RIVER MONSTERS wants to hear your stories!

Hi all,
River Monsters is scouring the globe for amazing fish tales! 

Have you heard of or experienced any fish attacks (catfish or otherwise)?! Any giant catches? Or any fishy mysteries that come to mind? Perhaps there's a legend you've heard of about a catfish the size of a VW van at the base of a dam?!

Thanks for sharing and fish on!

They're vicious around these parts I tell ya

I've heard of giant catfish in the Allegheny River. Supposedly divers went into the water when they rebuilt the bridge in Kittanning and saw cats as big as the divers. Of course, I've heard a version of that story concerning every major waterway in PA. I've heard lots of other stories as well. If this is really from River Monsters, get ahold of me. I know lots of fish stories! I'll tell you all about them if you promise to let me fish with Jeremy Wade. LOL

I wouldn't use that reference..lol.  I give you more credit.

Mahoning is close to 100ft deep and I know there are some big fish in there.

I hear Kinzu resavour has some huge catfish that are enourmous. I also have heard of people hooking into them and getting the boat pulled around. Check into it.

Although I do believe that there are some big fish in our waters, it seems like there is a story for every big body of water in Pa. Like I said before, I have a friend that said he did some work on the Yough Dam. He said that there were fish in there that scared him.

Eman, until I was 10 years old, I grew up within walking distance to lock 3 in Elizabeth. I have heard many stories about the size of the fish seen in there. I lived almost under the bridge right next to the river. I know a lot of people including my self sometimes doubt the size of those fish. Only thing that gets me thinking is just like in everyday fishing, the bigger the bait, the bigger the fish. Maybe people aren't using bait as big as what some of these monsters are eating.

Cain when I fished there on my boat two weeks ago I used about a 12" channel cat and got 2 21lb flatheads. I can only imagine what those big fish are eating

On River Monsters, Jeremy doesn't use great big baits to catch those giant cats.
 
E, I've never heard of using channel cats as bait. That's cool. Is that a preferred bait or is it just what you had?
 
Catman, I've caught lots of big flatheads in Kittanning. That area gets lots of boat traffic which can make it difficult, but if you fish at night or early morning you should catch fish. Fish the slack water behind the piers at the bridge and the eddies at the lock. Use a 2oz slip sinker and a 6-7/0 circle hook. 12" suckers, trout (best bait), perch (I'd rather eat them that use them for bait), or other like-sized fish work well. For flatheads, live bait works best. Hook your bait parallel to the spine instead of perpendicular to it. This keeps your bait alive much longer. Don't cast. Get upstream of where you want your bait and drift over the spot. Drop straight down and then drift downstream a ways and anchor.
 
I wonder if Jeremy Wade has ever heard of the Lake Erie Monster? He'd definitely be up for that one. He checked out the Lock Ness monster, why not the Lake Erie Monster?

I really think a show on Bessie would be awesome. Since Erie is such an amazing fishery, I think a show there would draw very high ratings.

I have never heard of this monster in Erie.

Quite possibly real Dakota, but with an explanation. There are many species of sturgeon and some commonly grow to 18', but the species known as Lake Sturgeon which used to commonly inhabit Lake Erie generally grew to 6'. As I've written many times before, consider indeterminate growth, fish and some other things will continue to grow as long as they live and continue to have a sufficient supply of food and habitat. Even considering indeterminate growth, I doubt a Lake Sturgeon could grow to the monster pictured, but Lake Sturgeon could very well grow larger than 6'. This is a large sturgeon and sturgeon in general used to be quite common. They were thought of as a problem fish in the Great Lakes because they ruined commercial fishermen's equipment [nets]. They were wantonly killed for this. After their eggs were considered a delicacy [caviar] and their flesh also, populations really plummeted. These factors, along with them taking a long time to become sexually mature in addition to environmental changes, it didn't take long for them to become nearly extinct. As far as biting a salmon in half or swallowing one, that's quite easy to imagine and believe, but you're safe as all sturgeons' diet consists of worms, insects etc... . They are bottom feeders. There's still a possible danger from it based on its' sheer size, not that it intentionally harms humans, but stuff can happen when a fish as big as this is in the water and a human body is nearby. This picture could be real. As I wrote, sturgeon can can get to be 18', but this would be a rare sighting and a treasured one. Thanks for the picture!

It was most likely not caught in lake erie as labeled?  
 
Sweet! I can still go swimming.

Not sure which one you're referring to Topdog as they're are several in my harem, but I'll try to give you something else to look at. I like the ponytail on this one and her other attribute as well. Anyway, glad you enjoy them! As Slabdaddy wrote, Bessie has been around along time and I also remember stories about her for most of my life. People are seeing something. Bessie could very well be a giant sturgeon as Slabdaddy wrote. If someone could prove it, I wouldn't blink an eye. As I've written multiple times before "indeterminate growth". Look it up.
 I'm sure most of you guys have heard we know more about the surface of the moon than we do about our oceans' depths and let's assume none of you are one of those conspiracy theorists that say we were never on the moon. If you are, hey, everybody is entitled to their opinion, but back up any opinion with hard, undeniable facts and no, I'm not picking on anyone, so don't be offended. In the last year, two more shark species were discovered. That's a big ocean and there are many secrets, just as the Great Lakes are large bodies of water and it probably has a few secrets also. I'm convinced we don't know everything that is out there because it's proved all of the time, new species constantly being discovered. In a similar note, the Amazon is being mowed down and there are species that are being lost before they are discovered. There is a lot of our medicine that was discovered in the Amazon and then synthetically duplicated in the lab, but that's a different subject and I digress Sorry 'bout that!