Big mouth!

I have suddenly grown vastly fascinated with the mouth shape of fish!  Yeah, that is a weird thing to find interesting but after getting bit by one too many trout and redfish, I have come to appreciate the toothless grin of the catfish!   I have no clue if all catfish are without chompers but the ones that I catch from the pier could only "gum" a person!  There are no teeth in there that I can see!  How in the world do these fish eat? I am supposing that they just swallow their prey whole and hope for the best.  Not that I think any fish actually chew their food but at least most have pointy teeth to help them catch their breakfast!

I caught another Gaff-topsail Catfish the other day and was both interested and appalled by the fish.  First, I was naturally disgusted by the fish's slime.  When grasping the fish to unhook it, my hand was immediately covered with the stickiest gunk imaginable!  This stuff is awful!  The slime does not wash off with a mere soap and water rinse...oh, no...you have to break out the scrub brush!  Then it feels as if you are taking off a few layers of skin just to rid your hands of the gummy stuff!  Once I got past the idea that my hands would be permanently glued to the next thing I touched, the Gaff-topsail Catfish demanded my full attention!

Beyond the fact that these fish have quite the unusual fins (hence the name), it was the mouth that held my attention.  I probably could have fit my entire fist in that gaping maw!  I stared at the fish..my goodness!  That mouth was huge!  Then I thought about how the male catfish broods the fertilized eggs in his mouth until they hatch.  Well, there sure was enough room in there to brood a lot of them!  That toothless mouth would be well-suited as a nursery as long as he did not decide to swallow the whole shebang!  One wrong gulp could be the end of an entire generation of little catfish! I unhooked the fish and was about to toss it aside to be used in the crab trap when I noticed that the fish was blind in one eye.  Obviously, this fish had been caught before and my hook was so near to the same eye that had been punctured.  Poor fish.  I did not have the heart to kill this fish.  It had been through so much already!  Off you go, Gaff-topsail!  Go back and keep that big mouth shut..do not bite anymore baited hooks.  You may not be so lucky next time!

Morning before the storm..a beautiful sunrise!

As an added thought....I ask for prayers for all those in the path of Isaac.  We here on the Bayou have made our preparations and are now waiting for landfall. If the weather reports are correct, we should be on the tough side of the storm.  Things could possibly be a bit wild on the Bayou for the next few days. The winds are picking up a bit and rains are expected soon but we are safe and snug in the Little Bayou House.  I will keep posting as long as we have electricity and internet.  Until we meet again....be safe, Folks, be safe.