Handling Catties

[Celestial_Teapot]

Hi folks,

Off to Wivenhoe this weekend and likely to end up with a few Catties - I have just found out they have spines that can deliver a nasty sting, so can someone please tell me the best / safest way of handling these fish?

Cheers.

[Magella]

Hey Teapot,
The best way is to use lip grippers to hold them or stick your thumb in there gob and hold ther bottom jaw as they have no teeth. The second way just be very carefull where the hooks /lure is. A cheap pair of lip grippers are only about $19

Cheers Foxie

[Steve B]

In addition to what Foxie said. once you have the fish safely secured in the grippers and you lure removed...................REPEATEDLY BLUDGEN THE FISH ON THE BACK OF THE HEAD WITH THE HARDEST AND BIGGEST IMPLEMENT YOU CAN LAY YOUR HANDS ON!!;D

[Little grey men]

What kind of catties are they....eel tail or fork ???

[Chep Buxley]

You can hold them safely behind the head.
Slide your hand up their body until the dorsal spine sits between thumb & pointer finger then hold on.

Treat unwanted fish with respect......

[Rockfish]

Have caught tonnes of catties at awoonga and in the Fittzroy. The best way is definitely use a lip gripper and release boat side. They only have spines on their dorsal and pectoral fins so beware of this. Also remember to remove the slime so often left on your line after catching a cattie, otherwise the only thing you should expect to catch there after will the more catties, just wipe the stuff off.

If you get spiked cover or immerse the wound with HOT water, as hot as bearable. This will deamminate the protein (break down) and reduce the symptoms/effects of the toxin.

Cheers

[the_matrix]

Easy, dont handle them at all. Long nose pliers are good, grab the treble and shake them off. Dont even need to get them in your boat (they'll slime everything) hold them over the side and shake them free.
Cheers
Jas

[TinarooTriumph]

Razor sharp Puma knife... straight to the throat :)

They are becoming more of a neusance up here lately (influx of water... pushing them out of the Creeks) so I too am keen to find out how to deal with them if I catch one (touch wood!)

The 'dont touch them at all' approach sounds good to me... shake them into an iced Esky and take the bastards home.

Cheers

Theo

[4x4frog]

If you really must kill one for whatever reason, they have a small marking on the top of their head, forward of the dorsal fin. This mark is above a slight gap in the skull, insert the knife, most humane way to kill a cattie, but only in the most dire of circumstances.
Other than that, I can't add much except as stated, be vewy careful they hurt like hell if they get you

[themissus]

Don't bring them into the boat!! They stink the carpet out for days, just when you think it's gone, another waft cames past. pliers will be you best friend.
Cheers Kim.

[Peter4]

Easy, dont handle them at all. Long nose pliers are good, grab the treble and shake them off. Dont even need to get them in your boat (they'll slime everything) hold them over the side and shake them free.
Cheers
Jas
But be careful as they will often void their bowells while you're doing this and you end up with muddy sh*t splattered over the side of your lovely white boat!!:'(

Pete

[Dick Pasfield]

At the risk of getting offside with some on my third post (you get that;)) catties or any other fish for that matter don't need to be bashed to death because they're considered a pest.

At further risk of ridicule (I got no pride ;D) I reckon the big ones are great to catch, might not go like a barra but take a wide variety of lures, this one was taken off Lake Kununurra on a surface crawler by my young fella.

As for treating the injury, hot water's great but so to is pi$$ing on it, when its all you got its worth the shot, the pain is pretty intense.

Seen the result of a cattie left on the rocks to die, got trod on a few days later, the spine went through a wetboot and right into the foot, poor fella was in a bad way by the time they got him to a hospital.

[wrip109]

Always carry Stingose with you when there are catties around. It works ok and the pain only lasts a little while unlike all day without it. It really really hurts!

The catties in Big W grow to over two feet long and while a bit ugly to look at taste ok when filleted and done on the BBQ.

Good luck

Phil

[wrip109]

BTW, I guess you know that they have closed off the decent fishing spots and you need a key to open the gates and get in?

Phil

[Gordie]

Some heavy info above. I dont let them get too close, the large ones can be fairly strong.

In most cases they have taken my hook and I cut the line and get back to serious fishing. No risk. Just a lost hook.

They have there place on the planet, when I find out I will let you know.

Regards Gordon

[disorderly]

You can hold them safely behind the head.
Slide your hand up their body until the dorsal spine sits between thumb & pointer finger then hold on.

Treat unwanted fish with respect......

I've used this method since I was a little kid and never been spiked.
You do need to commit to it though....don't stuff about and let it flap around.Be firm and use a rag if you don't want to have to scrape the slime off..it never used to worry me though...just rubbed it off on my shirt.
BTW, I'm talking about Eel tailed catties or dewies and I used to eat many a meal of them and yellowbellies and cod out of the Gwydir River on our family property.
The smaller ones are very tasty.

Scott

[SASSYJNR]

They Are Easy To Grab , Put Your Thumb In Their Mouth (im Serious) And Grab Either Under Or On Top Of Their Head With You Other Fingers, Completely Safe, I Have Never Been Stung By Them Holding Them This Way (touch Wood), Even The Large Ones, Take My Word For It, It Is So Easy

[Keechie]

my dad has a mate that got hit by one, this guy is a big bulky man about 6'4" and really muscly and he said its the worst ever pain he has felt. what i ahve learnt off him is to snap off the top barb about an inch down using pliers then once done remove your hook/ lure grab em by the mouth with pliers and chuck em back.i let them have the hook if its a hook as i think its too cruel to injure them just for something that will ruust out of them in aobut a week max but if its a lure straight away and off with the barb.

regards,
keechie

[Breambuster33]

never caught one
by the sounds of it never hope i do

[PNG1M]

I have handed hundreds of those mongrel silvery forktail catties over the years and I agree with Chep Buxley about sliding the hand up behind the dorsal fin.
Make sure you squeez yard and get you fingers & thmb right up under their ribs.
Makes 'em squeak a bit more than usual and you can usually get enough leverage to get the hook out before giving them a good fling high up on the bank in amongst the lantana. Or these days, back into the water.
Alternatively, use some fish handling pliers of some description.

Cheers....

[BR65]

I was the unfortunate recipient of the title "verminator", due to the insane number of catties I hooked one trip to Mondy, trust me, lip grippers and 9 inch pliers, dont let em in the boat

[Steve B]

At the risk of getting offside with some on my third post (you get that;)) catties or any other fish for that matter don't need to be bashed to death because they're considered a pest.

At further risk of ridicule (I got no pride ;D) I reckon the big ones are great to catch, might not go like a barra but take a wide variety of lures, this one was taken off Lake Kununurra on a surface crawler by my young fella.

As for treating the injury, hot water's great but so to is pi$$ing on it, when its all you got its worth the shot, the pain is pretty intense.

Seen the result of a cattie left on the rocks to die, got trod on a few days later, the spine went through a wetboot and right into the foot, poor fella was in a bad way by the time they got him to a hospital.

Dick,

No riducule from me mate, everyone is entitled to share their views thats what its all about. I shouldn't have promoted my disrespect for the catfish. I agree with you. I reckon they hit HARD and fight really well for the first bit., it just frustrates you when you realise they are catties and not barra!!

Thats not the reason why I kill them either. They give the barra fingerlings a real hiding at Monduran. There are MILLIONS of catties in Monduran and they really need thinning out for anything else to survive in there. The original fishing comps held at Monduran (pre-stocking) were designed to clean the dam up a bit (getting rid of catties) before the stocking program. I beleive they averaged 5 tonne of catfish each year for the first 3 years. subsequent years were well over 2-3 tonnes. There is still no shortage of them....ask anyone who has fished the dam. On the plus side...they are great fun for kids!! just pull up to ANY tree in the dam and use bait (squid is my favorite) and the catties come from everywhere!!! great fun!As for eating...I would eat the squid first!!!

Rockfish has stated the correct first aid for a spike. Thanks mate.

We had a lady put a cattie spike thru the webbing of her hand between thumb/first finger (sorry, I am a paramedic). I have rarely seen a person in such pain!!!! HOT HOT water and 20mg of morphine and she was still in quite a deal of pain. they must hurt BAD!!!! (Not sure about p.i.s.sing on it though, I thought that was only for jellyfish ect) I can see the headline in the courier mail now.... "paramedic wee wee's on patient".....bad career move;D;D

cheers steve

[the_matrix]

I can see the headline in the courier mail now.... "paramedic wee wee's on patient".....bad career move;D;D
cheers steve
Shit Steve dont get any ideas next week!
Just to follow on from the catfish thing, a few years back I was casting crazy deeps late one night off one of Awoonga deep points.
I hooked this thing in about 20 feet of water, it stripped line for as long and as fast as any 110 has ever done, called it for a metrey and up came wop wop wop the king of all catfish. I reckon it would have given 10-12kg a nudge.
Mate that thing went!
Cheers
Jas

[PNG1M]

Good point by Steve B...the fact that the catties can reek havoc amongst other species due to their competiveness for similar food sources and gobbling up native fish fingerlings etc etc.

A few years back I would never buy Nile Perch fillets from Coles or wherever as I thought I would be contributing to their demise. BUT...I ended up going to Uganda and living there for 4 years...and yes I did fish for Nile Perch in Lake Victoria...AND I found out that they are not a native species of that area but were introduced in the late 1800s from further down the Nile.

They are quite good on the tooth and not unlike the barra - but more 'carp like' in their behaviour. Fast growing and prolific breeders they have been directly responsible for the outright "extinction" of many local native fish species that used to inhabit Lake Victoria.

So if you see any Nile Perch fillets for sale "BUY UP BIG" then you'll be helping the local fishermen make a quidd and you'll be helping protect the natives of Lake Victoria in the process. The biggest Nile Perch I ever saw was 113kg in weight.
It was caught by an ex-pat when trolling and they had to lift it up by a fork lift to weigh it. So imagine how many native fish eggs a creature that size would scoff down!! Apparently the largest Nile Perch ever recorded was 165kg....C---r--i--k--e--y!!!

Like the catfish, Nile Perch are voratious feeders and compete with other 'less hardy' critters. So I reckon I might go back to hurling captured catties up the bank and into the lantana - to help preserve the kind of fish I'd rather have around.

One old bloke I knew once used to snap the catfish's top barbed dorsal fin off with a pair of pliers before he threw them up the bank - and that was just in case they slipped back in and if so, wouldn't get caught up so easily in his 'square hooks' when he put them out.

Hmmm..!?

[Dick Pasfield]

Thats not the reason why I kill them either. They give the barra fingerlings a real hiding at Monduran. There are MILLIONS of catties in Monduran and they really need thinning out for anything else to survive in there.Fair enough Steve, I'm not sure if I'd have the same views, but you're the man on the spot I'm not. I certainly understand and appreciate what you're saying.:)

As for their competitiveness have a look at this little poor fella. Took a surface lure and was in the process of being skipped back to the boat when the big one snaffled it.

Both released, both a bit dazed about what had just happened (posted elsewhere btw if the pic looks familiar)

[PNG1M]

I think I remember "Fisho" (Fishing World) saying once about hooking a cattie that "any fish on a lure is a good fish.."

I've caught catties on lures before and although the actual hook-up is great, once you haul in to see its a cattie...to me it's "not one of those bloody mongrels"

[Celestial_Teapot]

Thanks for all of your replies and advice - I am now the proud owner of a set of lip-grippers & long nosed pilers!

If i catch a small one i might just try BBQ'ing it;D

Having said that i don't have a boat and the dam levels are lower than i thought so we might not end up catching anything from the banks - I'll let you how we get on.

Thanks again.

[Bronson]

i just stay as far away from those things as i can but when they come along i use boger grips and it didnt help when i forgot my pliers so i just cut the hook out with a very sharp knife


bron

[PNG1M]

Hey Dick Pasfield,

I must say that after a second and third squizz, the photo you have there is pretty amazing.

If you were casting some hard bodied lures, judging by the size of the smaller cattie that the bigger one tried to swallow, you'd be aiming a a pretty chunky lure. What would the size ratio be you reckon???

I won't get into lure size just now as that's probably a topic best left the for the tacke forum... (but thanks again for the photo...nice work!)

[Dick Pasfield]

Yes PNG1M its a good example of a catties' aggression, little one went to bite off something bigger than what it could chew and found itself as live bait. Had it happen more then once too. Actually had the larger fish snared not on the lure (as in that pics case) but on the spines of the smaller fish wedged into the larger ones throat.

Got to feel for this poor sucker we found floating on Lake Argyle. The bony had started to rot, the cattie was all sunburnt on the belly but did slowly swim away when we got the bony out.

On topic again trust me on the pi$$ing on the wound thing it works, might not be your first alternative but when the option is hours of pain its not a bad one.

[oldboot]

The variety views on catties is interesting.

My northern bro'inlaw is a confirmed cattie walloper.:smash:

On bloke I met used to throw catties back till he braught one home for cat food, seeing how keen his cat was on the flesh, he cooked some up for him self. Now if there is a cattie on offer he wont come home without a feed.:thumbsup:

A mate of mine fishes out of a perception minow ( 12 foot kayak), he hooked up something big :uhoh: in wyvenhoe one afternoon.....it draged him round for half an hour before he got it along side...... it was over 3 feet long.:o

Some poms and most asians think catfish is lip smackin' good.:chinese: :2thumbsup:

I told the wife I landed a decent cattie one night & she was disapointed I didnt bring it home.:gorgeous: :chef: :huh2:

I gota say the answer to a lot of problems is a harge pair of long nosed pliers;D


cheers

[two fold]

tah guys some graet info regarding these fish will make sure the kids stay clear of them.
Do they only have 3 spikes?
purcho

[Volvo]

;D::)Local Council supplies traps for all Moggies;D::), catch one make sure you feed it , have drinking water inthe trap till appropriate people come pick it up..
Daresay same might apply with Catties !!::):-X??..
Okay Just Joshin..

[gazza2006au]

I pulled up my boat on the ramp in sydney harbour pitch dark my cousins mate jumped off the side bow landed straight on a catfish barb pointing up

We drove to apetrol station he went in put cold water on his foot said he was still in pain told him go put hot water on it

He came back out said helped heaps he drove home to campbelltown and had to goto the ER got a shot ofmorpine in the ass said he could barely drive home

[NAGG]

Hot water for fish stings - barely tolerable temperature

Chris

[gunna]

Hot water for fish stings - barely tolerable temperature

Chris

Hot water for all stings.

[disorderly]

Hot water for fish stings - barely tolerable temperature

Chris

Yeah that can help with cattie stings but doesnt do a thing with Bullrout/Stonefish stings...even Morphine doesnt much help with those...unless you take enough to knock yourself out....cattie stings can hurt like a bugga but stepping on a bullrout was by far the most excruiating pain I have ever felt....I even charged my son with hunting down and capturing the culprit, then dried it it and kept it on my bookshelf for about 10 years till it disintegrated...

[NAGG]

Yeah that can help with cattie stings but doesnt do a thing with Bullrout/Stonefish stings...even Morphine doesnt much help with those...unless you take enough to knock yourself out....cattie stings can hurt like a bugga but stepping on a bullrout was by far the most excruiating pain I have ever felt....I even charged my son with hunting down and capturing the culprit, then dried it it and kept it on my bookshelf for about 10 years till it disintegrated...

My daughter stepped on a bullrout when she was younger - she had to endure a long boat ride & drive to the local ambo (poor kid) ........ The Paramedic went straight for the hot water & that eased the pain considerably ......... The paramedic then explained that this Hot water emersion neutralises the toxins & that's how it works .

It's what is recommended by St John Ambulance 126155

Chris

[disorderly]

My daughter stepped on a bullrout when she was younger - she had to endure a long boat ride & drive to the local ambo (poor kid) ........ The Paramedic went straight for the hot water & that eased the pain considerably ......... The paramedic then explained that this Hot water emersion neutralises the toxins & that's how it works .

It's what is recommended by St John Ambulance 126155

Chris

Yeah I know its whats reccomended but from personal experince it did very little....I wouldnt wish it upon a kid ..its serious pain which went right up my leg and into the glands in the groin.

When the hot water wasnt working I had my boy run half a Km up the road to a neighbors place who had recently had heart surgery and get some opioids off him...Those combined with sculling a few alcoholic beverages knocked me out for about 15 hrs and I was like new again as if it hadnt even happened..But the pain still persisted until the point that I knocked myself out..its bloody intense...

[Dignity]

Yeah I know its whats reccomended but from personal experince it did very little....I wouldnt wish it upon a kid ..its serious pain which went right up my leg and into the glands in the groin.

When the hot water wasnt working I had my boy run half a Km up the road to a neighbors place who had recently had heart surgery and get some opioids off him...Those combined with sculling a few alcoholic beverages knocked me out for about 15 hrs and I was like new again as if it hadnt even happened..But the pain still persisted until the point that I knocked myself out..its bloody intense...

I know what you mean, been in a few situations and hot water does help in quite a few cases but I suspect with bullrout it might be a case of the brain thinks the pain is reduced due to the difference between the heat applied and the pain from the source. We had a guy who was slashed on the ankle by what we suspect was a stingray crossing a small creek at dusk at Bathurst Bay. We tried hot water but really didn't do anything, We had an offshore first-aid kit stocked with opioids and he was given them and as Scott you've indicated also didn't really do much. I had a bottle of scotch for the trip as we had a birthday coming up for one of the guys.
I made an executive decision and opened it, took a swig handed him the bottle and hold him to have as much as he liked.
Half an hour later we heard no moaning from his tent, looked in, half a bottle gone and he was sound asleep. We finished the bottle and in the morning he woke and was good as gold. I'd found out later that opioids had very little effect on many such marine stings, the hospitals have very specific pain relief medications for it. I was told the combination of opioids and alcohol while not recommended basically put the patient into a catatonic state. He was gratefull in the morning though.

[disorderly]

Bathurst bay is such a long way from anywhere Sam..not a good place for that to happen but exactly like you say..the combination of a quick ingestion of alcohol and opoids basically knocked me out cold as well..I didnt even have a hangover or any residual pain the next day because it wasnt a large amount of alcohol but just like sculling down a 6 pack in about half and hour in conjunction with the pills...

I dont have any experience with hard drugs but I suppose the trick is to dose yourself with enough to knock you out but not enough to Overdose and cause potential death....worked out good for me then though...seriously the pain was close to unbearable...

I also wonder if the level of poisoning is also determined by the location and nature of the sting or some protection provided by footwear..

In my case I stood square on top of the litte bugga barefoot and had a row of puncture wounds right in the middle of the bottom of my foot..and afterwards it seemed he unloaded a good amount of venom into me..

I also was fishing at a local rivermouth once with a japanese fella that was staying with us when he came up and said a fish had "bit him"...trying to get to the bottom of it we looked around the are where it happened and I found a Stonefish in a rocky weedy area in the shallows which he had obviously stepped on..there was just a tiny nick in the side of his toe but I set sail back to the ramp and on to the hospital where he just waited around the nursing station for an hour ..they didnt really know anything about it at Tully Hospital but asked him if he wanted some morphine but he declined...said it wasnt all that painfull...

So all I can assume is that it was just a superficial sting where the spines didnt really penetrate or inject a decent dose of venom or else the situation could have been a lot worse.....