shane

[Mugil]

An interesting if not confusing post there Shane. You’ve never eaten catfish but you’re sure they taste like shit. How do you know???? I would hope you don’t regularly eat the other!.
Eel tail cats (tandanus or jewfish) are one of the more highly regarded edible inland species or you could ask anyone from WA about the popularity (and market price) of cobbler over there.
Even forkies are ok, not great but ok, which is all I said before. Maybe you should try one sometime then you could reply with more qualification.
Cheers
Mugil

[wj123456]

:o

[bazzaman]

nah mate just the slime and the shit they eat im sure that theyll taste the same as what they eat! 8) 8) 8) Reffering to forkies here mugil!! Mate the day i eat a catfish is the day i give up fishing!! And the answer to that one if your unsure IS NEVER!!!!........Im more of a fisherman to catch decent fish like snapper and parrot and the likes to bring myself low enough to eat a catty!! Food for thought !! cheers mate and enjoy the catties!! heheheeee :P :P ::) ::)

Cheers Shane

[rickraider]

yeah i have eaten them and i will eat just about anything but they taste like CRAP :o :o :o

[bazzaman]

:P :P :P :-* :-* ;D ;D 8) ::) ::) :-X :-X

[bruce4x4]

First of all u are still fishing ;D
And now after catching a few jewfish u fillet and skin
and place in hot pan with some butter 3 or 4 minutes both sides
heaps of leamon salt and beautiful [smiley=thumbsup.gif] ;D

[bassfisher02]

my uncle has done this type of fishing. he would dip his hands in chicken liver then wake in the water and feel around for logs and then feel for fish. then when they locked on to his hands he would pull them up

[Kunnara]

If you ask me the guys in the photo's don't seem to be putting in too much effort to lift those monsters...something fishy going on there!!!!!

[Paul_C]

Holy Shit!!!! #Im meaning to mugil, you have actually eaten a catfish before!!! #Now thats desperate for feed!! #No thankyou, would never consider it! #And why would anyone waste their time catchin those ugly pests!!! #Im sure they would taste like shit!! #Am i the only one thinkin this but i would rather be chasin whiting or bream and i thought that was boring!!! heheheheheh sorry guys!!

Cheers
Shane

Shane,

I've never eaten a cattie of any type either, but i'm a freshwater nut and i'm gonna take the otherside, if you can catch a Snapper, Bream, Whiting or even a Parrot fish in the Thompson River, or perhaps The Barcoo, or any other western Qld creek or river than you, my friend, are a legend. #:o :o :o

Do you think that everyone has access to the old Briny within a half hour drive of home. #??? ??? ???

Perhaps you should broaden your horizons and crawl out of the hole you live in, there's a whole other world out there. #;) ;) ;)

PC

[bassfisher02]

kunnara, trust me those are real. theres alot of catfish out there bigger than that. alot of times people use winches to reel them in. alot of people over here actually like them, i have never had them.

[waznot]

better u dancin with that thing than me mate. all i see is years worth of crab bait ;)

[cod_rule]

Some Monster Catfishies there Fellas
Can you eat Catfish?what does it taste like? :o :o :o :o :o

[imranius]

dang those are some nice fish.
how the hell do u pull them buggers in :-X :-X

[Doomy]

On a trip around Australia in my younger days I worked briefly at a resort on Lake Argyle WA.

They had a barra farm there and also professional fisherman netting Silver Cobbler (aka Catfish).

As part of the deal the resort provded free meals and every night there was both species on the menu. Guess which one I ate most nights?

Catfish kills Barra (freshwater) for taste.

[Bassman1113]

WHAT THE!!!! :o :o :o :o :o :o :o

Those are some huge jewies............

[speckly]

there some huge catfish, Imagine reeling one of those buggers in,oh and how many pounds were they around?

cheers,
speckly :o :o :o

[dasher]

Gimme back my wig ya mongrel ::) ;) ;D

[reddyclaw_wal]

wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooowwwww wwwwwwwwwwwwww

[Jay_S]

WWWOOOWWW :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o
They are some dam BIG Catfish ;D ;DThat person thats got his head half in it's mouth is lucky the catfish didn't eat him ::) ;D ;D


Jay 8-)

[szopen]

I wouldn't think the last one was alive.
You could not hold their mouth open like this.

[Bonesy]

holdy smoks thay are massive :o :o :o :o

Bonesy [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

[F1SH_BOY]

hahhahahah nice pic dasher..... OMG THOSE CATFISH IN SOUTH AFRICA ARE HUGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[puks]

holy cr!p
i ve never seen fish that big neither live nor on tv

as for the catching method i have a silly question
so they wiggle their finger and the fish latches on right ???
well by the look of these buggers they would take the proverbial arm more like it
but my question is dont they have teeth and another one the guys who catch themlike that are they insane????
maybe i am too much of a girl but never in a million years would i stick my finger let alone my arm in some hole in the water where i cant see anything
hell i dont even put my hand in dark spaces on land.

one of those could feed a big familie for a month i reckon
as for eating it uhmmm dont know it till you try right ( apart from remoras would never eat those)


anyway thanks for sharing those pics and the info about how to catch htem

regards anya

[born2fly]

Eeel tail Catties tast Great. The Yanks have huge farms in the Soputh and make a fortune out of farming them.
If you catch one in a nice flowing creek/river they are a lot cleaner.
The Fork Tail/Salmon Catties are not worth a look in for a feed IMHO but hey, if that's what you have access to and you like em, more power to you 8-)

[seafarer3]

" ;DI THINK THEY CALL HIM THE GENERAL" ;D

[chicken]

Imagine stepping on one of those buggers with your thongs on the spike would go to your knee. Reckon the spike would go through my blundstones

[djdamo]

nice

[maztez]

Back in the 70s I saw a catfish that had been caught in the MARY river out from DARWIN roughly the size of these big fellas . Whoever caught it had placed it on a corner strainer post of the fence near the old Arnhem Hwy and the Mary River bridge.The bloody thing was partly on the ground as well as the post .too stinky to get an actual measure but I would guess it was around 6 foot long .It certainly was a monster.
cheers Terry :o :o

[rowdycowdy]

they look very cosy with those fish, whats going on under the water???

[ele-phrez]

Imagine stepping on one of those buggers with your thongs on the spike would go to your knee. Reckon the spike would go through my blundstones

well said cobba

[kingfisho]

Some bloody big mother fish there
Cheers

[zilladog]

Not anywhere near the same league as the OS ones. Put up an ok fight on light gear and ok for the cat. The better half caught this one in the lower reaches of the Burdiken river. Sometimes pick them up on lures when targeting barra.
:D

[rajawolf]

Monster fish...looks like you are dancing with them. ;D