BassBlaster

Don’t Go Swimming in Wylie…

…not without Iron Man’s undies, anyway. A guy recently caught a Pacu there, which is a South American fish related to the piranha that can get to be 36″ long. The one just caught was a 5-pounder, about 20 inches long.

They’re sold in pet stores as “vegetarian piranhas,” but that doesn’t mean anything. You’re counting on a fish with some serious teeth and a brain the size of a BB to know that your toe, finger or…something else isn’t a juicy morsel of whatever.

Crazily enough, Wes Stewart of the South Carolina DNR was quoted as saying, “That’s the biggest one we’ve seen out of Lake Wylie” – which means there’s more of these things swimming around out there!

Hey, the next time your neighbor or nephew wants to get rid of an aquarium fish, take it off their hands, shoot it behind the garage and use it to fertilize your tamaters.

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> No word on what the gentleman was using for bait, but we bet it wasn’t veggies.

7 Comments

7 Comments

  1. BP

    September 15, 2010 at 2:12 am

    Welcome to the world of blogging Kumar. You guys should have a better readership than Bass Pundit in no time.

    BP

  2. Bo

    September 16, 2010 at 7:39 am

    Looks like it has human teeth like a sheepshead (the saltwater kind…not freshwater drum), aka prison fish. Something about those human-looking teeth is creepy!

  3. Jonathan

    September 17, 2010 at 4:13 pm

    Yeah, always thought a Pacu’s teeth made it look like a human reincarnated… kept expecting to see a caste mark on its forehead!

  4. John

    June 7, 2011 at 1:12 am

    Just saw a show on River Monsters about these guys. The natives of the village called them “Ball Crushers” kuz that’s what they liked to do.
    Thing is I was on my way to Lake Mead NV. and stopped at the Tackle shop to get bait.There were a couple guys in there showing the owner what they had just caught in lake mead.It was about the size of a large dinner plate. about 3-5 pounds with teeth on the bottom and a hard plate on top. the owner identified it as a pacu. the guy stuck his finger in the mouth kuz he thought it was dead and it chompped him and drew blood.This was around July1998. Now I just read another story about a guy that caught one off the fishing dock in October 2010 in lake Mead.The River Monster show said their in 25 states in the US. I used to do a lot of skinny dipping in Lake Mead. I used to tell my Grandson to watch out for the tuber pluckers they will bite your butt.The lake always had the most agressive bluegills iv’e ever seen. My wife would be sitting in the water and one would litterly snap her bathing suit top and make her say ow.I always wondered what would happen if the pacu were able to cross breed with the bluegills. Any way I don’t go skinny dipping in Lake Mead no more. I never told my wife about the pacu in there either she would never go back in the lake again.I don’t even want to after this last guys story.

  5. Jared

    September 22, 2011 at 3:48 pm

    My buddy caught one behind his house in Hartwell years ago. His neighbor said that he had released one into the lake…

    apparently not too uncommon. i hope they are at least removing the ones they catch

  6. tom maier

    June 6, 2012 at 7:47 am

    pacu are an interesting fish. while they are not strictly vegitarian, they are sold as one because they can be fed as one. the problem with them is when they are finished eating all of the vegitation, they turn to carnirorism, explaining the attacks on people, rare as the case is. and while they may have a small brain, that does not necessarilly make then stupid. it has nothing to do with brains, it’s instinct. while in murky water,and something that potentially can be eaten is flashed in front of the fish, of course a hungry fish will attack.

  7. tom maier

    June 6, 2012 at 7:50 am

    and being related to the pirahna does not simply make it a terrible fish. even pirahnas don’t attack just anything. besides, look at bass and sunfish alone. bith are related, but act completely different

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