July 1, 2005
NOW, IF THEY TOOK IT ON A FLYROD IT WOULD BE IMPRESSIVE... (via Glenn Dryfoos):
Thais catch 646-pound catfish in Mekong (Daniel Lovering, June 30, 2005, Associated Press)
This big one did not get away. Thai fishermen netted a 646-pound catfish believed to have been the world's largest freshwater fish ever caught in Thailand, a researcher said Thursday.Posted by Orrin Judd at July 1, 2005 3:35 PMThe nearly 9-foot-long Mekong giant catfish was landed May 1 by villagers in Chiang Khong, a remote district in northern Thailand, and weighed by Thai fisheries department officials, said Zeb Hogan, who leads an international project to locate and study the world's largest freshwater fish species.
Out here, fishermen go for ulua (jacks, crevalle) from the beach at night.
70 pounds is good, but 150 pounds is possible.
A few years ago, a guy got a bite and needed some help hauling it in. Eventually, everybody on the beach pitched in, and the result was a BASS that filled the back of a pickup truck.
It was about a 45 minute drive to the nearest scale that could handle it, and it scaled out at 594 pounds, 9 pounds under the world record, although they claimed more than 9 pounds of blood had leaked out by the time they got there.
Ever since then, I've been unimpressed by 9-pound lunkers.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at July 1, 2005 3:44 PMFly rod? Heh. Try Oakie Noodling. Now THAT would be impressive.
Posted by: John Resnick at July 1, 2005 3:52 PMYou can PhotoShop a picture all you want, but those two figures are from my GI Joe set.
Posted by: John J. Coupal at July 1, 2005 5:37 PMDo you how much muck that thing has eaten?
Posted by: Robert Schwartz at July 1, 2005 6:56 PMIf that's a Photoshop or a forced perspective shot, it's the loveliest fake ever done.
Posted by: Mike Morley at July 2, 2005 8:20 AMIt can't be 9 feet unless those Thais are Yao Ming's cousins.
Posted by: jim hamlen at July 2, 2005 10:57 AM