You won't believe what I caught

[fishnewb]

Dear fisher folk,

My cousin-in-law and myself went fishing at Beaver Lake In Arkansas a few days ago and initially were going after crappie. The crappie weren't biting so we switched to cranks for some bass fishing...well we were about to move to a new spot when low and behold my crank bait went to the depths of the lake. I could not find out what was happening. Mind you, I had 10 lb test. So I fight and fight for about 10 minutes....my compadre was laughing his head off. I had my fishing rod in my lap like I was deep sea fishing.

Finally a mosteresque tail comes about...we obviously couldn't fit it in the dip net....so we got it up and he dragged it in the boat by the tail. 47 lbs. paddlefish I hooked on the side with my crank.

A day not to forget. Also, my compadre caught this nice 5lb 4 oz largie.

[Bassn Blvd]

What the hell is that thing? Thought  it was a sword fish at first.

[FivePoundBluegill]

Wow that is insane...nice catch

[bassin_man]

Thats some good eating right there.

[Fish Chris]

Those things are really bizzarre ! From what I hear, they are filter feeders and are never caught on traditional baits or lures, therfeore, intentionally snagging them (I know yours was not intentional) is apparently acceptable, and at certain times and places, it is permitted.

I hear they are really strong.

As long as you have a line in the water, you never know what you might catch :-) ......and that is the magic of fishing !

Very cool,

Peace,

Fish

[Tin]

Thats awsome. Did your buddy get the band-aid on his finger from the paddlefish? Battle-wounds? lol.

It looks like it has the body of a shark, nose of a sword-fish, and head of a rainbow trout or salmon. Quite the combination.

[T-rig]

That's crazy!

Are those fish native in your lake?

Nice bass by the way! 8-)

[Jake.]

Wierd. I've never seen one of those before.  :-/

Nice bass though!

[roadwarrior]

Wow!

That's cool.

8-)

[mayassa]

I've never seen one either but congrats and the fight must have been a ton of fun

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

Was it released? (just curious, I hear they are very good eating)

That will sure make for a memorable trip, like FC said,....with a line in the water, anything can happen.

Good for you guys! (Nice bass too!!)

[KU_Bassmaster.]

I don't know if the whole fish is good eating or not, but I know they are known for their caviar (eggs). I believe their caviar can fetch as much as $20 per oz. They are pretty highly regulated and their are only certain times of the year you are even allowed to be fishing for them (purposely) .... ie snagging.

[skillet]

 I think they are native to the whole Miss. R. drainage. Very long-lived and years ago they got to be monstrous in size...

                                                  As Ever,

                                                   skillet

[bass109]

never seen a paddlefish before, great picture 8-)

[Murray]

paddlefish are endangered in alabama...i read on the outdooralabama website that they are excellent caviar producers though it is illegal to harvest them at this time. i was kayaking on the coosa river and found 2 dead juvenile paddlefish floating in the water and reported it to fish and game...they are really awkward looking tiny body and a HUGE head. interesting creature

[bass109]

I would think you guys caught the paddlefish by snagging it. I never heard anyone say live bait or artificals work on a paddlefish.

[Jimzee]

Crazy looking thing.  They get huge in the Ohio river.  Like over 100 lbs. huge!  Beautiful bass BTW.  8-)

[FD.]

Thats one of them there dork fish.  I bet you caught him on corn dog.

[Live.2.Fish]

Posted by: leeh121066 Posted on: Today at 5:42pm

Thats one of them there dork fish. I bet you caught him on corn dog.

;D You took that from Bill Engvall didn't you. I have that CD that's why I knew.

[fishnewb]

We did clean the fish. I'll let you know how it goes.

I accidentally snagged it cranking for bass.

I snagged it on its back side so it literally was able to pull away from me instead of usually where they are backed out a lot of the time.

The daily paddlefish limit in Arkansas is 2. I'd like to see two of those caught in way day.

[tkite16]

Ahh you got me all excited, snagging season is only 3 months away. You all havent lived till you stick a big treble hook into one these monsters. I'll have to scan my pictures and load them on here I hooked 3 one day 2 years ago, 20lbs ,68lbs and and my personal best 81 pounds.

You basically use a broomstick(very very stiff rod) 3 size 14 treble hooks one pound sinker and 130 lb line. Then you just set the hook all day long in freezing cold temps .

They run up the rivers out of  Truman ,Table Rock and Lake of the Ozarks to spawn . It is definately an experience and they make some awesome steaks.

[tallydude]

My Grandfather catches them occasionally on a trot line in the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers on Kentucky and Barkley Lakes, repectively. Apparently, their eggs make an excellent caviar.

[32251]

My Dad used to catch these and we called them Spoonbill Catfish.

Did a web search on them.  They are one of the oldest fish known to man 300-400 MILLION years old!!  They predate the dinosaurs by about 50 million years.  Very interesting catch!

[Redlinerobert]

Cool looking fish!  Reminds me of LBH for some reason?  ;D

[llPa1nll]

From a northern guy I have never seen nor heard of anything looking like that. At first I thought it was like an alligator gar or something. The weirdest looking thing, Ive seen in awhile. Good catch, pic, and story. Nice bass too.