This catfish had eyes larger than its stomach

[Spiel]

This catfish had eyes larger than its stomach

 

 

July 10, 2009

Steve Pollick / toledoblade.com

 

 

A decomposing 20-inch bass was too much for the 38-inch, 40-pound catfish rescued from the Maumee River at Waterville.

 

 

 

This is a fish story to gag over — sorry — but imagine almost choking to death while trying to swallow a 20-inch smallmouth bass.

 

That is exactly what was happening to a 38-inch, 40-pound flathead catfish in the Maumee River above Waterville when Eric Renzhofer, of Whitehouse, and his wife, Chelle, happened along.

 

“My wife and I were near the river across from Indian Island when she spotted a ‘dog???’ swimming in the water about 200 yards out,” Renzhofer begins. The creature appeared to be in distress so Renzhofer and a buddy who was along, Mark Thompson, of Pemberville, hopped in a rowboat with rescue in mind.

 

“We quickly rowed out and found a huge catfish struggling to submerge but couldn’t,” Renzhofer said. This was about 1,000 yards below Weirs Rapids.

 

“We got him into the boat after five minutes and went ashore. The upriver rowing killed us. The cat smelled awful and I thought it was dying because it gave no fight at all.

 

“We took him on shore and opened his mouth to see what the problem was. We noticed his stomach was full of air and huge. We found a tail protruding from his throat. A pair of Vise Grips was used to pull the fish out. It was a 20-inch smallmouth bass, partially decomposed — the ‘smell.’ It was lodged in his throat.

 

“After removing the fish, the cat’s stomach was smaller and he was relieved. I immediately put him back in the water and off he went.” Renzhofer and Thompson did take time to measure the fish and photograph the victim-cat and culprit-bass, side by side in the sand.

 

As for the big cat, he added, “I can gladly say he is now back in the river, and I’m sure he is rethinking the size of fish he will be swallowing. He bit off more than he could chew.”

 

As for Renzhofer’s buddy, Thompson, “he was dead when we got back; he rowed like a crazy man.”

 

Reflecting on the incident, it actually is amazing how big a prey a predator fish will swallow. Witness the annual Canada fishing-trip tales of guys finding a 20-pound northern pike that choked to death trying to swallow an 8- or 10-pounder.

 

It also raises an eyebrow about where some of the Maumee River’s trophy smallmouth have gone.

 

Which certainly is not to lay all the blame on big flatheads; fishermen, of course, can take their share credit or shame for that.

 

On the other hand, the Renzhofers and Thompson surely know the fate of one 20-inch Fish Ohio-size smallie. It tried to choke a big flathead and lost.

 

 

Nicole Jiminez shows off the 18¼-inch, 4-pound pacu she took from Maumee Bay off Edgewater Drive in Point Place.

 

 

Another unusual fish take surfaced this week, this time in Point Place, this one an escapee, or reject, from someone’s pet aquarium.

 

It was a 4-pound, 18¼-inch pacu, a vegetarian cousin of the ferocious meat-eating piranha of South American rivers. It was taken by Nicole Jimenez, who shore-fishes regularly on Maumee Bay off Edgewater Drive, according to Dave Ray at Edgewater Bait and Tackle. “It took her 20 minutes to land it.” Jimenez caught it on a nightcrawler rig.

 

Ray said the teeth in the fish’s lower jaw almost looked human, but its uppers were sharp and pointed. That is perfect for feeding on fruits, nuts, and other vegetation in its native waters.

 

Pacu can reach 60 pounds in the wild and in home aquariums can quickly outgrow their welcome, which apparently was the case with the one taken by Jimenez. Someone appartently dumped it in the bay. Ray rightly wondered whether it would have lasted the winter.

 

By the way, it says here that dumping of unwanted pets — from tropical fish to dogs and cats — is about as irresponsible and unethical as it gets, and that is putting it as mildly as newspaper decorum allows.

[Dozer]

Ouch, pacu in the water, not good, but then again, prolly wont survive ( I'm not sure but they are wamer water, hopefully they aren't tolerant or anything )

[JohnF]

Ouch, pacu in the water, not good, but then again, prolly wont survive ( I'm not sure but they are wamer water, hopefully they aren't tolerant or anything )

 

I kept a Pacu in an aquarium for years. He just kept growing. At one point I added some small tropicals (fortunately cheap ones) to keep him company. They were all gone by next morning. So much for Pacus being vegetarians. And they're hardy as well so it wouldn't surprise me to see them survive in the Great Lakes. I thought mine had expired at one point so I lowered the water and moved it to the workbench in the basement to figure out how to dispose of him. Somehow I forgot and went away for a week or so. When I returned home he was active again, if somewhat sluggish, laying on his side in dirty shallow water. I added fresh water and restarted the filter and food supply and he recovered. He survived for quite a while after that and finally really did die, perhaps of old age. But through my own ineptitude as a fish keeper I discovered two truths about Pacus - they're tough and adaptable, and they definitely eat meat.

 

JF