I’ve seen plenty of albino creatures in my lifetime, but never have I seen a fish.
A fully albino catfish complete with pink whiskers and fins… pretty cool.
Field and Stream says Farrah Reidt was out fishing for her family fishing tournament trying to regain the lead when she hooked into this Albino catfish.
Reidt and her husband were set out to take the lead needing to catch a 50-pounder. Reidt hooked into a fish and wasn’t happy about how big the fish was because the contest is purely based on who catches the biggest fish.
“I was actually kind of disappointed. I could tell it wasn’t a 50-pounder.”
That attitude would change quickly. This is why I love the outdoors, you never know what you might get the chance to see, catch or kill. The possibilities are endless.
As the fish surface Reidt didn’t know what it was.
“As soon as the fish got to the surface, I said, ‘What the heck is that?’”
Her husband Matt, told her what it was as they were both in shock. Who wouldn’t be though? Expecting a normal fish to come up and something totally different shows up, the best surprise ever.
The couple reached out and told Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency about the 33-inch and 12.5 pound catfish. The got pictures of it and released the fish.
Mike Jolley a biologist with the agency was impressed with the catch putting it in perspective from a professional how rare this was.
“An albino catfish is not something you see every day for sure.
I have only witnessed a couple of albino catfish through anglers sharing their catch over the past 29 years as a reservoir fisheries biologist working on nine reservoirs in both the Cumberland and Tennessee River systems.
I have never witnessed an albino being collected in any of our field data collections.”
That is pretty insane to think how rare it is if this fish biologist was only seen a couple and never caught one himself.
Nice catch.
