10:28 p.m. - 2006-07-26
Fish of the Night! 9/22/2006! Finished!
Greetings, all you hot and steamy animals!
I hope you've all been well. Things are good here; I'm feeling more positive about life! More sleep, more fun, PLUS, my bachelorette party! It was even more fabulous than expected. Shout outs to bridesmaids A, L, S and G, and of course K, who was home studying. And total props to CN, JS, KN and PG. Also big love to my roomie D, our stripper for the evening.
Ok, are you ready to hear some sordid stories of the dark dark night!?! An update soon to come...
OK, THE UPDATE IS COMING LATER BECAUSE WE'RE GETTING MARRIED THIS SATURDAY! I HOPE YOU'LL FORGIVE ME.
Now in lowercase: This weekend we went to Baxter/Nisswa MN for the wedding of P and A! It was gorgeous up there and much fun! R and I had a close creature encounter at our hotel which I'd like to share, in lieu of an actual entry. We were returning to our hotel after the wedding reception, where we spotted, hunched in the well-lit doorstep, a fat toad! This was a wise toad, as many crickets and the like were hopping around in the light. In fact, the toad tried to tongue a cricket, which escaped, but then jumped back toward the toad, who promptly ate it. No wonder he was fat! The toad politely moved out of the way to let us in! R took a pic...I'll post it soon.
Think of me this Saturday at 3:30! The soon-to-be-Mrs. Wendell!
Ok, update now, 9/15/2006! Damn, this is late. Ok, back to the Fish of the Night. Here's the best picture evah, as promised, scanned and emailed directly from the motherland by my sis L.
It's lil' sister K's boyfriend CE! And this is their catch, dubbed "Catfish Hunter" after the mythical fish in the "Grumpy Old Men" movie.
The story, as you can see, goes back to July. R and I were in WI getting our marriage license, and were regaled with fish stories from K and CE. So, R and I, armed with victuals from the local Kwik Trip, met up with CE around 11 pm at the dam, where he had three fishing poles propped up to catch "Catfish Hunter". The cat was over 35 lbs, he figured, and he and K had spotted it, and tonight was the NIGHT! Well, no fish were caught, but man, CE sure knows about fish. He shone his bright deer-shining spotlight into the shallow water, where we saw carp, catfish, sheepshead, buffalo fish, walleye, bass and panfish. CE could identify each one with ease.
Let's focus on just two catfish species here. Shoot, I might mess this up. I think "Catfish Hunter" is a channel catfish (Ictaluvus punctuatus)
Here's a pic from www.h2ow.com:
*World record weight, 58 lbs, 52 inches
*Eats crawfish, fish, moss
*Likes stained, murky water
*On average weighs about 30 lbs
*Related to brown bullhead
*Six barbels (whiskers)
*No natural enemies
Ok, and here's info about the flathead catfish (Pylodictis olivaris). The first pic is of a juvenile from www.lmrcc.org:
And the second, which better illustrates the flathead moniker, from www.eopb.org:
*MN weight record is 70 lbs
*Eats mostly live food, fish and invertebrates
*Grow largest in still, shallow water
*Prefer moving water
*Eight barbels (whiskers)
Catfish procreation is an interesting process! The fish spawn in the summer, circling around each other. Apparently both parties "shiver", and the eggs and milt (sperm) mix together. At this point, the male chases her away! He guards the eggies directly, while she hovers nearby, dropping unfertilized eggs for the newly hatched fry to eat!
Another catfish factoid I've just learned is the sport of "noodling". Have any of you done this? With its' roots in the South, noodling is the act of catching catfish with your bare hands! All you have to do is wade around the banks of a river, feeling for underwater holes. Then, assuming that there is a daddy catfish in there, guarding some eggs, you stick your hand in. The catfish (hopefully) will grab on, and you can then pull out the fish! This sounds like the worst idea EVER! Obviously, there could be a snake in the hole, a beaver, a SNAPPING TURTLE! Aaaaieeeee! But CE (pictured above) and my Dad both said they would like to try noodling sometime!
I prefer pasta noodles,
Wendell!
