View allAll Photos Tagged RiverMonster
Mr Foo carrying a catfish of over 140Lbs back into deeper water in Spain. So it can swim away safely. There is a safety cord attacked to catfish mouth. Incase it wasn't ready yet. You hold in on a lead, once the fish feels strong enough to go again, you then let it go.
I know it seems strange to some people that we release them, but if we killed them, they would never grow massive, and such fish would become extinct. This fish is probably about 200Lbs plus now. Though you have to becareful when releasing fish. I know of anglers that have dround and died doing so. Especially in fast under currents.
The Wildman of Cumbria, Dinger Bell in Spain, his first vist in 1998 he had this one at 123Lb.
On his second fishing trip to Kazakhstan he met a Russian lady, they since got married and have had three beautiful children. So he doesn't have to hug catfish anymore....Lol
Probably quite a young catfish.
Some of you's have asked me recently if I have ever noodled for Catfish. Noodling is fishing for catfish using one's bare hands, and is practiced primarily in the Southern United States. The noodler places their hand inside a discovered catfish hole. The catfish in an act of aggression attacks their hand. So basically your using your hand as like a bait. Though I know that some American anglers that have been bitten in the past by snakes, alligators, snapping turtles, and even beavers while using this method.
I think they mainly catch catfish around 20 to 40Lb using such methods. This is a flat head catfish they fish for I believe. I think the record for that species, and fishing method is just over 80lbs. The catfish I fished for in the past is the Wels Catfish, using rod and line. The Wels Catfish grows much bigger. And I don't advice you trying to catch one with your bare hand as bait.
When I fished for them during the years of 1998, and 1999 in countries like Spain. Me and my friends were having them over the 150Lb mark. Some of them same fish we put back are now going over 200Lbs in weight. Some have gone on to grow to 250Lbs in weight since anglers started using the high fat catfish pellets.
You need to play the Wels catfish out on a fishing line, if you let one that big lock onto your wrist, there would be a good chance they would dround you. We caught them well over 7 feet long in the past. They can swim backwards as well, dragging you downwards. They are a very powerful catfish.
One nearly broke my thumb once, when trying to hand land it. It grabbed my thumb, and threw me over it's back. My thumb was trapped against the back of the bottom of my arm. Luckily for me an old fishing friend Stevie Foo, a body builder was able to prize open it's large mouth releasing my thumb, and hand. That's why when fishing for such big fish, it's best to fish with others.
So I definitely wouldn't Noodle for them. A person with confident swimming abilities may be caught off guard by the sudden added strain of trying to bring a large fish to the surface. Clothes may get tangled or snagged on roots or rocks. Also most Wels Catfish live in fast moving muddy rivers.
They are found mainly in rivers like in France Germany, Poland, Spain, Italy, Hungry, Czech Republic, Romania, Ukraine, and Russia. The furthest away I fished for them was Kazahstan. Though the biggest ones seem to be being caught in Italy at the moment.
They are a very hardy fish they even survived the devastation at lakes near to Chernobyl Power plant. Some say the fish come from prehistoric times, but I have never read any proof of that myself. They rarely attack anglers. Some swimmers have had their ankles grabbed in the past by Wels catfish. Though this probably usually during the time they are protecting their nests around spring or early summer time. Young fry are said to be protected by the male fish, until large enough to fend for themselves.
So if a splashing a foot past such a nest, you might get a mouth around your ankle, that would probably scare the life out of you. They have small eyes, but very long barbs that rely on vibrations.
I believe they have grown to over 600Lbs in Russia in the past, but over netting in recent years, their weights dropped dramatically fast.
There Is Water On Mars, And An Alien Landed On My Head Once!
Segre Spain September 1999, this catfish tail walked across the surface while I was playing it. So no wonder people believe in the Lockness monster. It weighed 124Lb, it was a very long skinny catfish though. By the length of it, there is a good chance it weighs over 200Lbs now......Many year ago in Russia they grew much bigger, but somewhere in Russia, Kazakhstan, or somewhere like that, there can easily be fish well over the 300Lb mark swimming about still today. The biggest I believe was caught over 600Lbs in a net in Russia, many years ago.
Before we put them back we always check their stomachs, you usually find undigested fish, and sometimes bird life like ducks. Though an angler I know of, found a baby wild boar (Pig) inside of one once, and Russians and Ukrainians anglers still talk about young children years ago while swimming in rivers, being swallowed by the Wels Catfish.
SOME UNUSUAL UNDERWATER FOOTAGE
I went out to Sharon & the West Cornwall Bridge yesterday hoping to get the bridge with fall foliage. It is mostly green and the photos I got of this location in September of the mountain and bridge were better or so I believe. I shot this one of the river also in September since yesterday was mostly a bust I went back to my older file. ;-)
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The blue rush ....hour
As people rush about in the evening peak either side, its all very calm in the middle of it all, Dublin's #RiverLiffey
This is #bluehour
Dublin
Baile Átha Cliath
Wels Catfish can be like buses, you wait all day for one, and two can come along at once. All fish we catch we put back.
Razzle Dazzle
The Customs House in Dublin City Centre, on a long exposure like photo is a purple pink soup, however in reality its a projection of falling snowflakes, its the only snow you'll usually see in Dublin, purple or white ones.
Parts of the annual winter lights around the city.
This was my first ever Wels catfish that I caught at 68Lb in October 1998.
The Wels catfish isn't one of the hardest freshwater fish to catch, but it is definitely one of the hardest fighting.
I wouldn't personally fish for them while spawning, nor just after. After spawning they need to get their strength back. So they need food, but the last thing they need is being hooked in a battle, because just after spawning they are exhausted, and anyone who's caught them just after will tell you. They don't fight nowhere near so hard just after this period.
Blue hour over the River Liffey in Dublin City Centre, the red diving bell on the left a nice contrast with the blue sky & reflections over the river.
Catfishing all fish are put back after capture.
I kept hearing in the mid eighties about huge Wels catfish coming out of French lakes and rivers. Being caught by British anglers, and many of our European friends. A lot of Germans and Austrians had told me about these huge beasts.
At one time in Russia they grew to outrageous sizes, but because of commercial fishing, nets, and some say pollution problems. Their large sizes dwindled some what in more recent times.
Then in the nineties we started to hear in Britain about very large catfish being caught in Spain. Usually accidentally. Though British anglers I had spoken to who had always done well in France fishing for the Wels, never did any good in Spain. Well most never, most came home with nothing to show for their time on the Spanish banks. Clearly the methods they were using, were not correct for the river they were now fishing. Especially if the Wels catfish was even bigger in this part of the world.
So I decided to track down those that had caught from these Spanish rivers, and tried my hand a few times. Once in 98, and three times in 99. Obviously we got our methods right by our photos. Which did upset some fall time catfish anglers, but as I said earlier it's hard to please everyone all the time.
Though the clever anglers asked us what methods we used, and then went on to catch many big catfish from Spain themselves. The Wels catfish is just getting bigger and bigger in size all the time as well. Especially now the anglers are using the pellet type baits.
Since 1999 I haven't fished for the Wels, but now since early 2000's many say Italy is the destination for even bigger Wels catfish captures, but once again most Brits that have been there have failed. Once again it's all down to getting your methods right. More investigations need to take place concerning the Italian Wels catfish. Though I am gradually building a map in my head. Where the biggest ones may live in Italy.
Though if you are after a big Wels catfish I would recommend you visit somewhere like Spain first.
Glowing reflections on Dublin's River Liffey, with the diving bell in the centre of shot, even the sky is a nice soup.
The Nile Perch is regarded by many big fish freshwater anglers as one of the worst fighting fish for it's size. They do Occasionally leap out of the water. I’m assuming trying to throw the hook, but it’s fight compares nowhere near with the Wels Catfish. Though the Tiger fish is in a different league when it comes to fighting. Most come off the hooks, but if you do hook one, it fights like hell for it’s size. Most we caught were around 6 or 7 pounds, but my friend Johnny managed to hook them to 12Lbs. The Tiger fish makes the Nile Perch look stupid in fighting terms. The Nile Perch seem to exhaust themselves to fast. It's like catching bream on very heavy carp tackle.
This fish weighed 120Lb, it leaped twice I think, at distance, but then tried to drop back down to the bed of the lake. It was like trying to lift an heavy dead weight off the bottom. The fish give up fast.
My friend Johnny caught a catfish around the 40Lb mark one night, we think it was maybe a Bagrus or Vundu Catfish. It didn't take long for him to catch it. Some don't realise but some Catfish are attracted to torch light, and move in on baits fast, when light is shone on them in the margins. That was the only time we wet a line in the hours of darkness. I have swam about in lake Nasser, but you have to be careful at night time, because there are crocodiles present, and that's when their most active.
I have been told by quite a few anglers that have fished Lake Nasser in the past. Some have been there five times or more. The water clarity of Nasser seems to been getting dirtier each year. It gets more muddier the closer you get to Sudan way. Some say useless for lure fishing. Though interesting to me, because there is a type of carp and various species of catfish living in those waters. Which prefer muddier circumstances. I went there for a 13 day Nubian Safari. Starting from the Aswan end of the lake. Many say November is not a good month to catch Nile Perch. Though we still managed to find them. Though the first five days we were fishing in very strong winds, that were causing sometimes sand storms. Making it very difficult for our guide Mohammed to guide, and steer our boat. He told us strong winds constant for more than one day was very unusual. Our guide, and cooks were great blokes. Couldn’t do enough for you. Not the same can be said about their boss Tim Baily. All their boats were having problems with their outboard motors. We were one of the lucky ones , and only lost a day, and half at the end of our trip through engine failure. If you do ever decide to fish with the 'African Angler', check out all the costs, because Tim Baily did have a few hidden ones, Which he does like to spring on you once you arrive in Egypt.
I found out a couple of years back, the Nile Perch wasn't native to the lake, and like the Wels in the Segre Spain it is taking over. Wiping out native species.
I would only go back to fish for other species, because my fishing time is very limited. The Nile Perch didn't really do it for me. I've been spoilt by the fight of the Wels Catfish.
Here are Lagoona and Gil at Bethells Beach on Auckland's wild west coast.
I had a devil of a time keeping them posed in the wind and the wet sand. They fell over quite a few times. Somewhere along the line, Gil lost a bit of his left eyebrow. I have no idea how that happened. It looks like it got smudged off rather than scraped, but I don't know what kind of liquid could've done that. I certainly didn't have any nail polish remover on me. Anyway ...
'Tis a pity I got rid of my School's Out Lagoona's 'hang ten' hand, eh? Ah well ...
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You Wait For One Bus, Then Two Come Along At Once
Wels Catfish 153Lbs & 136Lbs, caught about thirty yards away from an island in the middle of the river. Fishing with baits on the surface, not on the bottom. I fished near this island because Wels catfish attack when they hear certain noises. One being frogs croaking loudly, and the other being baby birds screeching loudly. The Wels catfish is hoping one falls out of a tree.
Wels Catfish trying to catch pigeons.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwlJO789k-A
When I was a kid I had very long hair Then I had it all cropped off. Then I grew it long again. Now I shave it down to the bone every day. Someone recently said to me I should grow it long again. There's no chance of that. If you check this photo out above from 1999. That's three days hair growth there, without shaving my head. None now grows in the centre though....Lol
I hated School though. I use to just dream all the time about playing football, and going fishing. I would of liked to of learnt Geography, but the teachers that taught it at my school hadn't been anywhere themselves. They were boring gits. I liked art if I was allowed to draw what I liked, but some teachers didn't regard my art as art. Some thought, some of it was pornographic. Have they never ever seen them naked statues in museums.
When I was in senior school, a Comprehensive. My class was all given some homework once. You had to predict the future. I wrote that the Berlin wall would come down one day. Some countries would break away from USSR. There would be a black leader in South Africa, though I had never considered it ever being Nelson Mandela. There would be peace in Ireland, and Liam Brady would unfortunately leave Arsenal one day, to play for another football team abroad.
Now if there is any young people reading this I'm not a predictionist. (Is that a real word). There was other things that I had said that haven't happened yet. Though I was made to stand up in front of the class. While my teacher read out my predictions loudly laughing his head off, and trying to humiliate me with snidely comments. I've always said in more recent years to me mum, if I meet that teacher ever on the streets. I will kick him right between the legs hard.
WHAT DID HE EVER PREDICT A!
Future predictions I don't really have any. My old mate Irish John getting the first round of drinks in a pub would be a miracle. There's more chance of seeing the good Pope himself taking up Morris dancing.
Though if I was to of listened to some of my school history teachers. I would not talk to people from Germany, Japan, and Argentina. Which would be a bit difficult because one of my best friends is half German. Also I have Flickr friends from those countries.
As for the two catfish above. Well you can sometimes wait ages to get one run, then you hook one. Your arms and muscles feel like they are going to explode. You eventually get the beating of it, and just as your putting a soft safety string through it's mouth and gills, after unhooking such a monster size fish. So it can rest up in the margins under the shade of a tree. Your other fishing rod springs violently into action, and you have to do it all over again. This time with an even bigger catfish.
This is what actually happened. Though I came up with the idea. If halfway through the battle. I sit on my backside on the ground. The catfish wont be able to throw me about so much. Bad idea, all it did was start to drag me towards the river water, because the muddy ground was to slippery from recent flooding. Leaving my friend Dinger having to grab the back of my shirt collar, preventing me being dragged down stream, because I had become locked in a tug of war. It was like being pulled along by a car. At one point Dinger was holding onto my shirt collar so tight I thought my shirt was going to rip off of me, or he would accidentally strangle me.
" Dame Vera Lynn ", one of the new Polish built diesel hybrid ferries connecting North & South Woolwich on the River Thames, in the background, the mighty skyscrapers of London's business district.
NOMBRE CIENTÍFICO / SCIENTIFIC NAME: Caiman Crocodilus
NOMBRE COMÚN: Caimán de Anteojos - Babilla
Una vez tiempo atrás, estando observando aves en una ciénaga dentro de la ciudad, conocí a un vecino de la zona cuya casa quedaba al borde del agua y que tenía un visitante particular que venía día a día a pedir comida.
Aquel visitante era nada más y nada menos que este llamativo caimán de buen tamaño, lo más sorprendente de todo fue verlo esperar pacientemente por un trozo de comida como cualquier animal acostumbrado a ser alimentado por humanos.
Sometime ago, while I was watching birds in a lake within the city, I met a local resident who his house was just beside water and there was a curious visitor who came every day waiting for food.
That particular visitor was nothing more than this striking and good size alligator, the most surprising thing about all this was seeing him just wainting with patience for some food like any other animal who is used to be feed by humans.
Mil gracias por apreciar mis fotografías / Thanks for viewing my photos 🙌
Seen on the River Bovey last autumn.
#19 in Explore
Update: I revisited this location in Autumn 2013, and the monster has been slain.
It must have been a victim of the floods of early 2013.
There's a reason this was the first male Monster High doll I wanted. I mean, look at him. He's glorious. And I think he knows it, though he seems fairly modest about it. Well, when he's not posing like this he seems fairly modest about it. ;)
13 Beauties Challenge 6: Shattered Dreams, Part 1
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13 Beauties Challenge 6: Shattered Dreams, Part 3
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Lagoona is pleased to have her boyfriend, Gil, with her again, and it looks like she's not going to let him go this time!
In keeping with the double meaning of the title, I'll just add that I really like Gil's spine fins. They're a neat touch.
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Gil struttin' his stuff.
As an aside, I had the idea last night that that little shell necklace of his could be a magical amulet allowing him to breathe out of water without his helmet on ~ like Abbey's amulet that keeps her cold. Gil's helmet is cool and all, but it doesn't photograph well. Too reflective.
13 Beauties Challenge 1: Modeling Shots
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"May what I do flow from me like a river, no forcing and no holding back ..."
~ Rainer Maria Rilke
Shh! Don't tell Gil but that's not actually a river. It's the Manukau Harbor (which, incidentally, was beautifully still this morning).
Texture by SkeletalMess.
13 Beauties Challenge 2: Silhouette
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Gil's latest assignment was to show off his back. It would appear Gil took that literally. Any excuse to get his shirt off, right?
[I went up to Takapuna this afternoon, part of the reason being so I could photograph Gil at the beach. Unfortunately, the rain arrived at the same time I did, so plan B involved faking it at home.]
Texture by SkeletalMess.
13 Beauties Challenge 3: Watch Your Back
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13 Beauties Challenge 6: Shattered Dreams, Part 2
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Gil and Lagoona take their pony pal Blossomforth camping. Lagoona entertains them with some rousing campfire songs, while Gil prepares the s'mores.
This isn't exactly the photo I wanted, but I didn't want to get eaten alive by the mosquitoes, who were finding all the chinks in my bug spray armor. Plus, there's a fire ban across the entire North Island (it's the driest it's ever been since records began), so I stuck my flashlight in the kids' orange plastic cup and held it off camera.
Monster High Weekly Photo Challenge ~ Week 9: camping
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Gil and Lagoona thought they could sneak away for a little one-on-one time in the bushes, but they were wrong ...
Luckily I came across them before things got serious. I'm going to have to keep my eye on those two. ;-)
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13 Beauties Challenge 9: Winning Looks
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This is Gil's final challenge for the 13 Beauties contest (the brief being to take a previous shot and edit the heck out of it). I don't normally go in for photoshop effects but I thought I'd make an exception in this case.
13 Beauties Challenge 10: Last Call
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Strange rivermonster comes out of these marble formations at Marmorslottet. This is duplicated and mirrored.
Over at the Arena, people have been complaining about how the new Dance Class Gil is going to be yet another boy dressed in shorts. In Mattel's defense, they'd have to give him some flared pants, what with his leg fins. I did a little experiment and found that Deuce's signature pants were the only ones that fit Gil with his leg fins on, mainly because they are slightly flared at the bottoms. The others all have tight pants that don't fit Gil unless you take his leg fins off.
Anyway, so while I was messing about with pants, I came up with this outfit and thought it looked cool and started posing Gil in various dance moves, and that all resulted in this photo.
I hope you like it!
Texture by Dyrk Wyst.
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Gil has made it into the finals of the 13 Beauties competition. Now he needs to make sure he comes out on top!
13 Beauties Challenge 7: Stand Out in a Crowd, Part 2
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On number 8 our Christmas Villains are the burglars from HOME ALONE!
Do you get the pun? "WET"? Because they're fish LOL
BTW, the crowbars were handmade with clay.
One of Gil's worst nightmares is being attacked by giant insects.
[This was an impromptu Plan B, as my original idea had been to have Gil stranded in a "desert", but the weather is starting to look a bit wet, so I had to scratch going to the beach. Luckily I found a weta on the doormat and voila!]
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13 Beauties Challenge 5: Nightmare
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