Duct Report Plus A Bonus

[yolo]

I hit the duct up this mid morning for a quickie. Was not by any gate so could not report exact opening but the flow was very heavy and I would guess all the way open. Moss too. I threw out a bait rod and then left it as I was working various lures. Like I said, the flow was strong and the floating moss was of course present because of it. This made for some not so good lure fishing but I was still chucking them.

I am about to call it a morning and I start walking back to my bait pole and as I am nearing it, I see it bending and the bell is jingling. I run over there and set the hook and start to reel it in. Right away I can feel it's no striper. The built up moss on the line is making it difficult as it gets stuck in the tip eye and I can't reel. I have to clear the moss and reel a few turns again and it binds up once more. rinse and repeat several times until I land this perfect specimen 23" long channel catfish. Some of you recall my last catch with the ugly torn up white kitty well this one was the opposite and a perfect channel specimen.

Now comes the fun part again of a new duct experience for me. In my 24 or so years of duct fishing I have never seen this before. This kitty had a mouth full of these 2" to 3" long worms or leeches. His mouth was stuffed with them. He already had a big 'ol belly on him but had the mouth/throat full of these and went for my chicken liver too. I pulled out several of them with my pliers and took a pic of them. Earlier in the year, I saw lots of tiny 1/2" worms by the thousands and have seen them for decades but I have never seen these full size ones. Like I have always said. There is a lot of food in the duct. I am adding these to my long list. No wonder it's been tough fishing. All duct species have so much selection to chose from.

So has anyone seen these before? Can anyone identify what exactly it is? Never a dull moment at the duct, lol.

http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo144/JetSkiJunkie118/Duct%209-20-09/IMG_3483.jpg

http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo144/JetSkiJunkie118/Duct%209-20-09/IMG_3485.jpg

http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo144/JetSkiJunkie118/Duct%209-20-09/IMG_3487.jpg

[vagabond]

never a dull moment for sure,nice going on the kitty,much better looking,as far as the worms /leeches,your guess is as good as mine...

[trail blazer]

WOW!!!!! trip!!!
new 1 on me bro,no idea what kind of worms,leeches or whatever,,Nice kitty ya got there though.

TONS a food out there this year

[J. Owen]

flatworms!!

[cutbait]

That is exactly why I don't eat or touch nasty catfish!

Way to beat the skunk though

[yolo]

With all the anomalies that I seem to have come across at the duct, I am heading for a state record striper. It might have 2 heads but it will be huge, lol? Yeah I'm not a kitty fan either.

[steve092]

Hopefully those are leeches and not a bad worm.

Nice catch!

[SHAD MAN 09]

:Shocked:looks like the leeches I used to catch walleye on in colorado there also really good for bass. nice kitty but yeah nasty suckers lol.

[fishinone]

They look like leeches but I'm used to leeches being darker/almost black.

Did they have teeth?

[yolo]

I did not see teeth. I didn't really examine them that close and I didn't touch them. I was just plucking them out with the needlenose and dropping them on the cement to take a pic. They looked more like some sort of worm to me. All I know is I have never seen this in decades of duct fishing. That is why I posted it to try to see if anyone else knew what the heck it was. I talked to a duct fisherman that has been fishing it for nearly 40 years and he told me there are leeches in there and that they do hang out in the siphons and under bridges where it is shady. He said they were black too and about 3" to 4" long and has pulled them out of stripers. The ones I posted are not black but the lengths are similar. Like I said, I come across all the weird stuff at the duct. This is just another example. Maybe I investigate too much but I want to learn. 20+ years of duct experience and I am still learning.

[fishinone]

I don't want to recommend letting them bite you so that we can tell if they're leeches.

Or at least I don't want to be seen recommending that you let them bite you so that we can tell if they're leeches.:ROFL:

[gletemfeelsteelgary]

looks like leeches to me but they don't seem to have the traditional coloring but by all means I am not an authority on leeches, either way thats way far out in left field.

Trippy, I've never saw anything like that in the duct or in all my years of fishing for that matter......I hope the stripes dont go there, I wonder if it's some form of isolated parasite that grew in some dead animal in the duct ?

You would have thought if this was a regular form in the food chain one of us would have experienced it b4.

Hmnnnnn !

Anyway, congrats on the catch !
Gary

[jeff4321]

leeches bro