Fish Mythbusters

[DTro]

Anyone else tired of seeing the same pictures over and over again with false information attached to them? I thought I would put together a post here with the most popular fish myths and debunk them once and for all. Then as the new ones appear they can be attached to this post.

Lets start with one of the most famous fish myths. This is a picture of a large Sturgeon that has been rumored to have been caught all over the country, including right here in MN on the Rainy River.

Here's the REAL story:

The photograph itself is authentic. This huge sturgeon was caught on the Fraser River in British Columbia, Canada. According to information on Len's Sport Fishing Adventures HSOforum, the photograph was taken during a 2005 fishing expedition and was at the time the "Largest Fresh Water Fish caught by a British Subject". The expedition was led by Curtis Besse.

The information was also validated in an article by columnist Brad Dokken that was previously available on GrandForksHerald.com. Mr Dokken contacted Len Ames from Len's Sport Fishing Adventures who confirmed that the photograph was authentic and indeed depicts a white sturgeon caught on the Fraser River

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Next up we have a large Pike that again was rumored to have been caught in numerous places in the US. The main picture with the angler holding the fish is usually included with an additional picture showing a large pike eating a smaller pike. Personally I've received this picture via email about a hundred times. Each time the story is a little different.

Here's the real story:

The third picture with one pike eating another has nothing to do with the original picture and was added somewhere along the way, as this rumor was passed along.

My name is Ewout Blom, I'm 27 years old and was born in Rotterdam. At the moment I live in Ijmuiden (close to Amsterdam) and am lucky to be hatchery manager of a Dover sole farm in the Netherlands.

You could say my life is dominated by fish, because during my spare time I can be found on the big lakes and rivers in the Netherlands fishing for pike, zander and asp.

I like to fish for big pike! It is not that I don't enjoy catching small pike, but for practical reasons you have to use heavier tackle. Catching smaller pike on light tackle can be fun but I prefer to catch the bigger fish. I like the thrill when a big pike takes the lure or just follows it. Sometimes seeing a (big) pike chasing the lure can be so much fun, okay you will not always catch it, but that's fishing.

In the Netherlands we are blessed with a huge variety of fishing waters. From big rivers and lakes to the smaller lakes and canals. You can catch plenty of pike (if the visibility is OK) everywhere. For the best chance to hook a big pike we spent most of our time on the big lakes and rivers.

For that reason we started fishing a big lake at the end of 2004. From fishing mates we knew that it was quite hard to catch pike there. Imagine our surprise when Michel hooked a nice pike after just 20 minutes of fishing. It was a beautiful fish of 116 cm and 14kg. I still remember that we said to each other, "Difficult water? No way, it is the easiest water to catch big pike!!!"

Ten fishing days later the spirit was a little lower! I hadn't hooked a single pike and Michel had only managed to land two small jacks. It had been fairly cold that week, on the shores you could still see the remains of the snow, we had a couple of days earlier. The water temperature was still fairly low, a little over 2 degrees but the weather was nice and clear.

When trailering the boat we saw that the only other pikers were some fishing mates of ours. On the water we discussed where to fish, we decided to go to the part where Michel caught the pike on the first day. Five hours of trolling and casting later we hadn't seen any action and we decided to go back to the part were most fish are caught. When we were enjoying a nice warm cup of soup we saw our friends motoring towards us. It turned out that they'd had a super morning. They had caught 4 pike, two smaller ones and two big ones, 112cm an 123, the last one weighed 16 kg 35.2lb.

Of course we were happy for them but when they sailed away in search of even more pike I looked at Michel and said, "Today something must happen otherwise I will go nuts". Around four our friends headed home and we were the only ones left, except one boat fishing for zander. That morning I had noticed quite a lot of baitfish in a certain area, we talked it over and decided to fish it before we would leave. Yeah, some success. Michel landed a pike of 75 cm. We put it back quickly and continued.

Somehow everything felt right; it was nice and quiet on the water, almost no wind, just the two of us in a boat. I was looking at my second rod when I saw it bend a little, then it came straight before it bent completely. Something had taken the perch pattern Super Shad Rap. "Yes. Fish." I yelled, and took the rod from its support. I could immediately feel that it was a good fish, the heavy weight and the way a big pike can shake its head are so typical.

Because we were going with the wind Michel could easily reel in the other three rods. Some thirty meters from the boat the fish shook its head on the surface, before it went down again. "That's a good fish" I told Michel. "I already know", he said! The next 5 minutes I had to really pull hard to get the thing next to the boat.

When Michel managed to get the fish on board, we could both see that it was a fairly big fish, but maybe from the cold and long day on the water we were both surprised to see it had a length of 127 cm, unbelievable!!! Quickly we weighed the fish, almost 20 kg, 19.5 (42.9lb) to be precise.

I lifted the fish from the weighing mat and Michel started to take pictures. After some pictures it got harder and harder to lift the fish. What a weight! After the pictures I quickly put her back in the water and as if nothing happened she almost immediately swam away, leaving a very happy angler behind.

"This is the pike of a lifetime" I said, after releasing a shout of happiness over the water. When Michel positioned the boat back on the drop off, we both sat in the boat still fishing but not believing what had just happened.

At half past five we called it a day, but not before we made a call to our fishing mates. They were also shocked and told us that they could not wait before they would see the pictures that night. I still remember their remarks, "I already new you had caught a big fish but when I saw the pictures I knew enough"…. My first pike on the lake, immediately a good one!! Since that day in March a lot of fishing days went by, bringing new experiences and a lot of pleasure.

I still think it is all about that, having fun. I don't care if you use this or that technique or if you catch big or small fish, as long as you enjoy the thing you are doing.

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Next we have one we have is a large Catfish. But the story isn't about how big it is, but the circumstances on how it was found. The fish was found bobbing along the surface with a med size rubber "dodge ball" in its mouth. I've heard EVERYTHING about this fish. From it attacking a small child, to someone purposely shoving this ball down the fish's mouth for a laugh (which still could be entirely true).

Here's the real story:

May 30, 2004 article in the Wichita Eagle which appears to be the origin of this story and at least one of the photos. According to reporter Michael Pearce, Wichita resident Bill Driver was standing on the deck of his home overlooking a lake when he saw an eight-inch ball bobbing in the water. "Noticing the ball wasn't floating normally," Pearce wrote, "Driver wandered to his dock for a closer look. A catfish had its mouth stuck around the ball." The fish couldn't dive and appeared to be in distress, so, using a knife handed to him by his wife, Driver poked a hole in the ball and deflated it. The 50-pound fish swam away

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Here's the latest hoax. It is said that this walleye was recently caught on the Rainy River near Baudette. I'm sure before all is said and done, it will have been caught in popular walleye haunts such as Erie, Green Bay, Mille Lacs, etc. It will no doubt break state walleye records around the country.

Here's the real story:

This is a real picture, but NOT a walleye at all. It is a Zander and was caught in the Netherlands. These fish often grow quite large and this specimen is estimated at about 30 lbs

It seem like every few months another "fake" fish picture with a story to go along with it surfaces. I will try to add the new ones here as they come up.

Now whenevery I get that darn catfish or pike emailed to me, I'm just going to simply reply with a link to this post.

[Gordie]

Thank you DTro for busting the Myths and making True Fish Storys.

[tunrevir]

Yep, thanks DTRO, I think I have been e-mailed the pike pics at least a dozen times by various folks. Now when they give me the friend of a friends, brothers, cousins son caught this on the Rainy....yak, yak, yak I will simple hit the link and fire an e-mail back and then ask, are you really sure you knew the guy:)

Tunrevir~

[toughguy]

Sorry but your last story about the large walleye is wrong. That's my uncle's neighbor's son. He caught it on Prior Lake. State record at 25 lbs.

Just kidding. Thanks for fishing "snopes" we should keep this thread going with other true stories. There are some good hunting and trail cam ones out there too.

[CAMAN]

But these ones have gotta be true though...right?

[ZapBranigan]

Who's got the guy being lowered out of the helicopter with a gigantic shark leaping up to eat him. Or the surfer and the gigantic shark in the wave all set to eat him. I just couldn't keep this rubbish (photoshop specials). So I don't have them. But they are classics.

[No_Fish]

great real fish stories.

If you're a fiish Mythbuster, are you more like Jamie or Adam?

[Gordie]

yea I noticed the zander on face book today and it was said to be caught in

Baudette .. appearntly thety didnt read this

[Archerysniper]

I hope for more like Kari,just sayin

[LMITOUT]

I just got the Zander picture texted to me.

"19.2lbs caught at Lake of the Woods two weeks ago".

[ozzie]

funny I heard last weekend about the record walleye from baudette and said to the gentleman that it isn't true as I hadn't heard about it and figured I would...then a couple hours later I get a text from a different guy with the big "walleye" caught in baudette on LOW and is a new state record...I looked at the pic and showed it to my buddy and said "I bet you this is a zander" Looks like I was right.

[itchmesir]

whats the story on this one...

[hoppe56307]

that was nut z

[upnorth]

that was nut z

That is an understatement!!!

[c0untryf1sh3r]

Craziest thing I've ever seen.

[oleWalter]

Great thread DTRO! Keep 'em coming. That helicopter jump into the water video was carayyyyyzy. Or as Kanye would like to say, Dat fish cray!!

[tunrevir]

I too got the zander photo and they said it was weighed on a certified scale and went 20 14, so much like the fish stories go it is getting bigger!

Tunrevir~

[muchowja]

How did they get the camera there to film it underwater? A little trickery going on there methinks.

[muskE]

Even better...looks like he had to swim back.

[Dave S]

All fun and games until the last second the fish looks up thinking "what the he!! is that?".

Anyone else wonder why the guy dove in head first with his glasses on? Looked like one of those "that's got to hurt" moments.

[Stick in Mud]

Ya, looked like the fish didn't try very hard to get away.....could a human actually hold onto one of those suckers if it swam as fast as it could?!? I doubt it....

My favorite fishing myth: Wind from the east, fish bite the least.

[Gordie]

I think we may have a new fish mythbuster to figure out.. has to do with the state fish

[emilyblack06]

Hope I could see and catch large fishes like this someday. Cool story. Liked it!