Mud Puppy

[discophish]

We always catch puppies through the ice at the cottage. It's such an frequent occurrence that we don't even want to put our lines down. I have fished our lake all my life, I wonder why I haven't ever caught one of these in the spring, summer, or fall? Strange indeed.

[Jonny]

We always catch puppies through the ice at the cottage. It's such an frequent occurrence that we don't even want to put our lines down. I have fished our lake all my life, I wonder why I haven't ever caught one of these in the spring, summer, or fall? Strange indeed.

 

I've looked around and couldn't find anything about why they're caught much more often in the winter.

 

Here's some other interesting stuff though ---

 

Mudpuppies are common throughout their range and have no special conservation status. However, habitat loss and pollution is putting pressure on some local populations.

 

- National Geographic

 

The Mudpuppy can be found from New England and adjacent southern Quebec west through the Ohio valley on to southern Manitoba, south through the Mississippi Valley to Missouri, Tennessee and North Carolina, and to northern Georgia, Mississippi and Alabama. The Mudpuppy is found in all eight Midwestern states. It is considered a species of Special Concern in Ohio and Indiana, and is listed as State Endangered in Iowa. Although they can be locally common, the Mudpuppy has disappeared from many common locations.

 

Due to their odd appearance, the Mudpuppy has been falsely labeled as dangerous, and people that catch them while fishing will often kill them. The species is also sensitive to chemicals, and population declines have been noted from the Great Lakes where chemicals were used to control lamprey populations.

 

- Purdue University

 

 

...and an interesting article on care and keeping of mud puppies:

 

http://aqualandpetsplus.com/

 

Look down the left column for "Mud Puppies". The page won't link directly.

Edited March 26, 2010 by Jocko

[Grimace]

Anything on Unicorns? I have one in the basement. Oats with a bit of molasses and a flake of nice alfalfa Timothy mix hay every day seem to be the ticket so far.

[Jonny]

Anything on Unicorns?

 

Yes. Never stand directly in front of a unicorn.

[discophish]

I browsed around for a bit, couldn't find much about the seasonal pattern, except that they feed more in the fall, winter, and spring, then they do in the summer. On Minnesota's gov website, they are requesting each catch to be documented and photographed and reported back to the DNR. I guess they are in decline as well. If this was the case in Ontario, I would send a picture of someone kicking me in the crotch, because this is all that we usually catch while fishing for pickerel. Hrumph.