Catfishing surprise 9/24

Hey folks,
Erie Mako and I decided to head to the river for an evening of catfishing on the middle Allegheny. I got off of work late Friday morning and headed out shortly after to a small local
lake and caught us 10 or so medium sized bluegill for flathead bait to use for the river trip.
Well, the night wasn't turning into a 'fish fest' by any means, don't know if it was our location or presentation but had only caught a couple of nice but young yet channel cats on our liver and worm rigs and no attention to the blue gills...
We moved, set up on a flat near the lower end of a small island in about 8 ft or so of water and EM sent out a bluegill (about 5") under an oversized bobber to keep it just off of bottom.
Shortly thereafter the bobber went under and started to move around the boat. EM picked it up, and began to bring in the fish but when it surfaced it dropped the gill and dove leaving us with just a brief glimpse of a streamlined appearing body and certainly not the flathead shape we were expecting. EM casted back out to the same area (about 20 ft) away from the boat and we were discussing possible culprits, a small musky? a channel? but we didn't really expect to find out...
Well, the unfortunate gill wasn't out more than about 2 minutes when the bobber again went for a ride underwater around the area... this time we let it go an extra minute or so (though it seemed like 20 when you are waiting LOL) and he set the hook... fish on... a short battle ensued but thanks to the heavy catfishing gear the fish was netted shortly and brought onboard... and we were both amazed... the 'culprit' was one we hadn't even thought of... and this is a first for us in our catfishing with bluegill...
A Walleye had taken the gill... maybe some of you who have been on the river a lot longer than us would say this is normal... but a first for us, and a real reminder to keep an open mind when targeting any particular species.
One thing we did notice about this river eye as compared to the lake eyes we've been getting in Erie.
the head was much larger in comparison to the body, or should I say, comparable in size, most of the recent Erie eyes have had a small head compared to football bodies we have attributed to abundant food supplies on the lake allowing rapid body growth for their age. This river eyes overall length and head size compared to his body indicated a slower growth rate? and this walleye's teeth looked to be about twice the size of most of the comparable lengthed eyes from Erie, again a sign of age and growth rate?
Either way... a lesson learned, don't always assume the bait stealing or cut off lines are cats or frayed leaders/line... maybe it's just an aggressive eye cruising for a meal!
On a side note... river is still about 68* (surface temp), so cooling off... but slowly...



note, EM is a big guy, so pic doesn't do a good job of showing off the fishes size, 29" and 7-8 lb.
and yes, that is an eel in the walleyes mouth, found it had also eaten about an 8" eel prior to taking our gill...

Nice fish! That's one thing about the three rivers system, you never know just what you might tie into. It's the law of the jungle there "Kill or be killed, eat or be eaten".
 
I need to spend more time on the rivers.

Cool story! I was coming in rite at dark as you were heading out to fish.

Overalls...Fashion no-no


but nice WhaLeyE

KK... Using the name 'eel' was my mistake I guess... I always called them lamprey eels? If they aren't actually an eel then that was my mistake.
I was surprised to see the walleye was feeding on the lamprey rather than the other way around though... usually when we find them they are on the outside of the fish! LOL
 
Mika... we also debated on the chances of it being the same fish... it is the same size as the first we saw/lost and since it didn't taste hook the first time it wouldn't surprise me if it went back to that same area as part of it's normal 'food patrol' area to pick up where he had left off so to speak. But with that being said, I would still like to think though that it was a different one, then I would know for sure there are more of this one's size waiting to be found!
 
MM... maybe not most folk's idea of 'style' ... but can't beat them for comfort and pockets! And when you are 6'5" you can wear whatever you like! LOL       

nice eye bro cant wait for the water to come down about 10 more degrees

As an addendum to this post... Kokanee Killer was right to point out that I had mislabled the lamprey. I did a bit of internet digging to try to figure out where the name thing came from and came across a couple of interesting pages that I have linked here.
http://www.inquiry.net/outdoor/spring/bait/lamprey_eels.htm
http://www.fish.state.pa.us/pafish/fishhtms/chap4.htm
I would think that based on size and location we found this one it is of the Ohio lamprey variety. Whatever the variety, I maintain my original position on it... Yuck!!! LOL
I won't be swimming in the river there anytime soon!
though their body shape is something I'll keep in mind next time I'm digging for lures to try trolling.....

imagine one of those nasty things latching onto the underside of your butt-cheek.

NO THANK YOU.... haha

Shhhh! lol, we usually only swim/tube in pool 6 or crooked creek if it's clear of e.coli.

I caught a couple small cats and a LOT of sunfish in crooked creek the few times I went this year. I've heard that crappie fishing is really good, but I just must not have found them. Pool 6 gave me a few small mouth and a cat, but my best fishing has been at Mahoning. I'm trying to debate where to go tomorrow. I really want to go perch fishing in Erie one last time, but the forecast looks pretty miserable.

I'd like to try launching in Freeport and going up into pool 5, but I just haven't had the time, or when I got the time, I went to Erie lol.