yesterday afternoon i had abut 1.5 hours of spare time, so i went to the local lake... i had to leave as the sun was falling and the fih were beginning to jump, so unfortunately i didnt catch anything.... it was fun anyways...

however, i found this fish floating near the shore... i pulled it closer with my rod, thinking it was dead, but when i grabbed it, it began moving again.... i took it out of the water for the pic and then released him, but im almost sure it is dead by now....

i think it was starving, since it seems to be really thin, comparing the size of the head to the body... i dont know is there is no food in there, or what happened.... now im thinking maybe it had something clogging its throat, as i saw an article in here that talked about bass eating plastic worms and then having their intestines obstructed until they starved to death....

what do you think??

Looks to be a catfish, they are not normally known for starving however, unless of course they had swallowed something indijestable, looks to be fairly young and I can't really make out the gills were they in good shape?

Yea looks like a catfish

I have caught and cleaned skinny bass that were unhealthy looking with huge heads and starving bodies. Each time I've found a plastic worm in their intestines. I've never seen a catfish take an artifical worm but I'd guess it's something similar like I've seen with bass.

thats right, it was a catfish... here is another pic... i didnt notice anything wrong with the gills, but i didnt check carefully either...

by the way, several years ago they caught a 65 pound catfish out of this lake, it even was on the newspaper...

here´s the other pic of yesterdays skinny fish...

I would bet money that if you cut open the belly you will find something in there that stuck in his digestive system.

I've never seen a catfish take an artifical worm but I'd guess it's something similar like I've seen with bass.

I have caught 3 cafish this year on plastics! And then 2 more this past Suday on hair jigs!

Jeff

I have caught 3 cafish this year on plastics! And then 2 more this past Suday on hair jigs!

Jeff

I believe it! I've caught them on artificials just never a worm. Usually its been an in-line spinner coupled with a sudden drop in barometric pressure or high water/fast current conditions.

Catfish will eat about anything, including plastics. If you really want to catch a cat on plastics get some Gulp, they love that stuff for some reason. I'd be willing to bet if you cut that fish open there is something blocking or stuck in it's intestines. As long as you aren't seeing bunches of fish that look like that I wouldn't be too worried.

thanx!! yesterday when i found it i got worried, but then i remembered the article about bass eating plastic worms which would clog their digestive system, and i assumed this fish had the same... unfortunately i didnt cut it open, and the fish was in open water with small current, i wouldnt be able to find it now to open it, but if i ever see another one like that, i will perform an autopsy to see if it eat something weird...

and i have never caught a catfish on plastics, but my friend caught one with a firetiger crankbait....

On 7/5/2012 at 3:20 PM, Bluebasser86 said:

Catfish will eat about anything, including plastics. If you really want to catch a cat on plastics get some Gulp, they love that stuff for some reason. I'd be willing to bet if you cut that fish open there is something blocking or stuck in it's intestines. As long as you aren't seeing bunches of fish that look like that I wouldn't be too worried.

X2!!

The catfish probably has one of three things. As stated they could have something blocking their digestive system, the fish could have worms, it could have a disease or illness.