Seafood is disgusting! (my opinon) My extent of seafood is Tuna fish (like from the can). And I'm not speaking from a closed mind... I've eaten it all... crab, lobster, shrimp, fish of all kinds, squid (calimari), etc... even Shark fin soup (oh god that was gross stuff)... all to try to find a seafood I liked... I just don't like the stuff.

Give me some meat and potatoes... 1/2 inch thick Steak grilled with Montreal Steak Seasoning... and some mashed potatoes with beef gravy.... maybe some corn on the cob.... now THAT is a meal!


btw... if I came across a catfish that big I'd probably have to shoot it with a bazooka or something... yikes!

Wow, that was one amazing looking Catfish.
Iv never gone swimming myself but could imagine the feeling one would get from catching something of that size.
Deep

i don't believe in catfish. no such thign. it's probably some web rumour. a hoax. do they cough up hairballs? ludicrous! is it bad luck if a black "catfish" crosses your path? just silly. catfish, plthhht. next you'll tell me arnold shwarzenegger is the governor of california, HAHA! yeah right.

I've personally seen a catfish about 5 foot plus out at Utah Lake. The water is shallow and every once in a while you run into a giant cat that has run itself ashore. The one I saw was apparently dead for, it didn't attempt to swim or even breath when we pulled it back in to the water. I'm not exagirating, this thing was at least five foot. I've seen other big ones but, none that big.

This story sounds like a myth. Come on a fish the size of a bus? Sounds like a whale to me. I would go back with an ordinary fishing sonar to the lake and scan it, something that big moving under the water you are bound to see.

But it was interesting to read the postings because I was ignorant regarding the potential size of these fish.

Steurgons commonly reach 7 to 9 feet and Oar fish can reach over 25 feet.

Does an oar fish habitate fresh water lakes and ponds?

The largest fish in the world is the Whale Shark! Also beware of rivers with sea channels, because Bull Sharks can swim in fresh water as well as salt water.

Oar fish are salt water fish and live very deep in the ocean. Now about these cat fish, i grew up in IL. I have heard storys all my life about guys who go diving down by dams to check it or to fix something on the dam. Then coming back up talking about how big the cat fish down there are, and vowing never going into the water again. Heard one story about a diver that said the cat fish was big enough to swallow him whole. Alot of these storys come out of the mid west, from what i have gathered. I will try to find a web link to more pics for you guys.

Thomas is right. Once a cat fish gets over 16 inches in length or so, they get really tough. I wouldn't think an old one that has reached those proportions would be edible or at least very tasty.

I grew up on a river with catfish as a main staple of my diet and I still prefer them to any other.

Am I mistaken but are not things viewed underwater bigger than they really are in real life?

Yeah they are.. about 1/3 bigger than they really are.
I think..

well, a 16ft catfish will definetly look like the size of a bus then.

I think in an environment with plenty of resources and not much competition, catfish can grow pretty big. However, still can't imagine multiple "bus-sized" catfish

Thats one huge catfish, but probably not bus sized as someone said things look big under water so 16ft is more than possible.

Just image Google "giant catfish". you'll be amazed at the sizes of these suckers.
Examples:
www.anglingthailand.com...
www.cerc.columbia.edu...
webpages.charter.net...
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What size hushpuppies would you serve with these babies?

wow...thats just scary. I'd be freaked out if I was swimming and I bumped into one of those.

Holy syhte man. THat is crazy. I thought I have seen big cat fish. Great thread, and o yea, im gonna be a little more careful in lakes from now on.

They are freaking huge

*Meow*

So the divers dove down to 310 feet!!! If they was using normal air in the bottles im not suprised they saw something that big..nitrogen narcosis!!! But if they was using some mixed gas like Trimix, then its amazing!
I you use air you are so "drunk" you see anything down there. If they did the diver should be dead!