Been fishing for almost 50 years and never caught a paddlefish til yesterday, very,very, cool. Almost like catching a dinosaur. Kept it in the boat long enough to take some cell phone pics and tossed it back...what a critter.
Jon

Here's a couple pics....

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x41/Jackitup1/fish5.jpg?t=1211038699

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x41/Jackitup1/fish6.jpg?t=1211038788

that's cool I heard the y were in there byt never seen them. Howed she fight.

Looks delicious! Just kidding. Neat to see

Fought like crazy. Snagged it by the tail and it took me beter than a half hour to land it, then it barely fot in the net. Another good reason to always have a big net.
Jon

I've caught them in South Dakota when I used to live there. They actually have a season for them and people catch quite a few of them. I'm going back this fall to do it again. They actually taste great. They don't have any bones, just cartilage.

Way cool man, congrats...

Paddlefishing here in Montana is quite the sport. Mainly the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers with a special season with quotas to protect the fishery. In fact, the city of Glendive on the East side of the state sponsors a trailer which will clean and pack your catch in exchange for the roe, which is highly sought after as caviar(the sale of which by the public is illegal). The town does well enough from the exchange that it payed for a pool and other civil projects. Unfortunately, river flows have suffered drought effects over the last decade that paddlefish recrutemnt has suffered significantly and the FWP (our DNR) has struggled to manage the season. Way cool Brute of a fish though.

Those pics will be a great memory for years to come!
Tunrevir~

Used to see them in ND fishing the wing walls of Garrison Dam on the Missouri River. Never caught them, but they would come up and point their snouts atca.

Awesome pics and congrats on the catch! Looks like a fun fish to catch!!

uwleagle,
Where did you live in SD? And where did you catch your paddlefish?? Just curious...

Years ago I worked at the St. Croix Marina in Hudson. A guy with a big boat brought one in he found floating dead. Had to be over 6' long and easily 100 lbs. I didn't even know they were in the river till then.

I lived in Huron, SD. My parents actually moved back there so I go back quite a bit. I was only like 10 when I caught one but I think we caught them by Gavins Point dam by Yankton. Does that sound right?

Sounds good to me! I have never fished for them, but maybe someday! I am from Tulare originally, which is only about 35 miles from Huron. So, I have been there quite a bit...

I snagged a paddlefish in the belly around Hudson this morning. It took me over a half hour to get it to the surface. I know this is a terrible picture, but here it goes:



I couldn't boat it by myslef with an undersized walleye net. Wound up snapping the line. I had it on a Limit Creek smoothie with 6lb test. I'm pretty impressed with how the rod handled that big of snagged fish.

LB