In my 100+ years of fishing I had never seen this happen....

.. and last night at Fairhope it happened twice. I didn't even know male Hardhead and Gafftop Catfish carry the eggs in their mouth until the eggs hatch, but apparently they do.

so last night (during the 20mph winds and intermitten rain), the White trout were active almost all night long. Had 25, plus 5 Specks (2 legal) and 3 rat-reds. One sailcat and one hardhead grabbed my crappie jig and came over the rail spitting what I thought were minnows... but they were baby cats less than 1 inch long. Definitely alive and kicking too.

Not earth-shattering news, but I had never witnessed it before in my life. Gotta wonder how hard it is to swallow your food with a mouthful of babies... but nature knows best.

EDIT: 3/16 jig 1.5 inch neon green.

That is always cool to witness and rarely expected. And maybe the main reason they are such prolific breeders.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Pier#r

That is always cool to witness and rarely expected. And maybe the main reason they are such prolific breeders.

---

for real for sure... cause not much is gonna stick their head in a catfish's mouth and try to eat their babies.

It might be some kind a new record. How many catfish did you catch on one line?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by OldSpool

.. how hard it is to swallow your food with a mouthful of babies... but nature knows best.

EDIT: 3/16 jig 1.5 inch neon green.

---

Yes, you are right, but excuse me for waxing philosophic, nature is different from Jesus, nature has no problem if 99 die and only one survives - as long as the one lays enough eggs.

Actually witnessed that a couple of times 2 summers ago. That was a first for me too then.

Had the exact same thing happen to me at Orange Beach last week while surf fishing...caught two good size hardheads on shrimp, and both disgorged a bunch of tiny cats while I was unhooking them. My daughter, a marine biologist, said they are mouth brooders...not mouth breeders. Interesting....never seen it before, either.