It’s a fish-eat-fish world out there…is that the right phrase?
Regardless, these anglers were out on the Mississippi River in La Crosse, Wisconsin when they reeled in a rather interesting catch. The northern pike that they caught ended up being a two-for-one, though they weren’t sure what that second thing was going to be until they opened it up.
In a caption along with the video, the anglers described the situation as:
“(We) wanted to take a video of what we thought was a turtle inside this fish’s stomach.
What we found out once we filleted it open blew us away.”
When they reeled it in, the northern pike was clearly larger than a normal fish would be. Some of them assumed that it might be pregnant, while others were guessing that the pike might have somehow swallowed a turtle.
That’s pretty normal for northern pikes, who are some of the fiercest fish on the planet and will basically eat anything they can manage to catch. The group was eager to see what the inside of the fish held, so they quickly got it on the fillet table, and that’s when things got interesting.
The northern pike had actually been on ice for over five hours, so they assumed that whatever was inside was “long gone.” However, once they sliced it open, they were quickly proven wrong when a panfish came flying out.
One of the anglers can be heard exclaiming in the video:
“It’s still alive! Oh my gosh, I can’t believe it!”
I’m sure it was hard to believe if the fish was actually on ice for over five hours. They expected to pull some kind of creature out the northern pike’s stomach, but I think it’s safe to say that none of them could have foreseen something alive making its way out of the bigger fish.
The clip might not be for the faint of heart (considering they’re gutting the fish), but if you want to see a live fish come out of a dead fish, you’ll have to push through it.
Check it out:
