Prehistoric fish

[JUNGLEJIM1]

I'm 58 years old and this is a first for me. Even rarer since I caught it on a jig and caught it at a lake that only fills when the rivers flood. I caught it on a 1/32 shad dart opposum jig with a #4 Owner hook and 2lb. test fluorocarbon line. I thought I had a big channel cat at first. It was close to 40 inches long and probably weighed around 10 lbs.  This is a spoonbill in case you didn't know.  View attachment 4View attachment 5View attachment 6View attachment 7

 

[JUNGLEJIM1]

View attachment 8I caught some of these as well. Didn't fish very long, heat index was over 90 by 9:30 and there wasn't any breeze.  My sunglasses were fogging up by 8 am.  View attachment 8View attachment 9

 

[Fatman]

That had to have been fun!!!!!!!!!! Congrats!!

 

[Pup]

Very interesting. I caught one of those in the Salamonie River that feeds the Wabash River system here in Indiana. Was an unusual catch for that little river. Plus, it's unusual for the fact that they are filter feeders of zooplankton/crustaceans and not predatory fish.

I see that you hooked it right in its 'bill'. Many refer to 'spoonbill catfish' as 'paddlefish' too. As I recall, the one that I foul hooked ran on me like a bonefish.

Very cool. :icon14: :icon14:

 

[Hawnjigs]

Dang, that is a catch of a lifetime. Looks like luck was involved, as the edge of the bill looks like a deal breaker. Owner hook?

 

[duffy]

That's wild! You better go buy a lottery ticket.

 

[AllenOK]

Nice little Spoonie. And I mean "little". The big females will bust 100 lbs!

 

[hookup]

You just never know what's going to bite ..

 

[JUNGLEJIM1]

Since they are filter feeders I doubt it was going for the jig, it just got in it's way. I know they get a lot bigger than this but it was caught in a little backwater lake. It's one weird looking fish. It only took a few minutes to get it in , Once I got it close I reached out and grabbed the front of the bill and dragged it in.

 

[AtticaFish]

That is a goofy looking fish, i am sure that was one heck of a surprise. Think i remember reading an article about anglers snagging them on purpose at certain times of the year on the Kentucky side of the Ohio River.

 

[AllenOK]

Snagging is the only way to catch them. They don't take bait; they're filter-feeders. It's legal in OK year-round, except in a few areas where they are protected.

I've tangled with several of them. Usually the jig I was using would just slip off/out after about 60 seconds. I hooked into one accidentally a couple years ago. It about pulled me into the river, when it made a downstream run. I could either tighten my drag down, and get pulled downstream, or loosen my drag up a bit and try to fight it. Ended up chasing it downriver, where the fish wrapped around a rock. Had to pop 40 lbs test line, which isn't easy.

I actually did manage to hook one in the mouth many, many, years ago. I was fishing cut bait under a float for catfish, using a circle hook. All I noticed was that suddenly, my float started moving in an odd direction. I immediately came tight to the fish and started trying to bring it in, which is when all heck broke loose I guess it was swimming along, mouth open, trying to feed, and just happened to engulf my bait and hook. As it swam away from me, the circle hook did what it was supposed to do and hooked the fish in the corner of the mouth. Still would be considered a snag.

 

[toadfrog]

Come to Oklahoma I'll hook you up to some 20 pounds and up spoon bill.