# Pic from Grand



## kfish (Jun 4, 2006)




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## archman (Apr 30, 2004)

What in the heck is that?


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## bkr43050 (Apr 5, 2004)

archman said:


> What in the heck is that?


That looks like a hellbender to me. You got any more pictures of him kfish?

Here is a link to info on Hellbenders.


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## ryosapien (Jul 5, 2008)

definately a hellbender but a huge one


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## Tall cool one (Jul 13, 2006)

Huge? Nah,I've seen them 3' long from the Hocking R.TC1


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## bkr43050 (Apr 5, 2004)

Tall cool one said:


> Huge? Nah,I've seen them 3' long from the Hocking R.TC1


The link I referenced said the longest recorded was 2.5 feet long. I have never seen anything near that big. Most were more like the one in the picture.


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## JohnnyN (Oct 9, 2008)

The ones I've run into in the past (all about that size too) took bait (live or otherwise).

One time I was flipping rocks looking for crayfish when I was fishing a WV stream for smallies, and one of those buggers was under the rock. He shot out at me with teeth bared, looking for blood, then swam off into the current. In hindsight, he may have been as startled as I was and just swam away, but it sure freaked me out at the time


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## alfred dawes (Jul 4, 2006)

I can catch them often up at the harpersfield dam.Biggest ive seen was about a foot.They can be aggrevating at times they bite on your line without you knowing until you real it in to check your bait.


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## steelheader007 (Apr 8, 2004)

Holy smokes! I used to fish the grand alot, and never seen one except for the elusive otter! nice pic!


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## boss302 (Jun 24, 2005)

Way cool to see and hear of an endangerd species being caught and seen more!! especialy in a stream that does (or at least did) recieve lampreside treatments.

I remember flipping slab sized stones to catch one for a river day demo down near little beaver creek. The one we got was probably 18" long. We put him in a bucket that had some cray fish in it already. The hellbender excreeted some slime and apeared to temporarily paralize the crayfish. It was prety cool.


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## magicman90221 (Oct 7, 2008)

wait wut exactly is it???


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## zachtrouter (May 1, 2006)

That things looks crazy...I would rather not hook into one of those things


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## riverKing (Jan 26, 2007)

it is far more likely a mudpuppy considering there are probably less than 100 hellbenders left in the state, and there are none in the erie basin. did it have external gills, red fillements on the side of the neck? mudpuppys and helbenders are both salamanders that are totally aquatic. mudpuppies can get pretty large, I hear of indeviduals over 20in but have never seen any large ones. hellbenders can get over 30in. I am under the impression that hellbenders will probably go extinct or get close to it within 100 years, though they live very long, well over 30years(I was told by a dnr biologist the most in ohio are over 20). at this point there are only a few areas most in missouri and tn. I think, that they still reproduce.
sorry, this I guess has been the RK has no life and is a nerd moment. mudpuppies btw are really cool, and they make good pets, but I would check the regs on keeping them. the place that had one as a pet was a research facility, but you could hand feed it!


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## ch23119 (May 9, 2004)

if those are gills on the animal's right side, then its a mudpuppy. plus most hellbenders are being found south of columbus in isolated clear streams, most near west virginia and kentucky. i could be wrong and would like to be, but they are endangered and don't deal with pollution well.


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## Fishaholic69 (Apr 6, 2007)

looks like some kind of salamander to me. man i seen this tarantula looking spider today at the v! i should of took a pic! it was the size of your palm for sure and hairy!! I thought that was scary until I seen this freaking thing!


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## Patricio (Feb 2, 2007)

riverKing said:


> it is far more likely a mudpuppy !


this is what came to my mind. a lot of large mudpuppys in the grand. they love nightcrawlers.


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## bkr43050 (Apr 5, 2004)

I guess it could also be a mudpuppy based on the picture. I was hoping that kfish had more pics. That would help tell the difference.


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## riverKing (Jan 26, 2007)

there hasnt been a record of a hellbender in the erie basin in the past 100 years and they were considered mis-id mudpuppies.....i doubt its a hellbender, it would be really cool but its pretty much impossible


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## WhoolyBugger (Aug 25, 2008)

Certainly does look like a mud puppy. I have hooked a hellbender in little beaver creek before. 20+ inches. Hit a sinking rapala, thought i had a bullhead at first. Damn thing was ornary and aggressive (I would be too if I had a treble hook in my mouth) I have caught mud puppies in the hocking also. Interesting critters the both of them.


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## kfish (Jun 4, 2006)

yes it has gills


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## NateTessler13 (Nov 5, 2007)

You've got yourself a Mudpuppy. I've found them quite a bit in tributaries to Lake Erie.


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## alfred dawes (Jul 4, 2006)

Thanks for covering that guys here I thought they where both the same.


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## bigcatjoe (Sep 6, 2006)

This is most definitely a mudpuppy. These salamanders are fully aquatic and maintain their gills during their entire lives. Hellbenders are more common further south and are distinguishable by their more heavily wrinkled skin, wide spread eyes and wide mouth. They also do not exhibit the highly visible gills as do mudpuppies. I'm a bio major at OSU and have done research in this area, so I know what Im talking about. Also, this mudpuppy does not look to be anywhere within the range of 2 feet. Maybe closer to 12 or 13 inches?


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## MuskieMan35 (Mar 5, 2008)

We call those things mud-puppies... fish in the grand in Trumbull county with some worms on the bottom and you'll catch those critters all night.


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