Posted on 10/09/2008 9:22:50 AM PDT by Justice Department
A fearsome fish has started killing people after feeding on human corpses, scientists fear.
They reckon that a huge type of catfish, called a goonch, may have developed a taste for flesh in an Indian river where bodies are dumped after funerals.
Locals have believed for years that a mysterious monster lurks in the water. But they think it has moved on from scavenging to snatching unwary bathers who venture into the Great Kali, which flows along the India-Nepal border.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
I a couple of those guys quite well. They are not liars or prone to exagerration. Maybe perspective is skewed in deep, murky water. They are experienced divers.
Now, I have seen with my own eyes 200+ lb. Gar way over 6 ft.
I saw one about 5.5 to 6 feet in length -- for a few seconds -- while I was standing on the deck of the Battleship North Carolina. Nobody would believe me when I called them over and it had dived deeper.
It's possible, monster catfish have been taken out of the Mississippi for centuries. Mark Twain mentions 300 pound catfish in "Huck Finn". A blue catfish was caught on the Missouri some time after the Civil War that weighed in at 315. Noodlers (bare-handed fishermen) regularly land 30 and 40 pound catfish. The largest catfish landed on hook and line was a baby, just about 125 pounds. But when you stop and think about it, what the heck is going to land a 300 pound cat if it doesn't want to be landed?
150 lbs (5' - 5") caught in the Kansas River in Lawrence, Kansas in 1910 by Doug Smith.
WORLD RECORD for BLUE CATFISH: ( caught using a rod & reel )
124 lbs (4' - 10") caught in the Mississippi River in Alton, Illinois on 5-22-05 by Tim Pruitt.
WORLD RECORD for FLATHEAD CATFISH:
154 lbs (5' - 7") caught in Santee Cooper Reservoir in Pineville, South Carolina in 2004 by Tom Frederick.
WORLD RECORD for FLATHEAD CATFISH: ( caught using a rod & reel )
123.9 lbs (5' - 1") caught in Elk City Reservoir, Kansas on 5-14-98 by Ken Paulie.
WORLD RECORD for CHANNEL CATFISH:
63 lbs (48") caught in Choctawhatchee River in Ponce de Leon, Florida on 11-6-06 by Doyle Lee Ammons.
I’m amazed that we have freepers to debate such things, but as a comparably ignorant one, I find that a goonch is a catfish that lives (among other places) in the Mekong River. So what do you mean by “that’s a Mekong River catfisg, NOT a goonch”?
Something's fishy in Hardin County
The debate in Tennessee over authenticity of the largest catfish in the 'Catfish Capitol of the World' still rages on
The catfish has been estimated, by those who believe in the photo's authenticity, to weigh from 500 to 800 pounds.
Fact or fiction? You be the judge.
I'll never forget stumbling upon the wrinkled old photo that looked like something out of an old monster movie. The picture could have been titled, "The Catfish That Could Have Eaten Hardin County, Tennessee." It was in the mid-1990s, and I was working on a story about the National Catfish Derby, an annual catfishing derby and festival held on the Tennessee River. The derby president was the first to show me the black and white photo. "What do you think?" said the derby prez, Jay Barker. I looked at the photo and then at Barker, who was grinning mischievously like the Cheshire cat. "Interesting," I said. "Very interesting."
Whether the photo and the talk it has generated are fact or fishy fiction doesn't matter. The mystery is part of the tale itself — a tale that has more twists and turns than a hooked catfish.
And, true or not, Barker has long known the stories would get plenty of news play and help promote the event.
“Many people don't believe the photo is real, and that is all right. But my mother told me it was, and she had no reason to lie. ”— Faye Callens
Barker told me he first learned of the photo from Betty Coleman, a fellow resident of Savannah, Tenn. She found it while gathering old photos for the Hardin County Historical Society.
Since then, people have told Barker the photo was taken in the Hardin County community of Cerro Gordo in 1914. Barker also has been told the man standing alongside the catfish was Warren McConnell and that a copy of the picture hung for many years in Pitts General Store.
The catfish has been estimated, by those who believe in the photo's authenticity, to weigh from 500 to 800 pounds.
I interviewed the late Faye Callens, also of Savannah, who said his mother, Rilla Callens, handed down the photo to him. He said his mother had worked as a bookkeeper at Pitts General Store, and she told him the photo was genuine; a man named Green Bailey caught the fish on a trotline.
Indeed Bailey's name is inscribed on the photo along with the date and place where the photo was taken, "Cerro Gordo 1914." Callens also said he visited Bailey's sister several years ago, and she told him her brother did catch the big fish.
"Many people don't believe the photo is real, and that is all right," Callens said. "But my mother told me it was, and she had no reason to lie." There is the rub. To call a fisherman a liar is one thing. But to say so about his mother is enough to get filleted, and fast.
“Some people say it's fake, but others firmly believe the catfish was actually caught. ”— Jay Barker, president of Tennessee's National Catfish Derby
As I continued to investigate, though, I found many other stories attached to the old photo.
One was that the late Joe B. Pitts, proprietor of Pitts General Store, actually caught the fish. Another story claimed that the fish was caught during a dry summer after it became landlocked in shallow water (before dams regulated water levels on the Tennessee River).
Then, too, there is the fishy side of the story. Barker said some Savannah residents have told him the photo was a fake. Many believe the catfish actually weighed 50-80 pounds and was placed on a child's wagon to be photographed as an optical illusion. To make the gag complete, a cardboard cutout of a man from a cigarette ad was placed on the wagon.
Perhaps this is the real truth behind this fish tale, because Barker also has a copy of another photo of the same man and fish taken from a different angle. The man is posed exactly the same as he is in the other photo — one hand on his thigh and the other on his hip, as he stoops to admire the fish. The only difference is this photo was taken from the front of the wagon rather than from the side.
"Some people say it's fake, but others firmly believe the catfish was actually caught," Barker said.
What does Barker believe? He'd never admit the old photo is too fishy. After all, can you get too fishy in a place that bills itself as the "Catfish Capitol of the World"?
"Personally, I believe it is authentic, and it shows without a doubt why we're (Hardin County) the Catfish Capitol of the World," Barker proclaimed. (Perhaps it is no coincidence this promotions man has the last name "Barker".) Besides, he pointed out that there definitely are some big catfish swimming in the Hardin County waters of the Tennessee River, especially below Pickwick Dam.
"Probably are some catfish out there that are this big, but anglers just aren't rigged with tackle strong enough to land them," he said. What would happen if a cat as big as the one depicted in the old photo was caught during the county's annual National Catfish Derby? "I'd try to find a swimming pool big enough to put it in," Barker laughed. "A fish that big would be a tourist attraction all by itself."
At one time the famed photo had been made into a postcard used to promote the National Catfish Derby.
“So what do you mean by “that’s a Mekong River catfisg, NOT a goonch”?”
Did I say that or did joiseydude say that?
Let’s get our fish stories straight :-}
Yo Laz. Did I tell you that you've been my idol if not my role model since 1927?
She’s a hottie...
Man eating cat fish. Cool.
Bagarius "goonch” yarrelli
soon to be a made-for-sci-fi channel movie.
'Jaws' record-breaking catfish caught in Spain by a Brit
A British angler has landed a European record on his first catfishing expedition. Carl Smith, pictured right with friend Dave Jones, caught the 226lb wels catfish on holiday in Spain.
The men struggled with the 8ft monster for more than 90 minutes and have named it Jaws.
Bagarius “goonch” Yarrelli
My friends call me Goonch
"Just show 'em your good taste."
Steroid flakes kina speed them up a bit
BTW - what do they call catching fish with your hands?
Good Golly it's Great Khali. He was my waiter at Deli India
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,434885,00.html
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