Freshwater oddities

I've gone carp fishing the last three nights. I've caught a couple, but I've caught some really weird things the last couple days. Ironically while writing this I am watching River Monsters. Although I can't claim any " monsters", I can say catching these two things were just as odd.

Last night I caught a yellow bullhead catfish. Normally yellow bullheads are almost brown. The belly is slightly yellowish, as opposed to a brown bullhead whos color is a creamy white. The only real way to tell the difference from a yellow and brown bullhead is the light chin barbels of the yellow.

Not last nights fish. Last night I caught a yellow bullhead that was lemon colored. I have never seen one that color. It was so yellow it almost glowed. Both pictures are the same fish. It was really pretty. Luckily I caught it, it was the only thing I caught last night.   

     Tonight I caught something even more bizarre. I did catch a carp, but right before dark I got another hit. It took some line so I set the hook. As I was reeling in, I knew I didn't have a carp, it was kind of dead weight but was kind of heavy. I thought I might have a very large bullhead.  When I reeled in, I realized I had a turtle. I'm not a fan of catching turtles. Snapping turtles can be a pain, but I just feel bad catching a sun turtle. In Southern New England we have painted turtle and spotted turtles living in ponds along with snappers.

That is why it was such a surprise to catch a red ear slider. Red ear sliders are not native to here. I caught one on three pieces of corn. Sliders are the turtle found in pet stores. The one I caught was most likely a release from someone that didn't want to take care of it any more.  Its a shame that people buy pets and just toss them aside when they don't want them any more. More importantly these sliders really are invasive. They could screw the ecosystem and compete with and possibly breed with native turtles. I can't say I'm not part of the problem. I couldn't bring myself to kill it, so I let it go.