# Strange Maumee catch......



## swantucky (Dec 21, 2004)

Took my son down for a couple hours on Saturday. You should have seen the look on our faces when I brought this in!!

    


Anybody else ever see one of these down there?? In thousands of hours spent there in the spring I have never seen a lamprey caught or otherwise..


----------



## sploosh56 (Dec 31, 2008)

No Way! I've never seen one caught around here, but I've heard about them. I hope you killed it. Those things are nasty.


----------



## rick karosa (Jun 4, 2006)

Length: 12 to 20 inches 
Weight: 8 to 13 ounces 
Coloring: grey-blue back, metallic violet on sides, shading to silver-white underneath 
Common Names: great sea lamprey, lake lamprey, lamprey, lamprey eel 
Found in Lakes: Michigan, Huron, Ontario, Erie, and Superior 
In their natural habitat, sea lamprey -- like salmon and alewives -- are ocean fish that spawn in fresh water. But some sea lamprey have always inhabited Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River, which are open to the Atlantic Ocean. In 1921, lampreys appeared in Lake Erie for the first time, arriving via the Welland Canal. From there, they rapidly colonized all of the upper Great Lakes, with especially large infestations developing in Lakes Michigan and Huron. 

The sea lamprey is an agressive parasite -- equipped with a tooth-filled mouth that flares open at the end of its eel-like body. 

When attacking, the lamprey fastens onto its prey and rasps out a hole with its rough tongue. 

An anticoagulant in the lamprey's saliva keeps the wound open for hours or weeks, until the lamprey is satiated or the host fish dies. 

In 1958, scientists finally found TFM -- a chemical that selectively kills sea lamprey larvae in their spawning streams -- and brought the lamprey under control. Lamprey numbers in Lake Michigan are currently only about 10 percent of their peak numbers in the 1950s. However, some biologists are concerned that these surviving populations might develop a resistance to the lampricide or, just as worrisome, an ability to spawn on the deltas at stream mouths -- deeper waters not suitable for lampricide treatment. 
A more positive approach might be to harvest and market the lampreys. For centuries, river lampreys have been considered a delicacy in Europe -- King Henry I of England, in a fit of royal gluttony, is said to have died from a "surfeit of lamprey." But the unappetizing appearance of the eel-like fish and their unpalatable state when caught on their spawning runs has so far undermined their popularity as a food fish in this country.


----------



## rick karosa (Jun 4, 2006)

nice catch i had to google it awsome


----------



## CarpCommander (Jun 20, 2007)

I've caught 2 over the years down there. One attached to a fish and one by itself. They are nasty little buggers. Down in southern Ohio I've seen them by the dozens in streams spawning. That was a wierd sight.


----------



## Redhunter1012 (Feb 6, 2006)

MMMMM, I rike eat ramprey. Very dericate.


----------



## Bucket Mouth (Aug 13, 2007)

Never caught one on the Maumee. Had one attached to a king salmon that I caught in Lake Ontario. Had no idea that they were in the Maumee.


----------



## I Fish (Sep 24, 2008)

Down in southern Ohio I've seen them by the dozens in streams spawning. That was a wierd sight. 

Carp, I believe the ones you saw in S Ohio were probably eels. They are native, and make spawning runs up the small streams every year to spawn. I'm not gonna say they are not there, but I've never seen or heard of a lamprey down there. And yes, the lampreys, or eels, are a very strange sight.


----------



## spidey (Mar 19, 2007)

Awww, mannnn. That's gross. Regular eels freak me out. Is it slimy like an eel? Did it try to wrap itself around your fist? I got slimed once by an eel and never again. I cut the line post haste after my first encounter. If I ever catch a lamprey, I'm bashing it with a stick first and then releasing.


----------



## swantucky (Dec 21, 2004)

spidey said:


> Awww, mannnn. That's gross. Regular eels freak me out. Is it slimy like an eel? Did it try to wrap itself around your fist? I got slimed once by an eel and never again. I cut the line post haste after my first encounter. If I ever catch a lamprey, I'm bashing it with a stick first and then releasing.


It did not wrap around but sure as hell tried to get that ugly mouth on me. I thought about killing it but I was not 100% sure what I had. I figured it was a lamprey but it did not have the solid dark of the ones I've seen in pics, so I thought it could be somewhat rare.


----------



## Mushijobah (May 4, 2004)

Very cool catch. Into the rocks it would have gone...or made into unagi..hehe



I Fish said:


> Carp, I believe the ones you saw in S Ohio were probably eels. They are native, and make spawning runs up the small streams every year to spawn. I'm not gonna say they are not there, but I've never seen or heard of a lamprey down there. And yes, the lampreys, or eels, are a very strange sight.


There are plenty of lamprey species in southern Ohio streams. An Eel would be a rare sight in this day and age due to dams, lost habbitat, etc.


----------



## outlandu (Mar 3, 2007)

omg!!!!!!!!! that is the ugliest thing i've ever seen


----------



## micropsycho (May 20, 2008)

That is definitely a rare catch. Congrats.


----------



## CarpCommander (Jun 20, 2007)

I Fish said:


> Down in southern Ohio I've seen them by the dozens in streams spawning. That was a wierd sight.
> 
> Carp, I believe the ones you saw in S Ohio were probably eels. They are native, and make spawning runs up the small streams every year to spawn. I'm not gonna say they are not there, but I've never seen or heard of a lamprey down there. And yes, the lampreys, or eels, are a very strange sight.


Hmmm....never thought of that? Could have been; I didn't look at em that close, I just know they were some snake-lookin thingies! LOL! 

No but seriously I'm reasonably sure they were lampreys but who knows?


----------



## normd (Jul 5, 2005)

And to think people go without waders and also swim in the Maumee. If they saw that ugly thing they might think twice.


----------



## ao203 (Mar 29, 2006)

if you could knock the teeth out somehow Drum magnet might want to keep it for 10 minutes or so.......


----------



## jb1136 (Sep 29, 2007)

hey u could have used it for bait! ................LOL


----------



## bassmaniac (May 10, 2004)

jb1136 said:


> hey u could have used it for bait! ................LOL


Yep, they are awesome wacky rigged on a 6/0 hook! LOL


----------



## idontknow316 (Mar 21, 2008)

Here is what you should have done Tucky. You should have kept it, took it home and froze it until next year. Then when next years warreye fishing starts heating up you could put that on its own stringer, you see where I'm going with this? When your followers stalk you, you could pull that bad boy out of the water.


----------



## thistubesforu (Mar 30, 2009)

carpy 

u are correct but the southern ohio version is a brook lamprey not a sea lamprey and dont get as big


----------



## mirrocraft mike (Mar 17, 2006)

Thanks for the pic and story.
I have Never seen one of those before.Don't' know if i could of touched that thing ..Needle nose pliers and a boot would have worked for me


----------



## CarpCommander (Jun 20, 2007)

thistubesforu said:


> carpy
> 
> u are correct but the southern ohio version is a brook lamprey not a sea lamprey and dont get as big


Ahhhh! Cool; glad to know I wasn't seeing things. And yes they were a lot smaller, maybe a foot or so.


----------



## Diver Down (Jan 22, 2009)

ao203 said:


> if you could knock the teeth out somehow Drum magnet might want to keep it for 10 minutes or so.......



Now thats funny..........


----------

