Jerry Melton recently caught a piranha in the Catawba River. He is keeping the fish in his freezer until he can have it mounted.
Posted on 07/05/2007 12:18:14 PM PDT by Turret Gunner A20
Jerry Melton wanted to catch his dinner while fishing Thursday morning on a stretch of the Catawba River, but what he caught could have taken a bite out of him.
Melton, 46, was fishing for catfish in Mount Holly when his line went taut around 11:30 a.m. "It was fighting like it was a bream or maybe a crappie," he said. "When I got it on the bank I didn't really know what it was; I hadn't seen anything like it before."
State wildlife officials later identified the fish as a piranha, in a new instance of a potentially dangerous non-native fish being dumped into local waters.
Melton noticed something very different when he opened the fish's mouth with his pocketknife: "It had a whole bunch of teeth. Then it just bit down and left an impression in the blade of my knife."
(Excerpt) Read more at charlotte.com ...
Stop buying knives from Pakistan. Then fish will fear your knife.
I see a Pete Seeger song out of this “The Piranha of the Catawba”.
Sure, Little Johnny believed his mama when she told him the cat ate his pet fish Pirrie and all his fish cousins.
“In a recent study, scientists from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland found that the classic image of piranhas as aggressive predators isn’t true. Researchers found that they form their famous packs for protection from predators rather than to hunt for food.”
Okey Dokey
This means very little to the guy who just had his guts chewed out by a defense-oriented pack.
We are NOT looking for these!!!
Jerry Melton recently caught a piranha in the Catawba River. He is keeping the fish in his freezer until he can have it mounted.
It’ll be fun watching PETA and the treehuggers come out in favor of this fish and demanding all watersports be halted in the areas affected so they can flourish.
Or, has it happened already?
Holy Moly, wouldn’t want to take one of them off the hook!!!! And I thought taking catfish off was rough.
“In a recent study, scientists from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland found that the classic image of piranhas as aggressive predators isn’t true. Researchers found that they form their famous packs for protection from predators rather than to hunt for food.”
Good, then we can release all of them caught where stocked illegally into the waters where this guy swims!!!
If they can survive the winters here they will certainly make people quit worrying about the snakehead fish! They are not as ravenous as the movies made them out to be, but they do bite swimmers. They leave nasty-looking quarter to half-dollar-sized scars. One bite would get your attention and, if you did not panic and drown, you could get out of the water to escape them. If you drown they might well eat you down to the bone (but, hey, you’d be dead, so who’s to complain?).
Maybe I will send this guy my Brazilian recipe for piranha soup.
Yep.
“They’re part of nature. They’re one with the environment. We have no right to disturb-—YAAAGGGHHHH!!!!”
In Florida we know how to deal with dangerous exotic species, if we find out soon enough.
“And I thought taking catfish off was rough.”
I hate catching catfish. I’ve never caught a really big lunker and have never caught a catfish on purpose. Even the young ones are trouble enough for me, LOL!
South Carolina Ping
Add me to the list. | Remove me from the list.
One time, a few years ago, an outdoor writer was fishing with a smallmouth bass fishing guide on the famed Dale Hollow Lake in Tennessee, on the Kentucky/Tennessee border, the home of the world record smallmouth bass.
While fishing, the smallmouth didn’t cooperate. The OD writer hooked something BIG, and those on the boat speculated it might be the new world record SM, at least when the rod was bent and the fight was on.
Anyway, after a long fight (when the fish got tired), the OD writer pulled a big fish out of the water, and used the rod tip to swing it into the boat.
A snapping, hissing monster started jumping all over the boat, and the OD writer was on the other end of this. Then the monster opened its mouth, and an OD writer jumped (according to the legend) OVER the head of the fishing guide and to the other end of the boat, almost jumped out of the vessel.
That was ONE scary fish.
The fish was a musky, and they are not only ugly, but mean. This one hissed, and snapped his teeth at the boat occupants.
If you ever fish Dale Hollow Lake with certain smallmouth bass guides, you’ll hear this legend, but don’t believe it.
Catfish? They get so big here in the South we just beat them in head with a ball (pean) hammer and let ‘em go. Then they come back and bite your hook again, just to haunt you!!!
nay, as it it would make the lad sick. (chuckle)
free dixie,sw
Do I know this outdoor writer?
I’ve seen and read about the unique Southern “sport?” of fishign for catfish with your bare hands..I forget the quaint term it’s called...where you stick your hands into holes and logs under water, then hook your fingers in the gills and pull it out...does anyone ever worry about snapping turtles?..some of those alligator turtles are HUGE...
Thanks...It’s called NUTSO...
What probably happened was that the piranha teeth scraped some of the rust off of the blade.
Can't be any worse than a bluefish.
my late father was a master at that technique.
he once "grabbled" an alligator gar. he said that he turned it loose REALLY fast.
free dixie,sw
if anyone thinks blues are "pussycats", let them look at my left hand!
free dixie,sw
“Catfish? They get so big here in the South we just beat them in head with a ball (pean) hammer and let ‘em go. Then they come back and bite your hook again, just to haunt you!!!”
LOL! I hear that!
And yes, The Mighty Muskelunge will kick your @ss, too!
Never caught a bluefish, but if it fights I’d give it a try. I’ve done very little saltwater fishing (redfish and specks) but would love to do more.
That’s called Noodlin. Can’t see the point in it, but know some folks who have done it. And yes, they have encountered snapping turtles.
I’ve also (accidentally) caught what is referred to here as Smoky Mountain Sailfish, big gar.
If you're catching blues you need a set of pliers.
How's it going, stand.
Girl, you need to get a blue on the hook as quick as possible. Plan a trip to Hatteras this fall for surf fishing. But have some stout equipment because if you get into the giant blues (~20lbs) you'll need it.
OUCH!!!!
free dixie,sw
Here’s an update:
Catawba fish wasn’t piranha
JOSH LANIER
jlanier@charlotteobserver.com
Jerry Melton recently caught a pacu in the Catawba River.The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission said Wednesday that a fish caught in the Catawba River and initially identified as a piranha was actually a close relative, the pacu.
http://www.charlotte.com/local/story/194085.html
The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission said Wednesday that a fish caught in the Catawba River and initially identified as a piranha was actually a close relative, the pacu.
The fish was caught June 28 by Gastonia angler Jerry Melton, who said he at first was told the fish was a piranha. But Jacob Rash, a state Wildlife Resources biologist, said Wednesday he met with Melton July 6, examined the fish, and correctly identified it as a pacu.
"They look very similar and can be hard to tell apart," Rash said. "The telling sign is that pacus have two rows of molars on their upper jaw where piranhas have a single row of sharp teeth."
Melton said he caught it while fishing for catfish near N.C. 27 in Mount Holly.
Pacus, which are omnivorous but normally eat fruit, pose little threat to humans, Rash said. But he said non-native species potentially can harm resident fish populations when introduced into local waters.
Melton said wildlife officials told him that "by taking that fish out of the water, I had done a good thing."
Thought for a second it was family...
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