Local angler reels in exotic fish in Wise
COY BAYS > Sports Editor
The scary, toothy denizen of the deep caught in Wise Reservoir last week by Jimmy Owens was identified as a pacu by Virginia Game and Inland Fisheries officials because of the fish's size and its human-like teeth. (Jim Gibson photos)
NORTON "? Jimmy Owens was fishing for catfish in Wise Reservoir last week when felt something take hold of the chicken livers he was using for bait at the end of his 50-pound test line. Owens set the hook, but the fish headed for the bottom and away from the bank.
Nearing the end of what Owens called one of the toughest fights he'd ever had with a fish, the angler and his fishing partner, Freddie Adams, got their first glimpse of the hooked fish.
"I never expected to see something like that,"? said Owens. "I was fishing on the left side of the dock and had my line about 20 feet out from the bank. It fought real good. It went down and took off like a rocket. I thought it was a big catfish."?
Owens' fishing partner couldn't believe his eys when the two anglers finally saw the fish.
"When I first saw it in the water I thought we had caught a world-record bluegill,"? Adams said Friday while displaying the toothy monster the pair thought was a piranha before state fish and game officials got a look at the catch. "When we got it on the bank and you could see in its mouth, we couldn't believe it. We had caught a piranha."?
The fish was 15 inches long and measured eight inches from its belly to the top of its back. Despite its impressive girth, the fish's impressive set of human-like teeth is what set the catch apart from any other the two anglers had landed while casting their lines into local waters.
Adams and Owens called the local game warden, Tim Hayes. After seeing the fish, the game warden told the two that he doubted if their prize catch belonged to the species of fearsome meat-eating fish from the Amazon River of South America.
"Piranha usually don't grow that big,"? said Hayes before viewing the fish. "We've had fish like this before, and 90 percent of the time what people think is a piranha is a pacu. People buy them in pet stores and they get a lot bigger than people think, so they turn them lose in the nearest lake or stream when they get too big for their aquariums."?
Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries biologist Bill Kittrell visited Norton Monday to look at Owens' fish. He said Hayes was correct in his assessment of the fish.
"It's from the pacu family. It looks like a red-bellied pacu, but I can't say for sure. I could be a giant pacu. There are something like 900 species of pacu,"? said Kittrell. "It's easy to mistake one for a piranha, but there are some differences that set them apart.
"Both are tropical fish from South America. but it is illegal to import piranha into this country,"? said Kittrell. "Piranha don't grow over 10 inches, but some giant pacu have grown to five feet long. Piranha gave shark-like, pointed teeth and their lower jaws extend out. Pacu's have lips that flip down, and they have teeth that are more human-like."?
A CASE OF BUY AND RELEASE
Kittrell said Owens' fish was probably dumped into the local lake in recent months.
"These are tropical fish. Cold weather would kill them if the water temperature dropped to where it usually does in the winter,"? said the state fisheries biologist based in Marion. "Some can reproduce in cold water, but that is rare."?
Kittrell said that Owens is not the first Southwest Virginia angler to find a surprise on the end of his line.
"The same thing happened a few years back at the ponds in Saltville,"? said Kittrell. "The fish get too big for their aquariums, so people do what they think is the humane thing to do and turn them loose in the nearest body of water.
"What they don't understand is that it is against the law to introduce an exotic species into a local body of water,"? said Kittrell. "Had this been a piranha, you can be assured that we would make every effort to find out where it came from and how it got in the lake."?
Meanwhile, Owens and Adams have a pretty good fish tale about the one that didn't get away.
Had the fish been a piranha, they would have really had a whale of tale to tell.
http://www.thecoalfieldprogress.com/...viewStory=1572
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