Giant Catfish
Bill
Tennessee. It seems there are catfish on the bottom of the lake near the
dam that are large enough to eat a grown man. I think I have heard this
before. He said that a friend of his was diving (in a area near the dam
where no diving is allowed) and seen a few of the giant fish. He was able
to get away but said one of the fish chased him until he got away from the
bottom. He was scared to report it since he was not supposed to be diving in
the area.
Has anyone else heard this one? I don't believe him but did not tell him.
I would like to get some examples of it being an urban legend first. Thanks
for any help.....
Gerald Belton
wrote:
> A friend of mine was telling me today about catfish at Percy Priest dam in
>Tennessee. It seems there are catfish on the bottom of the lake near the
>dam that are large enough to eat a grown man.
These giant catfish stories come around periodically. We just had a
thread in May, "Catfish UL's." Back in March of '97 it was "Dam
Catfish." In December of '96 the "Monster Goldfish" thread mutated
into "Monster Catfish." The list goes on, but that's as much of the
*NEW* *IMPROVED* Deja.com as I could stand.
The consensus every time is that yes, catfish get Real Big. But not
man-eating size. The world's record Blue Catfish is a 130-pound
caught in Tennessee.
Gerald "maybe the big'uns just don't get caught" Belton
Robert Warinner
<fish story snipped>
: Has anyone else heard this one? I don't believe him but did not tell him.
: I would like to get some examples of it being an urban legend first. Thanks
: for any help.....
Oddly enough, this story is not listed in the alt.folklore.urban FAQ
even though it has been discussed by urban folklorist Jan Harold
Brunvand. It's listed in the legend index of "The Baby Train:"
"The Giant Catfish" Size of small car; frightens divers
Check out Brunvand's "The Mexican Pet" pages 26-27 to get Brunvand's
take on this fish story.
Andrew "the one that got away" Warinner
wari...@xnet.com
wari...@enteract.com
http://www.xnet.com/~warinner
Urban Legend Zeitgeist: http://www.urbanlegends.com/ulz
Dutch Courage
Bill <bil...@bellsouth.net> wrote:
><fish story snipped>
>
>: Has anyone else heard this one? I don't believe him but did not tell him.
>: I would like to get some examples of it being an urban legend first.
>Thanks
>: for any help.....
>
>Oddly enough, this story is not listed in the alt.folklore.urban FAQ
>even though it has been discussed by urban folklorist Jan Harold
>Brunvand. It's listed in the legend index of "The Baby Train:"
>
> "The Giant Catfish" Size of small car; frightens divers
>
>Check out Brunvand's "The Mexican Pet" pages 26-27 to get Brunvand's
>take on this fish story.
>
I found this at Comptons:
The largest catfish in the world is the Danube sheatfish, or wels. Individuals
of this species of northern Europe have been reported to be more than 15 feet
(4.5 meters) long and weigh 660 pounds (300 kilograms). The blue catfish is the
largest catfish in North America. Individuals weighing more than 100 pounds (45
kilograms) have been recorded. >
How big is a hundred pound catfish, anyway?
"There is no land beyond the law, where tyrants rule with unshakable power.
It is but a dream from which the evil wake to face their fate, their
terrifying hour."
-Wesley Dodds.
Karen J. Cravens
> A friend of mine was telling me today about catfish at Percy Priest dam
in
> Tennessee. It seems there are catfish on the bottom of the lake near
the
> dam that are large enough to eat a grown man. I think I have heard this
...
> Has anyone else heard this one? I don't believe him but did not tell
him.
> I would like to get some examples of it being an urban legend first.
Thanks
> for any help.....
The same tale is told of giant cats at the bottom of Twin Lakes, a manmade
pond (here, anything larger than a cattle tank is dubbed "lake") which
gives its name to a smallish shopping mall, and which is a singularly
muddy place for diving. Supposedly there was some sort of maintenance
that required hiring divers (since the mud made it unattractive for the
ULian divers to do it for sport... though perhaps that would account for
the Navy honor guard the next-to-most-recent River Festival Parade was
blessed with, since what else would the Navy be doing in Kansas?) and it
turned out to be Too Deep To Find The Bottom of, simultaneously with There
Are Giant Bottom-Dwelling Fish.
Ark River(s) cats used to get to prodigous sizes (man-sized, not man-
eating-sized) but fishing and agriculture-inspired changes in the river
have pretty much eliminated the larger species (blue cat vs. channel cat,
I think) and individuals.
Andrea Jones
Bill wrote in message ...
> A friend of mine was telling me today about catfish at Percy Priest dam in
>Tennessee. It seems there are catfish on the bottom of the lake near the
>dam that are large enough to eat a grown man. I think I have heard this
> Has anyone else heard this one? I don't believe him but did not tell him.
>I would like to get some examples of it being an urban legend first.
Thanks
>for any help.....
grandfather used to regularly claim he'd come *this* *close* to spearing one
of the suckers while he was jack lighting [1] spoonbill catfish[2] at
Kentucky Dam (on Kentucky Lake, which is in, natch, Kentucky, USofA). In
fact, the frequent recitation of this legend is what kept me and my cousins
out of the water of Kentucky Lake for many impressionable years.
Andrea "Who's afraid of the big bad fish?" Jones
[1] Kinda like jack lighting a deer. You shine a really bright light into
the water, and the spoon bill catfish rise to it, whereupon the intrepid
fisherman harpoons the bastard and drags it onto dry land.
[2] Probably not a true catfish, or maybe it is... any ichthyologists out
there? The spoonbill catfish is pretty damn big, has feelers like a
catfish, but has a "spoon bill" protruding from its nose. Apparently
they're bottom feeders, at least until you jack light 'em. Come to think of
it, they look more like sturgeon than catfish, and they get *big*.
Andrea Jones
Karen J. Cravens wrote in message
<snip all the on-topic stuff>
>. though perhaps that would account for
>the Navy honor guard the next-to-most-recent River Festival Parade was
>blessed with, since what else would the Navy be doing in Kansas?) and it
pertaining to military government after Y2K causes the state of Kansas to
fall into anarchy and chaos, 2) there as a recruiting effort, more or less:
"Let's all turn out looking spiffy and suck more innocent kids into
joining!" or 3) looking for the ocean.
Andrea "I favor explanation 1, myself. The reason you haven't noticed them
since is that they used Top Sekrit Navy Diver Methods of camouflaging
themselves." Jones
RAWalker
>A friend of mine was telling me today about catfish at Percy Priest dam in
>Tennessee. It seems there are catfish on the bottom of the lake near the
> Has anyone else heard this one? I don't believe him but did not tell him.
>I would like to get some examples of it being an urban legend first. Thanks
>for any help.....
>
I've heard the same story told regarding Greer's Ferry Lake in central Arkansas
and I've heard it said of the Mississippi River. I've never talked with anyone
who's seen one firsthand. Smells ULish to me.
Rob
Robert A. Walker, Ph.D.
Head, Department of Anatomy
New York Chiropractic College
Seneca Falls, New York
Phil Herring
> A friend of mine was telling me today about catfish at Percy Priest dam in
> Tennessee. It seems there are catfish on the bottom of the lake near the
> dam that are large enough to eat a grown man. [...]
"Yep, nobody's ever caught 'The General'. Only one man's ever come
close -- name of Homer. Huge feller, with a shock of bright red hair..."
Intheway1
>> Tennessee. It seems there are catfish on the bottom of the lake near the
>> dam that are large enough to eat a grown man. [...]
Usually, when they get that big, the piranha gang up and eat them.
Fred Wilhelms
Chip Taylor
> A friend of mine was telling me today about catfish at Percy Priest dam in
>Tennessee. It seems there are catfish on the bottom of the lake near the
>where no diving is allowed) and seen a few of the giant fish. He was able
>to get away but said one of the fish chased him until he got away from the
>bottom. He was scared to report it since he was not supposed to be diving in
>the area.
>I would like to get some examples of it being an urban legend first. Thanks
>for any help.....
>
>
I spent my youth near Chattanooga, Tennessee and heard the same story
frequently regarding the Chickamauga Dam on the Tennessee River. The story
was that once a year the TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) hires divers to go
down to the inlet grates of the dams to clean out accumulated debris.
Those divers always relate stories of the monster catfish 10-12 feet long
"down there". Never heard of one chasing a diver though. Never thought of it
as a UL but seems it probably is.
Chip "Can you imagine the size of the hushpuppies you gotta eat with them
catfish?" Taylor
God, grant me the Senility to forget the people I never liked anyway, the
good fortune to run into the ones I do, and the eyesight to tell the
difference.
Marcus S. Turner
National Geographic ran a story within the past three years about fishing on
the Mississippi during the 30's. And they had a couple of period pictures
of catfish that were 5'-6' long - Didn't mention the weight but I reckon
they were about 100 pounds...
I always heard the story related about Lake Lanier, a man-made lake about a
hour from Atlanta. And I never gave it much credence. Still don't but
those pictures of mansized catfish are lurking around in my subconsious,
jest waitin' to get out.
Marcus "I ain't swimmin' in there" Turner
School of Veterinary Medicine
<george...@geocities.com> wrote:
> [2] Probably not a true catfish, or maybe it is... any ichthyologists out
> there? The spoonbill catfish is pretty damn big, has feelers like a
> catfish, but has a "spoon bill" protruding from its nose. Apparently
> they're bottom feeders, at least until you jack light 'em. Come to think of
> it, they look more like sturgeon than catfish, and they get *big*.
Sounds like Granpappy was jacklighting paddlefish.
A quick netsearch turned up:
http://www-nais.ccrs.nrcan.gc.ca/schoolnet/issues/risk/fish/efish/paddlfish.html
among other sights.
These critters are endemic to the Mississippi River basin,
and can reach sizes of 120 cm and 67 kg. They used
to inhabit the Great Lakes as well, but are believed
extinct in Canada. The paddlefish is believed to
be one of the oldest fresh-water bony fish species, originating
over 65 million years ago (except in Kansas).
Other sites included:
http://www.trumaninfoguide.com/lakeinfo/MDC/PaddleFish.html
which basically claims that paddlefish (also known as spoonbill)
taste good.
and
http://www.earthwave.org/paddlefish.htm
where you can buy a 1 hour video on paddlefish,
narrated by Alex Cord of "Air Wolf". This site
had an interesting picture of a paddlefish in filter-feeding mode.
Enjoy!
TMOliver
>
> In article <uQQyqxP9#GA.252@cpmsnbbsa03>, "Andrea Jones"
> <george...@geocities.com> wrote:
>
>
> > [2] Probably not a true catfish, or maybe it is... any ichthyologists out
> > there? The spoonbill catfish is pretty damn big, has feelers like a
> > catfish, but has a "spoon bill" protruding from its nose. Apparently
> > they're bottom feeders, at least until you jack light 'em. Come to think of
> > it, they look more like sturgeon than catfish, and they get *big*.
>
> Sounds like Granpappy was jacklighting paddlefish.
>
> A quick netsearch turned up:
>
> http://www-nais.ccrs.nrcan.gc.ca/schoolnet/issues/risk/fish/efish/paddlfish.html
>
> among other sights.
>
> These critters are endemic to the Mississippi River basin,
> and can reach sizes of 120 cm and 67 kg. They used
> to inhabit the Great Lakes as well, but are believed
> extinct in Canada. The paddlefish is believed to
> be one of the oldest fresh-water bony fish species, originating
> over 65 million years ago (except in Kansas).
>
A number of 'merkin rivers are inhabited by a variety of brands of gar,
some of which are rumored/have been caught/typical fish-taled to rech
man size. They don't look like sturgeon, suck up dinner off the bottom
(as do paddle fish, the paddle for shoveling), and are not good to eat
(except in " and garballs", favored in Louisiana, where they eat all
sorts and conditions of acquatic critters).
Catfish and gar will eat humans (if they've been floating a while), a
nibble here and a nibble there.
--
TMOliver, el pelon sinverguenza
From a small observatory overlooking the confluence of the Three
Bosques...
"Ask not what your government can do for you,
but how to get out of the way when it does!"
Velvet Wood
> A friend of mine was telling me today about catfish at Percy Priest dam in
> Tennessee. It seems there are catfish on the bottom of the lake near the
> dam that are large enough to eat a grown man. I think I have heard this
> before. He said that a friend of his was diving (in a area near the dam
> where no diving is allowed) and seen a few of the giant fish. He was able
> to get away but said one of the fish chased him until he got away from the
> bottom. He was scared to report it since he was not supposed to be diving in
> the area.
> Has anyone else heard this one? I don't believe him but did not tell him.
> I would like to get some examples of it being an urban legend first. Thanks
> for any help.....
Catfish can get quite large, but I don't know if they can get *that* large.
However, catfish are also quite unagressive, being bottom-feeding scavenger
types, and not likely to attack anything that looks at all lively. On the
other hand, I once saw with my very own eyes an alligator gar which must
have weighed at least 250 lbs and, considering the sort of teeth gar have,
makes a convincing argument for not swimming in anything other than a
swimming pool!
Velvet Wood
Chip Taylor
>In article <uQQyqxP9#GA.252@cpmsnbbsa03>, "Andrea Jones"
><george...@geocities.com> wrote:
>
>
>> [2] Probably not a true catfish, or maybe it is... any ichthyologists out
>> there? The spoonbill catfish is pretty damn big, has feelers like a
>> catfish, but has a "spoon bill" protruding from its nose. Apparently
>> they're bottom feeders, at least until you jack light 'em. Come to think of
>> it, they look more like sturgeon than catfish, and they get *big*.
>
The paddlefish is indeed the same as the spoonbill or shovelbill catfish.
Chip "I know my bottom feeders" Taylor
Chip Taylor
>
>A number of 'merkin rivers are inhabited by a variety of brands of gar,
>some of which are rumored/have been caught/typical fish-taled to rech
>man size. They don't look like sturgeon, suck up dinner off the bottom
>(as do paddle fish, the paddle for shoveling), and are not good to eat
>(except in " and garballs", favored in Louisiana, where they eat all
>sorts and conditions of acquatic critters).
>
Gar can indeed reach lengths of 6 feet or longer, especially if you include
the long, saw-toothed bill in the equation. The "greenback" or "alligator"
gar that I used to catch in the Tennessee River as a kid were pretty fearsome
creatures.
Chip "and that ain't no fish tale" Taylor
Stephen Suffet
>
> A friend of mine was telling me today about catfish at Percy Priest
> dam in Tennessee. It seems there are catfish on the bottom of the
Greetings:
I've heard may big fish tales in my life, some about catfish, others
about --- well you name it! Certainly these are part of folklore, but do
they qualify as "urban legends" or "urban folklore" in the sense usually
accepted on this newsgroup? I think not.
Alligators in the New York City sewer system, on the other hand....
:-)
Regards,
Steve
Karen J. Cravens
<37CEFA...@worldnet.att.net>:
> I've heard may big fish tales in my life, some about catfish, others
> about --- well you name it! Certainly these are part of folklore, but do
> they qualify as "urban legends" or "urban folklore" in the sense usually
> accepted on this newsgroup? I think not.
No? A tale everyone heard from a FOAF, about something supposedly
dangerous, which no official source confirms/admits to... sounds about
right to me.
(Of course, the trademark mute swans on Twin Lakes are the real danger.
Feed 'em or they'll mug you. They're worse than the Canada geese.)
Karen "not Canadian, as they don't say 'eh'" Cravens
Bob Church
Stephen Suffet <Suf...@worldnet.att.net> wrote:
>Bill wrote:
>>
>> A friend of mine was telling me today about catfish at Percy Priest
>> dam in Tennessee. It seems there are catfish on the bottom of the
>> lake near the dam that are large enough to eat a grown man....[snip]
>
>Greetings:
>
> I've heard may big fish tales in my life, some about catfish, others
>about --- well you name it! Certainly these are part of folklore, but do
>they qualify as "urban legends" or "urban folklore" in the sense usually
>accepted on this newsgroup? I think not.
>
> Alligators in the New York City sewer system, on the other hand....
I would disagree with that. We moved to the 'Big City' of Marietta Ohio
when I was 15. That year, or soon after, (it's been a long time and details
get fuzzy) the state inspected the bridge across the Ohio River to West
Virginia. The word went out that the divers wouldn't continue the work
because of the giant catfish.
Thirty years later, via AFU, I discovered that the story wasn't limited to
our town and bridge.
Bob Church
John D. Goulden
large.
> However, catfish are also quite unagressive, being bottom-feeding
scavenger
> types, and not likely to attack anything that looks at all lively. On the
> other hand, I once saw with my very own eyes an alligator gar which must
> have weighed at least 250 lbs and, considering the sort of teeth gar have,
> makes a convincing argument for not swimming in anything other than a
> swimming pool!
Catfish don't have to be all that big to give you a pretty good scare. When
you're out noodling[1] for cats and get hold of a sixty pounder, the issue
of just who has who can be very much in question.
[1] that is, trudging about in hip-deep water feeling about under logjam and
such hoping to grab a big fish. I always wear gloves but purists like my
friend Lefty say that spoils the experience.
--
Please reply by email as well as to the group.
John D. Goulden
jgou...@flash.net
Kevin D. Quitt
>...one of the fish chased him until he got away from the
>bottom.
Rubbish. If there were a catfish big enough to eat people, it wouldn't give up
just because the person moved away from the bottom. Catfish will come right out
of the water to grab something edible.
--
#include <standard.disclaimer>
_
Kevin D Quitt USA 91351-4454 96.37% of all statistics are made up
Per the FCA, this email address may not be added to any commercial mail list
pulgao
uttered:
>which basically claims that paddlefish (also known as spoonbill)
>taste good.
With the caveat: "as long as you don't have a glass of milk with
them".
-- Steve Lopez
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Hangar/5176/index.html
http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/chesskamikazes
Bob Ward
Kevin D. Quitt <Ke...@Quitt.net> wrote in message
news:UjXPN86r2qXxNgQFnc1=06gc...@4ax.com...
> On Wed, 1 Sep 1999 16:43:03 -0500, "Bill" <bil...@bellsouth.net> wrote:
>
>
> >...one of the fish chased him until he got away from the
> >bottom.
>
> Rubbish. If there were a catfish big enough to eat people, it wouldn't
give up
> just because the person moved away from the bottom. Catfish will come
right out
> of the water to grab something edible.
Are you sure about that? Being bottomfeeders, I doubt if a catfish is
likely to jump out of the water... they prefer to let the food come to them.
Thomas Prufer
<mtu...@mobiusg.com> wrote:
>> How big is a hundred pound catfish, anyway?
>
>National Geographic ran a story within the past three years about fishing on
>the Mississippi during the 30's. And they had a couple of period pictures
>of catfish that were 5'-6' long - Didn't mention the weight but I reckon
>they were about 100 pounds...
>
The European catfish gets a bit more impressive:
wels, also called WALLER (species Silurus glanis), large, voracious
catfish of the family Siluridae, native to large rivers and lakes from
central Europe to western Asia. One of the largest catfishes, as well
as one of the largest of European freshwater fishes, the wels attains
a length of about 4.5 m (15 feet) and a weight of 300 kg (660
pounds)[1].
Periodically, stories of fishermen being pulled into the water surface
in the European papers. I recall reading one report where a fisherman
got tangled in his line, was pulled into and under water and so
drowned. As fishing for something that can weigh 300kg/660 pounds
would call for at least one-hundred-pound test line, this isn't wildly
unlikely.
Thomas "fisherman's wet dream" Prufer
[1] Britannica CD, Version 99 © 1994-1999. Encyclopædia Britannica,
Inc
Stephen Suffet
>
..
>
> I would disagree with that [assertion that the Big Catfish story is
> indeed folklore, but not UL]. We moved to the 'Big City' of Marietta
> Ohio when I was 15. That year, or soon after, (it's been a long time
> and details get fuzzy) the state inspected the bridge across the Ohio
> River to West Virginia. The word went out that the divers wouldn't
> continue the work because of the giant catfish.
> Thirty years later, via AFU, I discovered that the story wasn't
> limited to our town and bridge.
>
OK, I give up. This particular fishy tale might qualify as an Urban
Legend, but just barely. It lacks the social/moral hook of most good
ULs.
Of course we could always strengthen its UL value by adding an
intro:
"Many years ago little Jimmy went to visit his aunt and uncle down
in Texas. When he was there his older cousin Luke and some of Luke's
friends gave Jimmy a taste of something they called San Antonio caviar.
Jimmy liked it so much, he took a whole jar of it back to Ohio with him.
When he brought some to school one day, the teacher wondered what was
that strange smelling "marmalade" Jimmy was eating. He told the teacher
it was San Antonio caviar. As she had never heard of any such thing, she
called over the school dietician who took one look and said, "Oh, my
gosh that's a lump of catfish eggs!" So digusted were the teacher and
the dietician that they took away Jimmy's caviar sandwich and gave him a
peanut butter and jelly sandwich in its place, tossing the baffled boy's
sandwich into the garbage. Later that day the school's refuse was hauled
away by a waste management (garbage collecting) firm that was supposed
to bring it to a landfill more than 100 miles away. But the company was
mob-run by Jimmy's uncle, a gravelly voiced but well dressed gentleman
whose last name ended in a vowel, but was not Shapiro. What the firm did
was illegally dump the garbage into the Ohio River. Five years pass, and
one summer day Jimmy, now a teenager, decides to go for a swim with some
of his buddies. They all jump off the bridge that connects their state
to West Virginia, but Jimmy doesn't come up again. At first the other
boys think he hit a rock or got snagged on some underwater branched, but
when police divers go down to search for Jimmy's body, much to their
horror and surprise they encounter a humongous catfish, big enough to
eat a full grown person...."
Regards,
Steve
Karen J. Cravens
snr1.gtei.net>:
>Are you sure about that? Being bottomfeeders, I doubt if a catfish is
>likely to jump out of the water... they prefer to let the food come to
them.
Not all cats *are* bottom-feeders ("upside-down" cats have even figured
out how to become surface feeders even though their mouths aren't built
for it), and a better term might be "opportunity feeders." There's just
less competition on the bottom, but if they smell[1] something somewhere
else, they're there in a hurry.
Karen "the bite isn't as bad as the fins" Cravens
[1] It's probably actually taste, but it's the same effect. I think
silver shark cats are called that less because of their appearance (which
*is* pretty sharky) than because of their feeding frenzy as soon as you
drop food in the water.
Brame
[....]
: OK, I give up. This particular fishy tale might qualify as an Urban
: Legend, but just barely. It lacks the social/moral hook of most good
: ULs.
I'm not so sure. In all the versions of the Monstrous Catfish
stories I've encountered, there was a hook. The first time I heard it, in
the early Seventies, supposedly a diver had been sent to inspect cracks in
Wappapello Dam in southeast Missouri, where he encountered catfish bigger
than himself and barely escaped with his life and reason intact. The
conclusion was that we had to be careful about taking recreation in that
water, and not trust anything the lake authorities said about it, because
they were covering up the truth lest it adversely affect tourism.
As this thread--and its many preincarnations--should attest, the
spread and mutability of the tale follow the classic UL model, gaining
attachment to local features with vague attributions over broad geographic
areas over broad spans of time. The hook generally remains much the same,
though, that there's something awful and threatening to be watched out for
while public officials lie to us about it and in effect place us at
risk--in other words, confirming prevailing fears and attitudes about
public authority. In the early Seventies, what with Watergate and the
messy finale of our undeclared war in Vietnam, it seemed easy to believe
that the people in charge would let us go and get killed rather than take
responsible action that might diminish revenues and, more importantly,
their own authority.
Years later I heard that Bagnell Dam (Lake of the Ozarks) was
infested with monster catfish with an interesting twist, that the
authorities kept people from fishing the deeps near the dam lest they be
pulled into the water by monster fish, drown, and occasion fat lawsuits
against the authorities by their families. Here was the familiar theme of
official corruption and cover-up, mutated to fit the times. It was about
then that a town called Times Beach in eastern Missouri was evacuated and
closed to the public due to dioxin contamination, and the basic idea that
relevant authorities would conspire to endanger public health and safety in
fear of lawsuits was being reinforced daily in media and rumor (presuming
a difference).
I find this most recent version interesting because of its seeming
inversion of the usual moral. In this case, it's the discoverer who must
cover-up his encounter in fear of the authorities. I suggest that this
again validates prevailing attitudes, as many people now fear and expect
repression more than cover-ups. And there's the hook. There are
man-eating monsters loose in the lake and if the diver dares warn the
people, he'll face arrest and all manner of bad things.
: Of course we could always strengthen its UL value by adding an
: intro:
[....]
Or we could always concede that it's an urban legend and not worry
about it.
Will "it works for me" Brame
Andrea Jones
Bob Ward wrote in message ...
>
>Kevin D. Quitt <Ke...@Quitt.net> wrote in message
>news:UjXPN86r2qXxNgQFnc1=06gc...@4ax.com...
>> On Wed, 1 Sep 1999 16:43:03 -0500, "Bill" <bil...@bellsouth.net> wrote:
>>
>>
>> >...one of the fish chased him until he got away from the
>> >bottom.
>>
>> Rubbish. If there were a catfish big enough to eat people, it wouldn't
>give up
>> just because the person moved away from the bottom. Catfish will come
>right out
>> of the water to grab something edible.
>
>likely to jump out of the water... they prefer to let the food come to
them.
>
in Chicago, Illinois, USA will, when a live cicada is thrown into their
pond.
Andrea "Is there a good catfish joint in San Diego?" Jones
Jack Winslade
>> A friend of mine was telling me today about catfish at Percy Priest dam in
>> Tennessee. It seems there are catfish on the bottom of the lake near the
>> dam that are large enough to eat a grown man. I think I have heard this
>> before. He said that a friend of his was diving (in a area near the dam
>> where no diving is allowed) and seen a few of the giant fish. He was able
[bobbitt]
>Catfish can get quite large, but I don't know if they can get *that* large.
>However, catfish are also quite unagressive, being bottom-feeding scavenger
>types, and not likely to attack anything that looks at all lively. On the
>other hand, I once saw with my very own eyes an alligator gar which must
>have weighed at least 250 lbs and, considering the sort of teeth gar have,
>makes a convincing argument for not swimming in anything other than a
>swimming pool!
Years ago in St Louis, the same story was going around, although the
setting was the Mississippi River by the various bridge piers. Size
of '6 feet' and '250 lbs' were being passed around.
Good day JSW
Mike Muth
>
> "Bill" bil...@bellsouth.net wrote in <t5hz3.3172$kN2....@news3.atl>:
>
> > A friend of mine was telling me today about catfish at Percy Priest dam
> in
> > Tennessee. It seems there are catfish on the bottom of the lake near
> the
> > dam that are large enough to eat a grown man. I think I have heard this
> > Has anyone else heard this one? I don't believe him but did not tell
> him.
> > I would like to get some examples of it being an urban legend first.
> Thanks
> > for any help.....
>
> pond (here, anything larger than a cattle tank is dubbed "lake") which
> gives its name to a smallish shopping mall, and which is a singularly
> muddy place for diving. Supposedly there was some sort of maintenance
> that required hiring divers (since the mud made it unattractive for the
> ULian divers to do it for sport... though perhaps that would account for
> the Navy honor guard the next-to-most-recent River Festival Parade was
> blessed with, since what else would the Navy be doing in Kansas?)
There's a Navy Reserve center at 3026 George Washington Blvd in
Wichita. It seems that there are lots of Kansas boys who sign up for
the Navy. After their 4 year hitch, they still have two years of
reserve time to do. Add these guys to the ones who want to be in the
Navy, but not full time, and you have enough demand to justify a reserve
unit.
I hope that color guard did better than at my organization's change of
command ceremony back in '93. That day, they looked like they'd just
been pulled from a duffel bag and had trouble staying in step.
> and it
> turned out to be Too Deep To Find The Bottom of, simultaneously with There
> Are Giant Bottom-Dwelling Fish.
There used to be stories of alligators in the Twin Lakes from time to
time.
I remember when they built the shopping center and can vaguely recollect
that around that time, they drained at least one of those "lakes." As I
recall, they weren't nearly as deep as we thought - which was a real
disappointment to all of us kids.
> Ark River(s) cats used to get to prodigous sizes (man-sized, not man-
> eating-sized) but fishing and agriculture-inspired changes in the river
> have pretty much eliminated the larger species (blue cat vs. channel cat,
> I think) and individuals.
The fishing was one of the reasons the Wichita built their villages
along the Arkansas (among other places).
We got some 12 pound channel cats out of the Ninnescah river before the
dam was operational. Then there was the 4'+ blue cat my father caught
in Walnut Creek in '59. (When he held it up, it was longer than I was
tall and I was a bit over 4' tall that summer.) He checked and it
wasn't even close to any king of a record.
I think pollution has done more than its share to limit fish and fishing
in the Arkansas River. In '93, the city warned folks not to eat more
than (some number wich currently escapes me) pounds of fish caught in
that river per month. It's also been pretty dry over a lot of the last
30 years - although a couple of years were pretty obvious exceptions.
This means that fewer nutrients wash into the river and pollutants
(especially pesticides and fertilizers) are more concentrated. (Oh no,
I've provided someone with an excuse for a giant mutant catfish story.)
Mike
Mike Muth
> A number of 'merkin rivers are inhabited by a variety of brands of gar,
> some of which are rumored/have been caught/typical fish-taled to rech
> man size. They don't look like sturgeon, suck up dinner off the bottom
> (as do paddle fish, the paddle for shoveling), and are not good to eat
> (except in " and garballs", favored in Louisiana, where they eat all
> sorts and conditions of acquatic critters).
I used to hate those things. I even had one bite me once (I had caught
it and was a little careless landing it).
I saw a gar feeding on what was left of a water moccasin once and I've
never seen them in water which didn't also have snakes. (Some of
Kansas' waterways appear to be pretty snake free.) I've always wondered
if they prey on water snakes of various kinds. Maybe someday I'll get
far enough down on my priority list to look it up.
Largest gar I ever held was about 2 ft (60cm) long.
Mike
Mike Muth
> "Bob Ward" rcw...@gte.net wrote in <EnIz3.157$V16.6664@paloalto-
> snr1.gtei.net>:
> >likely to jump out of the water... they prefer to let the food come to
> them.
> out how to become surface feeders even though their mouths aren't built
> for it), and a better term might be "opportunity feeders." There's just
> less competition on the bottom, but if they smell[1] something somewhere
> else, they're there in a hurry.
I second the opportunity feeders. I have seen channel cats and
bullheads feed on other fish.
> Karen "the bite isn't as bad as the fins" Cravens
I agree here as well. It's difficult to get the hook out of a 3 or 4 lb
catfish without getting stuck. I started carrying a heavy duty work
glove just for that chore.
Mike
Pat Dougherty
in a particular place as preferred by species but if they are swimming
by and see something food-oid they will take the opportunity to grab
it. I recently caught a 14" catfish with a Blue Gill rig in open
water. And yes, most, but not all, fish can breach if they have
sufficient reason.
Pat Dougherty
Karen J. Cravens
>I hope that color guard did better than at my organization's change of
>command ceremony back in '93. That day, they looked like they'd just
>been pulled from a duffel bag and had trouble staying in step.
No idea. I was marching behind the Windwagon earning brownie points with
the airline. Not that it did any good, and I quit a few months later.
The bank has better parking for Riverfest, and requires nothing more
strenuous than wearing the o-fishul T-shirt at the Plaza Jazz concert.
Other than the fact that it was hideous yellow this year, that's not too
difficult. (It incited such comments as "If we all stand in a row, we
look like a school bus" and "It's great camouflage, if you ever need to
hide at a construction site." Although that wouldn't work at Second and
Meridian, where there's a bizarre purplish-pink backhoe-thingy. What
self-respecting construction worker would want to drive that?)
>I remember when they built the shopping center and can vaguely recollect
>that around that time, they drained at least one of those "lakes." As I
>recall, they weren't nearly as deep as we thought - which was a real
>disappointment to all of us kids.
Really? I always thought they *built* the lakes when they built the
shopping center. Before my time, though.
>The fishing was one of the reasons the Wichita built their villages
>along the Arkansas (among other places).
Yep. Now, of course, a channel cat wouldn't really fit in the extant
channel...
>I think pollution has done more than its share to limit fish and fishing
>in the Arkansas River. In '93, the city warned folks not to eat more
>than (some number wich currently escapes me) pounds of fish caught in
>that river per month. It's also been pretty dry over a lot of the last
>30 years - although a couple of years were pretty obvious exceptions.
>This means that fewer nutrients wash into the river and pollutants
>(especially pesticides and fertilizers) are more concentrated. (Oh no,
>I've provided someone with an excuse for a giant mutant catfish story.)
Well, geez, they're *catfish*, a little toxic waste isn't going to hurt
'em none. They're like cockroaches, after all.
Karen "better eating, though" Cravens
Kevin D. Quitt
cigar when expressed an interest - and that's why I don't smoke) kept a catfish
in a pond in his back yard. It was 3-4' long, and it would occasionally catch
the birds that came to drink.
Lon Stowell
>Catfish don't have to be all that big to give you a pretty good scare. When
>you're out noodling[1] for cats and get hold of a sixty pounder, the issue
>of just who has who can be very much in question.
>
>[1] that is, trudging about in hip-deep water feeling about under logjam and
>such hoping to grab a big fish. I always wear gloves but purists like my
>friend Lefty say that spoils the experience.
I'm sorry, but the practice is called "grabbling" and is usually
done from along the banks of a river, reaching back and up under
the undercut bank you are on at the moment.
Resulting sensations are somewhat similar to those encountered
by folks clamming for Oregon goeducks in the time-honored manner.
Lon Stowell
Bob Ward <rcw...@gte.net> wrote:
>
>Kevin D. Quitt <Ke...@Quitt.net> wrote in message
>news:UjXPN86r2qXxNgQFnc1=06gc...@4ax.com...
>> On Wed, 1 Sep 1999 16:43:03 -0500, "Bill" <bil...@bellsouth.net> wrote:
>>
>>
>> >...one of the fish chased him until he got away from the
>> >bottom.
>>
>> Rubbish. If there were a catfish big enough to eat people, it wouldn't
>give up
>> just because the person moved away from the bottom. Catfish will come
>right out
>> of the water to grab something edible.
>
>likely to jump out of the water... they prefer to let the food come to them.
>
Sorry, thought originally you were questioning the useage of
the term "edible" relative to the feeding habits of catfish.
Dunno about the wimpy ones back east, but the little mudcats
in the local sloughs out west, as well as the big channel cats
in the mid Green River get pretty aggressive once food is
detected.
Karen J. Cravens
> Years later I heard that Bagnell Dam (Lake of the Ozarks) was
>infested with monster catfish with an interesting twist, that the
>authorities kept people from fishing the deeps near the dam lest they be
>pulled into the water by monster fish, drown, and occasion fat lawsuits
>against the authorities by their families. Here was the familiar theme
It is a running joke that every time I and/or my husband visit Northwest
Arkansas, they will either be searching Beaver Lake (or occasionally one
of the smaller ones 'round about) for a body, or trying to figure out who
a body someone just found was. The last time I went, a fellow (I'm
honestly surprised I haven't seen him pop up in a Darwin forwardable) had
managed to kill himself by tying an anchor to himself "to see how deep the
lake was," and subsequently went too deep, came up too fast and knocked
himself out on the bottom of the boat.
The astonishing thing was that the newsperson managed to say "Authorities
*suspect* alcohol was involved" with a straight face.
At any rate, I'd suspect that if that many people manage to kill
themselves or otherwise meet with foul play *without* giant catfish, and
no one gets sued, I don't think the catfish would need a coverup.
Then again, maybe the fellow was just trying to get away from the giant
catfish. They didn't mention any bite marks, but then, They Wouldn't,
Would They. And maybe the body they found in a suitcase (again, in the
lake) was someone who had met their demise trying to hide from the cats.
Or maybe...
Karen "I suspect inbreeding was involved" Cravens
Brian Yeoh
> "Mike Muth" mike...@iname.com wrote in <37D00794...@iname.com>:
<snip>
> >I think pollution has done more than its share to limit fish and fishing
> >in the Arkansas River. In '93, the city warned folks not to eat more
> >than (some number wich currently escapes me) pounds of fish caught in
> >that river per month. It's also been pretty dry over a lot of the last
> >30 years - although a couple of years were pretty obvious exceptions.
> >This means that fewer nutrients wash into the river and pollutants
> >(especially pesticides and fertilizers) are more concentrated. (Oh no,
> >I've provided someone with an excuse for a giant mutant catfish story.)
> Well, geez, they're *catfish*, a little toxic waste isn't going to hurt
> 'em none. They're like cockroaches, after all.
> Karen "better eating, though" Cravens
Well. I don't know about that. Back when Singapore was briefly known as
Shonan-to[1] my aunt was going blind due to lack of nutrition. So to give
her the nutritious goodies like Vitamin B, etc, my grandparents scooped up
cockroaches from an unspecified location[2] and cooked them for her.
Restored her eyesight a charm.
And besides, cockroach relatives like prawns, lobster and crabs aren't
exactly foul tasting.
Maybe Judy Johnson or Doug Yanega can elaborate?
Or of course, my father could have been telling a tall one.
Brian "like they've said, anything can be turned into a food thread" Yeoh
[1] I.e. the Japanese occupation.
[2] Believe me. You don't want to know. The act of scooping should give an
idea.
Clear, unscaleable, ahead |
Rise the Mountains of Instead | -- WH Auden, "Autumn Song"
From whose cold cascading streams |
None may drink except in dreams. |
Don Whittington
No. (Hard to contradict myself.) In the South it's called noodling, like
he said. Many folks load cypress stumps with bait for just this purpose.
The fact that other, less wonderful results than catfish-on-the-fist are
possible simply proves Darwin incorrect.
Don "Going noodling nowhere soon on Pearl River" Whittington
Andrea Jones
Mike Muth wrote in message <37D00794...@iname.com>...
>There's a Navy Reserve center at 3026 George Washington Blvd in
>Wichita. It seems that there are lots of Kansas boys who sign up for
>the Navy. After their 4 year hitch, they still have two years of
>reserve time to do. Add these guys to the ones who want to be in the
>Navy, but not full time, and you have enough demand to justify a reserve
>unit.
means they don't do anything military unless there's a sudden war and
they're desperately needed. I looked into that one before I enlisted...
then went ahead and signed on for six years of active duty, so it's a moot
point.
Andrea "Can't wait to see what the real world is like in 2004." Jones
TMOliver
>
>
> No. (Hard to contradict myself.) In the South it's called noodling, like
> he said. Many folks load cypress stumps with bait for just this purpose.
> The fact that other, less wonderful results than catfish-on-the-fist are
> possible simply proves Darwin incorrect.
>
> Don "Going noodling nowhere soon on Pearl River" Whittington
I'll vote with "noodling", although some locales favor "gilling".
Success has to do with the protected (from current) eddies provided for
catfish-naps by tree roots and bank cuts.
As a teenager, I did suffer the downside of the sport/odd pastime, being
bitten upon the arm by a thankfully small but no less shocking
Cottonmouth. The UL that snakes, even water moccasins, can't/won't bite
underwater ins untrue (although I suspect that underwater strikes are
slower and less damaging, not that I gave much thought to it at the
time, being scared about three steps past shitless).
--
TMOliver, el pelon sinverguenza
From a small observatory overlooking the confluence of the Three
Bosques...
"Ask not what your government can do for you,
but how to get out of the way when it does!"
Kevin D. Quitt
wrote:
>...In the South it's called noodling, like
>he said.
Is that the same as tickling fish?
Don Erickson
>In article <7qq3jv$t7s$1...@triton.dnai.com>, lsto...@dnai.com wrote:>
>> John D. Goulden <jgou...@flash.net> wrote:
>> >Catfish don't have to be all that big to give you a pretty good scare. When
>> >you're out noodling[1] for cats and get hold of a sixty pounder, the issue
>> >of just who has who can be very much in question.
The big catfish (or so I've heard) like to spin along their longitudinal
axis around the noodler's arm, removing skin and a fair portion of meat.
-Don 'along with any blue star tattoos on the forearm, I expect' Erickson
--
.sig semper tyrannis
Karen J. Cravens
>The big catfish (or so I've heard) like to spin along their longitudinal
>axis around the noodler's arm, removing skin and a fair portion of meat.
And don't forget the "potentially venomous" spines.
That'd be, I suppose, an "aquaristan legend" or something... many fish books
list certain species of cats that way. I'm not sure if this means (a) some of
the spine are venomous, (b) some of the individuals are venomous, or (c) the
species might be venomous but it hasn't been proven. Certainly there's no
problem about them not being big enough to fin a human, even the fry.
(And there's no difference between aquarium cats and wild cats, as demonstrated
by the local PetCo, which has albino and standard channel cats, one or two
inches long (currently), for sale. Apparently people either don't read the
tags that announce they can get 18-24" long (which is probably accurate under
home aquarium conditions), or they just figure they'll dump 'em in the river
when they get too big for the tank. Gator food, I guess.)
Karen "Baensch recommends against noodling for corydoras" Cravens
Alan Follett
> lsto...@dnai.com wrote:
> I'm sorry, but the practice is called
> "grabbling" and is usually done from
> along the banks of a river, reaching back
> and up under the undercut bank you are
> on at the moment.
<snip>
> No. (Hard to contradict myself.) In the
> South it's called noodling, like he said.
<snip>
And, to throw another term into the pot, in Elizabethan English the term
for the sport of hand-catching trout was "tickling." Do I sense a
certain common phonetic element here?
Alan "not sure how ling cod may enter into this" Follett
Madeleine Page
>dun...@mindspring.com (Don?Whittington) wrote:
>> lsto...@dnai.com wrote:
[terms for catching fish by sort of cuddling them out of the water]
> "grabbling"...
>> In the
>> South it's called noodling...
>And, to throw another term into the pot, in Elizabethan English the term
>for the sport of hand-catching trout was "tickling."
You mean Elizabethan English as in LizTwo, right? This was a term used by
my father during my childhood.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. In the early fifties. Nineteen fifties, smart arses.
Madeleine "sharrup in the back there" Page
--
Want to make a difference? Go to http://www.thehungersite.com and click on
the "Donate Free Food" button. Do that once a day and you contribute up to
2 1/4 cups of food to the world's hungry.
Brame
: It is a running joke that every time I and/or my husband visit Northwest
: Arkansas, they will either be searching Beaver Lake (or occasionally one
: of the smaller ones 'round about) for a body, or trying to figure out who
: a body someone just found was. The last time I went, a fellow (I'm
: honestly surprised I haven't seen him pop up in a Darwin forwardable) had
: managed to kill himself by tying an anchor to himself "to see how deep the
: lake was," and subsequently went too deep, came up too fast and knocked
: himself out on the bottom of the boat.
Don't you mean you're astonished he hasn't bobbed up?
I'm sorry.
: The astonishing thing was that the newsperson managed to say "Authorities
: *suspect* alcohol was involved" with a straight face.
: At any rate, I'd suspect that if that many people manage to kill
: themselves or otherwise meet with foul play *without* giant catfish, and
: no one gets sued, I don't think the catfish would need a coverup.
Good point. Still, that isn't the only reason to question this
story, surely. Not that you said it was, of course.
[....]
: Karen "I suspect inbreeding was involved" Cravens
I should think that would go without saying in Arkansas.
Will "of course Arkansawyers say the same thing about Pukes" Brame
Mike Muth
It seems that some number prefer to remain in or enter into the active
reserve rather than the Individual Ready Reserve. That extra cash for
weekends and summer camp can be useful when you're trying to make ends
meet during that rough period after separation.
Mike
Thomas Prufer
Follett) wrote:
>And, to throw another term into the pot, in Elizabethan English the term
>for the sport of hand-catching trout was "tickling."
I have also heard of the phrase "tickling for trout" in Germany
("Forellen kitzeln"). Back to catfish. I have a cite with various
terms for catching-by-hand, and a quick description:
"Still another method used legally or illegally, depending on which
state you fish in, is grabbling, also called groping, tickling, and
noodling. This involves catching catfish with the the bare hands and
is done mostly in the late spring or during the summer months when big
catfish are holed up spawning and guarding their eggs. The grabbler
probes with his arms in the holes under banks or logs, enticing a
catfish to attack his hand. Then the braver individuals may shove
their arms through the catfish's mouth and out through the gill
opening. Thus caught, the catfish can be hauled out. Other grabblers
prefer to tickle the catfish the catfish along its belly, slowly
working their hands toward the gills. Then they quickly thrust their
fingers under the gill cover and grab the catfish to pull it out."[1]
I have recently read of someone who had groped, and got the snapping
end of a snapping turtle, losing a finger in the process.
Thomas "now we can have a 'groping/tickling/noodling the vagina
dentata' thread" Prufer
[1] Vlad Evanoff, "The Fresh-Water Fisherman's Bible", Revised
Edition, ISBN 0-385-14405-9
Lee Rudolph
>("Forellen kitzeln").
>Thomas "now we can have a 'groping/tickling/noodling the vagina
>dentata' thread" Prufer
A toothsome topic, no doubt. But first things first: what's all this
about Ellen's kitzler?
Lee "I suppose we could ask the man in the boat" Rudolph
Simon Slavin
Karen J. Cravens <silve...@phoenyx.net> wrote:
> The astonishing thing was that the newsperson managed to say "Authorities
> *suspect* alcohol was involved" with a straight face.
>
> At any rate, I'd suspect that if that many people manage to kill
> themselves or otherwise meet with foul play *without* giant catfish, and
> no one gets sued, I don't think the catfish would need a coverup.
ObUL: The catfish /is/ the coverup.
Simon.
--
<http://www.hearsay.demon.co.uk> | ... you start off with a typical message,
No junk email please. | let's say a 2.5MB Word document containing
ET may've phoned /us/. | three lines of text and a macro virus ...
Help play the tape: SETI@home. | -- Peter Gutmann
Andrea Jones
Mike Muth wrote in message <37D16D87...@ibm.net>...
<snip>
>> Yes, but it's two years in the Individual Ready Reserve, generally, which
>> means they don't do anything military unless there's a sudden war and
>> they're desperately needed. I looked into that one before I enlisted...
>> then went ahead and signed on for six years of active duty, so it's a
moot
>> point.
>
>It seems that some number prefer to remain in or enter into the active
>reserve rather than the Individual Ready Reserve. That extra cash for
>weekends and summer camp can be useful when you're trying to make ends
>meet during that rough period after separation.
>
the Marine Corps Reserve while still on active duty in the Navy. His
argument was that since he was stationed on a gator freighter[1] anyway, the
Marines could just assign him to the MEU[2] on his ship and he could serve
both at once. Unfortunately the recruiter laughed at him.
Andrea "I almost joined the Marine Corps. Then I realized I was lazy."
Jones
[1] Any one of the amphibious class of ships, which carry Marines on them.
[2] Marine Expeditionary Unit. I.E. the guys who get to storm the beaches.
They make great pets.
Lon Stowell
Alan Follett <AFol...@webtv.net> wrote:
>dun...@mindspring.com (Don=A0Whittington) wrote:
>
>> lsto...@dnai.com wrote:
>
>> I'm sorry, but the practice is called
>> along the banks of a river, reaching back
>> on at the moment.
>
><snip>
>
>> No. (Hard to contradict myself.) In the
>> South it's called noodling, like he said.
>
><snip>
>
>certain common phonetic element here?
Only if someone attempts to introduce a term for grasping
for preserved salmon....
Lon Stowell
>
>
>"Still another method used legally or illegally, depending on which
>state you fish in, is grabbling, also called groping, tickling, and
>noodling.
>
>Edition, ISBN 0-385-14405-9
To which I can only follow up with a "neener neener neener"
to all of the groupers, gropers, ticklers, and noodlers.
And from the big bad WWW.Miriam-Websters.sothere.sothere.sothere
website,
"grabbling"
Main Entry: grabble
Pronunciation: 'gra-b&l
Function: intransitive verb
Inflected Form(s): grabbled; grabbling
Etymology: Dutch grabbelen, from Middle Dutch, frequentative of
grabben
Date: circa 1580
1 : to search with the hand : GROPE
2 : to lie or fall prone : SPRAWL
- grabbler noun
"tickler"
Main Entry: tickler
Pronunciation: 'ti-kl&r
Function: noun
Date: 1680
1 : a person or device that tickles
2 : a device for jogging the memory; specifically : a file that serves
as a reminder
and is arranged to bring matters to timely attention
"noodler"
Main Entry: 3noodle
Function: intransitive verb
Inflected Form(s): noodled; noodling
Etymology: imitative
Date: circa 1937
: to improvise on an instrument in an informal or desultory manner
Since one usually sprawls along the banks and searches with the
hand for catfish [unless one is an unsportsmanly philistine],
grabbler is appropriate and should be immediately enshrined as
the official AFU terminology. The noodlers can go fiddle
around and the ticklers can also go fiddle around.
Charles Wm. Dimmick
> An old man who lived in my neighborhood (he's the one who made me smoke a whole
> cigar when expressed an interest - and that's why I don't smoke) kept a catfish
> in a pond in his back yard. It was 3-4' long, and it would occasionally catch
> the birds that came to drink.
The State of Florida Fish Hatchery near Green Cove Springs had, in
the 1950's, a pet catfish which was at least 5 feet long, maybe close
to 6 ft. They kept it indoors in a special tank with an outline something
like a dumbbell, with two end sections about 7 feet square and a
connecting channel about 30 inches by 30 inches by about 15 feet long.
The fish kept himself entertained by swimming from one end to the
other along the connecting channel, turning around, and swimming
back again. Visitors were able to get almost withing touching range.
Charles Wm. "well, it _looked_ six feet long" Dimmick
David Scheidt
: Only if someone attempts to introduce a term for grasping
: for preserved salmon....
I had that thought that was called "shopping"?
David "never done it, myself" Scheidt
--
dsch...@enteract.com
Remember - if all you have is an axe, every problem looks like hours of fun.
-- Frossie in the monastery
Chip Taylor
>>
>> I'm sorry, but the practice is called "grabbling" and is usually
>> done from along the banks of a river, reaching back and up under
>> the undercut bank you are on at the moment.
>>
>> Resulting sensations are somewhat similar to those encountered
>> by folks clamming for Oregon goeducks in the time-honored manner.
>
>No. (Hard to contradict myself.) In the South it's called noodling, like
>he said. Many folks load cypress stumps with bait for just this purpose.
>The fact that other, less wonderful results than catfish-on-the-fist are
>possible simply proves Darwin incorrect.
>
>Don "Going noodling nowhere soon on Pearl River" Whittington
In Tennessee we used to call this "tickling" fish (or snapping turtles as the
case may be).
Chip "the old fish-tickler" Taylor
God, grant me the Senility to forget the people I never liked anyway, the
good fortune to run into the ones I do, and the eyesight to tell the
difference.
Anonymous
> A friend of mine was telling me today about catfish at Percy Priest dam in
>Tennessee. It seems there are catfish on the bottom of the lake near the
>dam that are large enough to eat a grown man. I think I have heard this
>before. He said that a friend of his was diving (in a area near the dam
>where no diving is allowed) and seen a few of the giant fish. He was able
>to get away but said one of the fish chased him until he got away from the
>bottom. He was scared to report it since he was not supposed to be diving in
>the area.
>
> Has anyone else heard this one? I don't believe him but did not tell him.
>I would like to get some examples of it being an urban legend first. Thanks
>for any help.....
There are fish big enough to swallow a diver in one gulp. The grouper
often grows large enough and is often found among the shipwrecks of the
Pacific. But on sunken ships from the Second World War they are never
found that large - supposedly the old rounds of ammo go off periodically
killing the fish. Even though the grouper grows big enough I don't
think there are any tales of them swallowing a diver. The deteriorating
ordinance poses a far greater danger.
The story which really freaks me out (and I believe to be true) is the
one about the giant clams that close on a divers leg when he makes a
misstep. That and the sharks that ate the crew of the USS Indianapolis.
DrPostman
>There are fish big enough to swallow a diver in one gulp. The grouper
>often grows large enough and is often found among the shipwrecks of the
>Pacific. But on sunken ships from the Second World War they are never
>found that large - supposedly the old rounds of ammo go off periodically
>killing the fish. Even though the grouper grows big enough I don't
>think there are any tales of them swallowing a diver. The deteriorating
>ordinance poses a far greater danger.
I've been up close to one that was at least 600lbs and bigger than I
was. I was with the captain of our boat at the time and he saw dollar
signs - wasted over 5 spears trying to kill it so that he could haul it
on board and cut it up to sell to the Cubans in Miami - he was so pissed
over losing all those spears. When I saw it I was very new at diving
and all I could think of is that they just suck in water to eat, and
that he might want to suck in while I was around (I was only 6 feet
away when we first saw it - and the damned thing's mouth was wide
open).
I laugh now, but it is a nervous, frightening kind of laugh.
--
Dr.Postman USPS, MBMC, BsD; "Disgruntled, But Unarmed"
High Counselor of the New Usenet Order & Existentialist Philosophos
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"READING COMPRENSION, you have a real problem with that, BO."
-- Idiot The Bruce, Daniel Kettler
Kevin D. Quitt
>In Tennessee we used to call this "tickling" fish (or snapping turtles as the
>case may be).
The way I learned it, tickling was letting the fish swim through your hands then
flinging it up onto shore, rather than reaching for something holed away
somewhere. I will point out that I actually caught a fish by tickling it - took
me over an hour to get one. Next time I get the urge, I'll go up to Alaska
during spawning season. Can't walk across a creek without stepping on the
salmon - you'd have to work at messing up tickling them then. (Of course, the
ones heading upstream are no longer edible by humans; the bears like 'em tho'.)
Kevin D. Quitt
"I was skin diving all alone. Then, my foot got caught by a giant clam. Then
the shark came, and then the barracuda, and then an octopus came and put his
tentacles all around me. And then, something terrible happened: they all went
away - and I was all alone again."
John Brown
>>You mean Elizabethan English as in LizTwo, right? This was a term used by
>>my father during my childhood.
>>
>>Yeah, yeah, yeah. In the early fifties. Nineteen fifties, smart arses.
>>
>>Madeleine "sharrup in the back there" Page
Glenn Dowdy courageously, albeit foolishly, wrote:
>MCML's BC?
Glenn, I imagine it is this sort of comment that gave rise to the ULish phrase
"Dead Man Walking".
John "sacrificial stoat" Brown
"I really don't know", John Gilmer's reflective moment on alt.folklore.urban
Greg Franklin
> I'm not so sure. In all the versions of the Monstrous Catfish
> stories I've encountered, there was a hook. The first time I heard it, in
> the early Seventies, supposedly a diver had been sent to inspect cracks in
> Wappapello Dam in southeast Missouri, where he encountered catfish bigger
> than himself and barely escaped with his life and reason intact. The
> conclusion was that we had to be careful about taking recreation in that
> water, and not trust anything the lake authorities said about it, because
> they were covering up the truth lest it adversely affect tourism.
Just like "Jaws"? Are you sure your vector told it before Spielberg?
My vague memory is of the deep-fried Southern version of the UL. The
abnormally large catfish swimming in TVA lakes were due to nuclear radiation
leaking from the Oak Ridge (Tenn.) nuclear facility, leakage which the gummint
wouldn't dare acknowledge. The "hook" was the same as what you got from your
version.
Smart post, Will.
Greg "smarties rool" Franklin
Brame
: Just like "Jaws"? Are you sure your vector told it before Spielberg?
Yes. This would have been about 1971.
: My vague memory is of the deep-fried Southern version of the UL. The
: abnormally large catfish swimming in TVA lakes were due to nuclear radiation
: leaking from the Oak Ridge (Tenn.) nuclear facility, leakage which the gummint
: wouldn't dare acknowledge. The "hook" was the same as what you got from your
: version.
Paranoia never goes out of fashion, I reckon.
Will "what did he mean by that?" Brame
jonathan miller
> The deteriorating
> ordinance poses a far greater danger.
A reflection on the councilmen we elect?
Jon "gotta vote" Miller
Simon Slavin
Kevin D. Quitt <Ke...@Quitt.net> wrote:
> Next time I get the urge, I'll go up to Alaska
> during spawning season. Can't walk across a creek without stepping on the
> salmon
I thought only Jesus could make that complaint.
> - you'd have to work at messing up tickling them then. (Of course, the
> ones heading upstream are no longer edible by humans; the bears like 'em
> tho'.)
Tickling salmon was probably learned from the bears. That's how they
catch them.
Bossman
> Tickling salmon was probably learned from the bears. That's how they
> catch them.
I thought they knocked 'em out/slapped 'em silly?
Then again, I've never let Simon tickle me...
Michael
Please direct e-mail to both of the following addresses :
mitc...@image-link.com
mitc...@att.net
Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose.
Kevin D. Quitt
(Simon Slavin) wrote:
>I thought only Jesus could make that complaint.
You haven't seen a stream the salmon are using to get to their spawning grounds.
You have to drag your feet along the bottom or you *will* step on one of them.
>Tickling salmon was probably learned from the bears. That's how they
>catch them.
Well, actually, their technique is a little different. When I tickle fish, I
lower my hands into the water to make a basket, then wait for a fish to swim
over my hands. The bear just spots a fish, then sticks 3-inch long claws into
it.
Red
We (Hubby and I) saw the big fleet of boats in the harbor and saw the
'unloading of the fish'
There were monster fish being unloaded. As big as whales!
Rest assured that these fish were not whales, but Tuna. I never thought
they grew that big!
One boat came in with Lobsters, Crabs, Shrimp, and Prawns. These things
were monsters!!!
I didn't see the boat that came in with the catfish, but I saw one being
auctioned off that was a good 500 lbs.
I wish I spoke Japanese because I would have asked how much that biggie was
being auctioned off at.
RedWitch in Tokyo
DrPostman <It...@mysig.emailthere> wrote in message
news:6gXWN9qRTwHHl+...@4ax.com...
> Anonymous <nob...@replay.com> wrote:
>
>
> >There are fish big enough to swallow a diver in one gulp. The grouper
> >often grows large enough and is often found among the shipwrecks of the
> >Pacific. But on sunken ships from the Second World War they are never
> >found that large - supposedly the old rounds of ammo go off periodically
> >killing the fish. Even though the grouper grows big enough I don't
> >think there are any tales of them swallowing a diver. The deteriorating
> >ordinance poses a far greater danger.
>
>
Karen J. Cravens
<37D7D9B9...@nashville.com>:
>Anonymous wrote:
>
>> The deteriorating
>> ordinance poses a far greater danger.
>
>A reflection on the councilmen we elect?
Oh, no, not another "stupid laws" thread...
Doug Yanega
Brian Yeoh <by...@panix.com> wrote:
> And besides, cockroach relatives like prawns, lobster and crabs aren't
> exactly foul tasting.
>
> Maybe Judy Johnson or Doug Yanega can elaborate?
Depends on the roach species. Not all fish, mollusks, fungi, or
crustaceans are edible - MOST are not, in fact, and only a select few
taste great. With over 10 million insect species, there have to be SOME
that are phenomenally yummy. The problem is screening them all...
Doug Yanega Dept. of Entomology
Entomology Research Museum Univ. of California
Riverside, CA 92521 909-787-4315 (opinions are mine, not UCR's)
http://insects.ucr.edu/staff/yanega.html
"There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness is
the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick
Judy Johnson
>In article <Pine.NEB.4.10.99090...@panix7.panix.com>,
>Brian Yeoh <by...@panix.com> wrote:
>
>> And besides, cockroach relatives like prawns, lobster and crabs aren't
>> exactly foul tasting.
>>
>> Maybe Judy Johnson or Doug Yanega can elaborate?
>
>Depends on the roach species. Not all fish, mollusks, fungi, or
>crustaceans are edible - MOST are not, in fact, and only a select few
>taste great. With over 10 million insect species, there have to be SOME
>that are phenomenally yummy. The problem is screening them all...
>
There was an article on human entomophagy in the Bulletin of the
Entomological Society of America some time ago that mentioned several
different types of insects eaten by indigenous peoples. In more than
a few cases, these people prefered the insects to beef.
One edible insect was, I believe, the larva of the palm rhinocerous
beetle. Supposedly the elders of the community would discourage young
people from tasting the beetle larvae, for fear that they would spend
all their time chopping down palms in search of the grubs.
Judy " and then there's honey pot ants, yum yum" Johnson
Kevin D. Quitt
>...several
>different types of insects eaten by indigenous peoples.
If I recall correctly, there are 17 types of locust that are kosher.
Thomas Prufer
wrote:
>One edible insect was, I believe, the larva of the palm rhinocerous
>beetle. Supposedly the elders of the community would discourage young
>people from tasting the beetle larvae, for fear that they would spend
>all their time chopping down palms in search of the grubs.
>
Thus the community elder Rev. Spooner said to the young student: "You
have tasted a worm twice and must leave by the town drain."
Thomas Prufer
Duncan Richer
Actual quote is supposedly:
"You have hissed my mystery lectures. You have tasted a whole worm.
You will leave Oxford on the next town drain."[1]
[1] Mother Tongue, Bill Bryson, Penguin 1990.
Duncan "shining wit" Richer
--
Duncan C. "Slakko" Richer - http://www.dpmms.cam.ac.uk/~dcr24/
Queens' College Cambridge, 2nd Year Ph.D. (Pure Maths) - Graph Theory
S P * Mcatcher address: Watch.T...@chiark.greenend.org.uk
Do not mail to the address on the line above if you are a real person.
Phil Edwards
<dri...@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:
>Actual quote is supposedly:
>
>"You have hissed my mystery lectures. You have tasted a whole worm.
>You will leave Oxford on the next town drain."[1]
>
>[1] Mother Tongue, Bill Bryson, Penguin 1990.
For certain values of 'actual'. About the only spoonerism which is
reliably ascribed to the Rev Spooner is the phrase "Kinquering Congs".
(Not even the whole line - "Kinquering Congs their tatles tike" -
which is the version my father told me when I was a kid.)
Phil "shoving leopard" Edwards
--
Phil Edwards http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/amroth/
"I am both a veteran orthopedic nurse and an incurable klutz"
- Lizz Holmans prepares her c.v.
Thomas Prufer
<dri...@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:
>"You have hissed my mystery lectures. You have tasted a whole worm.
>You will leave Oxford on the next town drain."[1]
>
Much better indeed.
Thomas "but the worm was delicious" Prufer
Amber LaStrega
under a man -- can't remember his name -- but he reminded me of the guy in
"Jaws" that took the sherrif and the oceanographer out in the boat and was
made into lunch meat himself by the shark... anyway this instructor looked
kinda ragged like that -- but in much better health/shape.
He was telling Davey [my bro] of a time he was diving at the base of a dam,
searching for a fissure (I could be wrong 'bout that fissure thingy), where
the water was very murky -- he could only see perhaps 6''-1ft. in front of
his face. As he scanned the dam at the base (he planned to move up the dam
as visual clarity improved upon moving closer to the top), he literally
bumped into this monstrosity... which gave a bit of a shudder but acted as
though he were a gnat; a bother, but not a threat. I'm sure he said it was
a catfish -- that said catfish was much larger than him (I was little and he
[the instructor] seemed HUGE to me, so I was freaked a bit by that)... and
that fish just sat there, taking in plankton/etc. and really hardly moving,
as water swirled and brought it food and oxygen.
I noticed DrPostman your story was similar -- except the fish of which I
speak came no where near the surface. That frightens me -- you big fish
just stay down there at the bottom! (coming from a person who can swim like
a fish, but won't swim with 'em).
Amber LaStrega
porch whatchamacallit -- I know I have a crystal ball here somewhere
Member *EB*
DrPostman wrote in message <6gXWN9qRTwHHl+...@4ax.com>...
>Anonymous <nob...@replay.com> wrote:
>
>
>>There are fish big enough to swallow a diver in one gulp. The grouper
>>often grows large enough and is often found among the shipwrecks of the
>>Pacific. But on sunken ships from the Second World War they are never
>>found that large - supposedly the old rounds of ammo go off periodically
>>killing the fish. Even though the grouper grows big enough I don't
>>think there are any tales of them swallowing a diver. The deteriorating
>>ordinance poses a far greater danger.
>
>
Skrybe
news:1999090805...@mail.replay.com...
> "Bill" <bil...@bellsouth.net> wrote:
>
> > A friend of mine was telling me today about catfish at Percy Priest dam
in
> >Tennessee. It seems there are catfish on the bottom of the lake near the
> >dam that are large enough to eat a grown man. I think I have heard this
> >before. He said that a friend of his was diving (in a area near the dam
> >where no diving is allowed) and seen a few of the giant fish. He was
able
> >to get away but said one of the fish chased him until he got away from
the
> >bottom. He was scared to report it since he was not supposed to be diving
in
> >the area.
> >
> > Has anyone else heard this one? I don't believe him but did not tell
him.
> >I would like to get some examples of it being an urban legend first.
Thanks
> >for any help.....
>
> often grows large enough and is often found among the shipwrecks of the
> Pacific. But on sunken ships from the Second World War they are never
> found that large - supposedly the old rounds of ammo go off periodically
> killing the fish. Even though the grouper grows big enough I don't
> think there are any tales of them swallowing a diver. The deteriorating
> ordinance poses a far greater danger.
>
> one about the giant clams that close on a divers leg when he makes a
> misstep. That and the sharks that ate the crew of the USS Indianapolis.
Not giant fish, but we have many eels in our dams here. They grow quite
large (about 6 foot long and about as round as a grown mans leg). I've seen
a couple dozen of them thrashing around feeding on bread thrown into the
water and I'd hate to get in there with them...
--
Skrybe aka nospam.Ke...@publicworks.qld.gov.au
You know what to do with the spam...
Is it true that cannibals won't eat clowns because they taste funny?
ICQ: 30519074
Skrybe's Tales of Terror
http://www.ozemail.com.au/~skrybe/
Overdue for an update - coming soon
tm9763ba...@gmail.com
car...@gmail.com
> Kevin D. Quitt <Ke...@Quitt.net> wrote in message
> news:UjXPN86r2qXxNgQFnc1=06gc...@4ax.com...
> > On Wed, 1 Sep 1999 16:43:03 -0500, "Bill" <bil...@bellsouth.net> wrote:
> >
> >
> > >...one of the fish chased him until he got away from the
> > >bottom.
> >
> > Rubbish. If there were a catfish big enough to eat people, it wouldn't
> give up
> > just because the person moved away from the bottom. Catfish will come
> right out
> > of the water to grab something edible.
>
> Are you sure about that? Being bottomfeeders, I doubt if a catfish is
> likely to jump out of the water... they prefer to let the food come to them.
I've caught several catfish in the 5-7 pound range on topwater baites. Some of them came all the way out of the water when they did. Catfish are stronger than bass, by the way. ...by far. A 7-lb cat doesn't sound like too much, but it took me 10 minutes to get him in 30 feet.
car...@gmail.com
> In article <37CEC30E...@iamerica.net>, TMOliver <swr...@iamerica.net> wrote:
>
>
> >
> >A number of 'merkin rivers are inhabited by a variety of brands of gar,
> >some of which are rumored/have been caught/typical fish-taled to rech
> >man size. They don't look like sturgeon, suck up dinner off the bottom
> >(as do paddle fish, the paddle for shoveling), and are not good to eat
> >(except in " and garballs", favored in Louisiana, where they eat all
> >sorts and conditions of acquatic critters).
> >
>
> Gar can indeed reach lengths of 6 feet or longer, especially if you include
> the long, saw-toothed bill in the equation. The "greenback" or "alligator"
> gar that I used to catch in the Tennessee River as a kid were pretty fearsome
> creatures.
>
> Chip "and that ain't no fish tale" Taylor
>
> God, grant me the Senility to forget the people I never liked anyway, the
> good fortune to run into the ones I do, and the eyesight to tell the
> difference.
I went to a river in north Alabama when I was 12 or 13, and had been bowfishing for 4 or 5 years. I spotted some gar swimming around in the 1-3 foot range. There were also some logs floating just under the surface. I missed a 3 foot gar, and hit a log about 10 feet long. The damned log swam away. I grabbed my rod and yanked back hard, and that stupid gar broke 50# line like it was nothing, and swam away with one of my best bowfishing arrows.