Last night, I was zipping on home with a great tailwind. The Mt. Vernon trail runs along the Potomac River, and I've often seen people fishing along its banks. As I approached the airport area, I saw on my left, a bicyclist and a fisherman. The bicyclist had laid his bike down in the grass, and was taking a picture of something. What I saw made me do a double-take, hit the brakes and turn right around. It was a HUGE CATFISH!!! I've never seen catfish this size before! Unbelievable! That's why I took some pictures, and then also put my pannier down next to the catfish. My pannier measures 16" in length, so you can see that this catfish was probably over 32" long! The bicyclist said he had stopped to help the fisherman pull the catfish up out of the water. He said it must have weighed at least 30 lbs.! The fisherman was Asian, and didn't speak any English, though I tried to ask/motion him if he was going to eat it. He replied in his language, as if I would understand...but I think I got the idea that he wasn't going to eat it. I guess not, since the Potomac River isn't the cleanest river around. Still, I was quite impressed at the size of this catfish. I think if it had been me, I would have taken some pictures, and then thrown him back.
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This week's Time Magazine has a picture of the endangered Mekong Giant Catfish. [T]he largest ever caught was 646 lb.
One of these monsters is pictured next to a boy. Bizarre.
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