08-21-2010, 12:37 AM
I hope you weighed that; could be a record, either state or national. That's a brown bullhead, and those don't get too big. And I'm not bull sh!tting you on that (pun intended).
And I have a soft spot for bulls. Where I'm from (near Chicago), some rivers have been so polluted that bullheads have been the only reliable catch for me in the past. Those cats can take a lot of punishment- low oxygen, pollution, and quite a bit of other "stuff" that'll make more fashionable fish disappear.
I live by a stretch of water called Loch Lomond (it's in Mundelein, and the "Loch" was made by damming up a small marsh a long time ago; it's also only 89 acres [to be a lake in Illinois, a body of water must be at least 90 acres]). When I was about 5, a person could catch an occasional pike in murky depths of Loch Lommond by casting to deepest holes of about 10 feet (it's pretty damn small, but somehow it had pike). Perch were abundant and largemouth, crappie and sunfish were caught by the dozens. Then, when I was 7, the swimmer (or whiny yuppies, as I call them) had grass carp introduced to "clean the lake". After 5 years, carp were everywhere, even under diving boards and the middle of swim lessons. The pike have not been seen since. The bass are rarer, and smaller. I have heard of friends catching crappie and perch, but nothing worth eating. Then commorants came. But the bullheads still thrive. They are the only indiginous fish doing well at the moment.
Also, I used to fish the Des Plaines river. My dad and I hit a patch of yellow bulls in our "secret spot". We could catch as many as 8 a day. This spot was by a farm that used fertilizers. The only catfish we caught there was poisoned so bad it had stubs for whiskers was stained turquoise. It took 5 minutes of speculation before we realized the poor creature was a channel cat.
So count your blessings: when all else fails, bullheads can tough it out.[reply][/reply]
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And I have a soft spot for bulls. Where I'm from (near Chicago), some rivers have been so polluted that bullheads have been the only reliable catch for me in the past. Those cats can take a lot of punishment- low oxygen, pollution, and quite a bit of other "stuff" that'll make more fashionable fish disappear.
I live by a stretch of water called Loch Lomond (it's in Mundelein, and the "Loch" was made by damming up a small marsh a long time ago; it's also only 89 acres [to be a lake in Illinois, a body of water must be at least 90 acres]). When I was about 5, a person could catch an occasional pike in murky depths of Loch Lommond by casting to deepest holes of about 10 feet (it's pretty damn small, but somehow it had pike). Perch were abundant and largemouth, crappie and sunfish were caught by the dozens. Then, when I was 7, the swimmer (or whiny yuppies, as I call them) had grass carp introduced to "clean the lake". After 5 years, carp were everywhere, even under diving boards and the middle of swim lessons. The pike have not been seen since. The bass are rarer, and smaller. I have heard of friends catching crappie and perch, but nothing worth eating. Then commorants came. But the bullheads still thrive. They are the only indiginous fish doing well at the moment.
Also, I used to fish the Des Plaines river. My dad and I hit a patch of yellow bulls in our "secret spot". We could catch as many as 8 a day. This spot was by a farm that used fertilizers. The only catfish we caught there was poisoned so bad it had stubs for whiskers was stained turquoise. It took 5 minutes of speculation before we realized the poor creature was a channel cat.
So count your blessings: when all else fails, bullheads can tough it out.[reply][/reply]
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