It did, I appreciated Sean helping to hold it up for the pic, he's about 6'3". Paddlefish's eggs are a form of caviar and tightly controlled. This one had about 20 lbs of eggs, which would bring about $3000 or more, if they could be sold. You can't even transport the eggs, unless they're still in the fish. Like anything, if the fish is properly cleaned, the meat is very good.
It's the method of catching this type of fish. They are filter feeders, swimming around with their mouths open and filtering zooplankton out of the water. They can't be caught with bait, so snaggers use 2 large treble hooks over a large weight, let it sink to the bottom and jerk it up and forward repeatedly until they snag one. It's a workout! But when you hook into one, it's game on.
I think we’re about to break into a “Who’s on First?” here. What’s the name of the fish? And don’t say second base!
One of the best comedic routines ever! Paddlefish, or Spoonbill. The method is called snagging, the fishermen are called snaggers. I didn't expect many on here to be snaggers, since the fish are limited to the Mississippi river tributaries. But those rivers extend east into New York and west to Montana, so I thought someone on here might be.
Oklahoma has some good snagging. We go to Truman Lake, that lake gets a lot of KC folks. Have you ever snagged?
Here in Kansas its a special season in only certain locations for spoonbill. Its highly regulated too.
Snagging is usually frowned upon, but if it is legal I say do it! Nice fish, do you have a picture of the rod and reel used to drag in a foul hooked Spoonbill?
Snagging is a very common practice (& legal) for spoonbills here. They tend to congregate at spillways and such. Sent from my SM-G930VL using Tapatalk
There's always going to be someone that frowns on something. There's a 45 day season on Spoonbill in Missouri, and it is tightly regulated, not only because of the caviar but also to protect the species. Since it's a filter feeder, pretty much the only way to catch it is to snag it. Properly cleaned it is a very good eating fish, even my wife likes it, she's not into gamey tasting fish. There's about 12 of us on this trip, it's good to get out and spend time with the guys. Here's a pic of the rod and reels, they are stout. The rod's are 7' long and the line is 100 lb test.
