Ever see one of these?

[Liveliner]

I know most of you guys see these fish. However for those of you who have never seen a Paddlefish, here are a few pics of one for you to look at. EnjoyemoEek

 

[fisherpal2k]

Nice fish LL. Was you below Watts Bar?

 

[fishinvol]

Those are some cool fish!

 

[churly]

Thats cool! did you land him recently?

 

[Bass Addict]

Nice one. You talkin bout good eatin.emoHungry Dont see many of those any more.emoScratch

 

[DHaun]

I have seen a couple jump at the nuke early morning and used to see a few dead ones on the beach near skull island as a kid. I have never caught one though. What did you catch it on?

 

[Fat Albert]

<font color="#ff0066">Nice fish there LL.... really good pictures...  STRANGE THOUGHT JUST COME IN MY HEAD.......You and the fish have the same expression on the faces....

</font>

 

[MrWiskers]

Few things to not about paddlefish. First, they are not catfish, nor related to catfish. They are kin to sharks. Two, they are filter feeders, so don't think you will get one with hot dogs or chicken. I would think this would swam into the line/bait and got snagged.

I think I read somewhere that their eggs were used as caviar.

 

[TennesseeTalker]

Boy that's a nice fish!! How about providing some particulars LL? When did you catch it, how did you catch it ...

TT

 

[Flippen*1]

That fish kinda reminds me of my ex, nosy with a big mouthemoSmile emoSmile emoSmile

 

[TennesseeTalker]

emoUpsmile

That was mean .. but funny!!! Wonder if my X says the same thing about me???? emoConfused

TT

 

[Flippen*1]

Heck, everybody should have at least one, makes you 'preciate what ya got now.

 

[drumking]

I snagged one of these below Watts Bar dam about 4 years ago that was 52" long and weighed just a hair over 20 pounds. They taste just like stripers do. Yummy. Weird looking though. emoGeezer

 

[Chasin'bait]

I caught one of the baby ones in my thrownet trying to get shad for the stripers below Watt's Bar, here's a pic.

 

[Roccus]

Back in the early to mid-eighties there was a lot of money to be made by commercial fishermen selling the roe for caviar. It had to be strained, cleaned, and salted down before shipping, but was well worth it. At that time roe was going for $16 a pound and a large gravid female could have several hundred dollars worth of roe. I remember one fisherman in particular who made over $7000 in one night fishing on the Hiwassee River. Richard Simms probably knows the gentleman I'm talking about since he lived and worked out of Marion County and had two wives. Those were interesting times. I even bought and set a few paddlefish nets myself in my spare time. They were a large mesh net which would only catch a huge fish and were set according to turbine flow. The idea was to catch the river at night just as turbine flow shut off for the night and catch the fish as they moved back downstream when the current subsided. I caught several, but finally sold my nets to another commercial fisherman who was happy to get custom made paddlefish nets. The meat could be sold for about what other catfish sold for, but the money was in the eggs.

 

[Triton4Bass]

Cool looking fish! Where do you catch those and what bait?

 

[Guest]

Neat fish LL. Is the sticker in the first picture referring to you?emoPoke emoLaugh

Cheez

 

[funfisher]

My daddy and I caught one that weighted 35 lbs on a trot line around 1968 at Sale Creek along some deep water limestone rock bluffs. A drop line got wrapped around the snout and it couldn't get away. I was running the line, that fish scared me, didn't know what that thing was and it was dead. I was about 13 years old. Daddy cut it up, no bones just grizzle, and we ate it like any other fish. Dad had a 12 foot flat bottom with a 9.5 motor. I thought we were in high cotton when he got that old boat on plane and the air was blowing in my face. Like the old saying goes "We used everything but the squeal" Looking back what a wonderful time...

 

[Chasin'bait]

I caught mine in the throw net below Watt's Bar Dam. I was going for some of the big Threadfin Shad against the wall of the dam and when I pulled the draw rope closed, I felt something thumping in the net. I thought it was just another skipjack herring or a little cat, but to my surprise, it was a baby paddlefish. I've heard that they're good eatin' but I just took some quick pics and let it swim free. One of the pics is from the top of its bill, and it shows how transparent they are, you can almost see right through it.

There's a chef at my favorite sushi restaurant here in Murfreesboro, and he's got a picture of a monster of a paddlefish he snagged on the bottom up behind Nickajack.

I'll probably never catch another one so I kind of treasure the moments I got to hold that cool little dude, as well as my pictures to prove I actually had one.

 

[rsimms]

Mr. Whiskers is correct... they are filter feeders, just like whales. They cruise through the water with that big mouth wide open just like a vacuum cleaner. Use gill rakers to filter plankton out of the water. When one is caught, it is simply because it happen to swim into your hook with it's mouth wide open. And yes, since international law has curtailed them importation of sturgeon roe (the highest quality cavier), spoonbill eggs have become a popular substitute. Always used, but has become much more valuable. The last I heard spoonbill roe I think was selling for around $40 per pound. A large female can have 5-10 pounds of roe. Commercial fishermen have been lobbying TWRA hard, ask them to re-open commercial (net) fishing on Watts Bar specifically because of spoonbill. The lake has been closed to nets for 20-plus years after rockfish were stocked. The spoonbill population has done well, and several commercial fishermen desperately want to partake. There a lot of research going on across the country studying the status and future prospects for spoonbill. They really are sort of a "mystery fish." As a game warden I spent a lot of nights hiding in the riprap below Nickajack waiting on folks to show up to try and snag spoonbill below the dam (illegal within 1,000 yards of a dam). It was great fun! There were actually several commercial fishermen based in Marion County who much of their annual salary just during the spoonbill run.