upchucked in my livewell
Was this creature of the deep…
the mudpuppy!
AKA Señor Waterdog.
A friend at Cabela’s wanted some chain pickerel for their aquarium. After delivering the fish, I just happened to look in the livewell and found these guys:
My guess is that’s another waterdog on top, in slightly more advanced stages of digestion. The two in the middle were some kind of sunfish. It was pretty cool seeing this stuff. I had never seen a waterdog before.
Unfortunately, none of the pickerel survived quarantine. It was sad to hear but it does happen. Just an excuse to go try for more next winter, I guess. I can’t help thinking about cooler weather: yesterday we were wading on 92 degree flats with a heat index of 107. It’s been a hot year, and, like all anglers, I do have a habit of looking forward to winter when it’s hot and summer when it’s cool. I won’t start complaining yet, though, I have a few more scores to settle with carp and long nose gar before this scorcher is done.