Fish Friday: Flathead Catfish, Pylodictis olivaris

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These are flathead catfish, Pylodictis olivaris, from the family Ictaluridae. My brother-in-law caught these by hand in a reservoir that was being seined. He caught these by hand using a technique that I would call hogging, except that this was not really so much of a sporting situation since their habitat was compromised. The sport of catching large catfish by hand is also called noodling, grabbling, graveling, hogging, tickling, dogging and stumping. The entry in Wikipedia states that this method is only legal in Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Georgia with a an experimental open season in Missouri. Arkansas has an open season for legally hogging catfish as well. The largest of the above pictured fish was 38 pounds. I did not get to eat any of his catch, but he said they were great.

To get a better idea of what this sport is all about, check out this promotional video for Girls Gone Grabbling (available at CatfishGrabblers.com)

Don't forget to check out Modulator's Friday Ark.

Spider Friday

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Here are a couple of spiders for the weekend. The first was just sitting in some uncut grass outside my house. I don't know the species but I really like the coloration.

The next spider is a species of jumping spider. I noticed the rolled up leaf several feet out of above my head. While grabbing the limb to pull it closer for inspection the spider jumped on my arm which is where I took the first picture. The next pic was on my fence after its release.

Don't forget to check out Modulator's Friday Ark!.