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Paddlefish Pics

Tyler Holm

By Tyler Holm
in Catfish

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Tyler Holm Veteran

Tyler Holm

Posted
Posted

This guy ran across my walleye jig on Sunday.

ty_paddlefish1.jpg

ty_paddlefish4.jpg

The pic doesn't do it justice. I couldn't touch my fingers while griping the tail. It measured 62" without pinching the tail (because those tails don't pinch) I'd guess a 40" girth, but with the excitement we failed to measure it. I know it was much taller and rounder than a 30" girth 75lb Lake Sturg.

The tail was probably over 12" tall (but I didn't measure).

ty_paddlefish_release2.jpg

We relieved a few lamprey of their duties and release this giant back to the depths.

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NTW Proficient

NTW

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Aren't Paddlefish a rare fish to catch? And if not, how often do you guys catch them? They are in the river I fish in, but I've never caught one or know anyone who has. That is one great fish man.

I have heard from a few intelligent resources that paddlefish do not eat anything that a fisherman would use. They must be snagged...

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fishwater Mentor

fishwater

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I have heard from a few intelligent resources that paddlefish do not eat anything that a fisherman would use. They must be snagged...

They are filter feeders. I snagged one this summer. Not quite as big as Tyler's. That baby must have put up a monster fight!

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Nick Kuhn Grand Master

Nick Kuhn

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Wow, that's a sweet. fish. I can't believe that came on walleye gear. How did you not break off?

If your drag is set correctly, regardless of the strength of the line you are using you should never break off (unless the fish can run you to the end of the spool). The exception is toothy critters, but that's what leaders are for.

That and even the lighter test superlines are really tough to flat out break. My brother couldn't break off 12lb test tuf-line when he snagged a fish crib, even after tightening his drag as far as it would go.

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DARK30 Grand Master

DARK30

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Super fish Tyler! Too bad we couldn't get plankton to stay on the hook grin

There have been a few paddlefish snagged on the Minnesota River recently. I guess its a sign of better water quality.

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Tyler Holm Veteran

Tyler Holm

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Yes, as I alluded to in the my first sentence, this fish was foul hooked in the pectoral fin. I've never heard of one being caught in the mouth, but once Dark30 comes up with a plankton hook affair - we'd be in business. It was caught in pool 4 of the Miss.

In all honesty, I think we did this fish more good than harm. This fish had several huge lamprey on it. It had probably 30 lamprey scars (many fresh marks too). This fish literally was getting the life sucked out of it.

There was also a pretty good gash on the top of this fish where it looked like it might have come into contact with a boat prop. That wound was healing, but it looked awfully painful.

It came to the boat surprisingly easy. Personally I don't even think this fish knew it was hooked until we got it in the net. I kinda thought whatever I had on was going to jump because all of the sudden it just swam right to the surface and laid there boatside for us to net it. The fight was maybe 5mins or less. It swam away strong.

BK. Sorry for the anti-intros. I'll do better next time. Andy & Andy - Crazyice & Rugbyguy.

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