Is this Catfish real????????

Originally posted by nextguyinline
Sorry I hurt your feelings.

You didn't hurt my feelings. The whole "urban legend" term is just not a term I throw around a lot because people generally use it as a way to circumvent explanations that doesn't fall into their mindset. Most people say, "Well, it has never happened to me, so it must be an urban legend."

[edit on 22-4-2007 by SpeakerofTruth]

ABSOULOUTELY 100% GRADE AAA REAL FISHIE. in fact that one is kind of small. they say that catfish at the bottom of dams get to be over 400 lbs. the world record catfish is 646 lbs . it was caught in thailand. just type in meakong giant catfish. meakong might be spelled !n(@rectly so if a (did you mean) tag comes up take it. glad to be a help::

People have caught catfish about 6 foot long in Shenango Lake, in Pennsylvania. I live on the lake literally about 30 seconds from it and I've never seen one, but I still always feel really scared whenever I'm treading water in the middle of the lake.

That definitely is a Wells. I have seen that pic before, and have read many accounts of Wells catfish and their history.

Also...my grandfather worked for a large water utility in Texas in the 1930's called Texas Power. TP dammed up a bunch of the larger rivers in Texas. TP doesn't exist anymore. The Texas rivers are controlled now by regional river authorities.

Anyway...my grandfather worked on one of the crews building dams along the Guadalupe River. He told me stories of divers going down during the construction phase and supposedly spotting some catfish about the size of small vehicles. Who knows? My grandfather was very very 'German' (stoic) and not prone to lies or exaggerations.

they get MUCH bigger actually the wells catfish can hit lengths of over 16.5 feet!!!

My grandad worked for GA power after he got out of the marines in 45, he told me a few times of how divers would go down the the bottom of damns to check them and would see 9-10 foot flathead catfish down there.

When I was growing up there was an article in the local paper about divers who were searching for dead bodies in Atoka Lake (its a common body dump in Atoka OK). Anyway, they found an 50's type station wagon, you know the mammoth ones, with a catfish stuck in it. Its head was sticking out the front and the tail was sticking out the back. They hoisted it up and took photos of it. She still has the pic from the article somewhere in her house.

So yeah, I wouldn't doubt a big catfish story. Now if it was a pic of a perch I would be the first to yell fake. MMM now a 100 pound perch sounds tasty and you would only need one.

reply to post by jd140


Who has the picture, your grandmother? Anyway, please ask her to see it and scan it into the internet for everyone to see please.

I was watching a TV program the other week about a lot of river deaths (people and cattle) in a region of India, some UK researchers came in to have a look with all sorts of equipment, and they eventually found big Wels catfish occupied the area. They never saw the big one but they reckoned there was one down there somewhere.

Just to say I posted what I know about big catfish here:

Indian Killer Catfish?

(It includes a little personal anecdote as well as a few photos. Not recommended just before bedtime... )

Originally posted by pause4thought
Indian Killer Catfish?

Thanks...I now have brown panties thanks to the pic of the freshwater ray!