- 3 months ago
- #rivermonsters
- #american
- #documentary
Documentary, River Monsters S04E01 American Killers
#RiverMonsters #American #Documentary
#RiverMonsters #American #Documentary
Category
🐳
AnimalsTranscript
00:00:00I'm Jeremy Wade, and during my angling career, I've caught dozens of freshwater monsters from all over the globe.
00:00:13Normally, I'm tracking them down in remote jungles.
00:00:18But increasingly, I've been getting reports of killer fish from an area I didn't expect.
00:00:25The United States.
00:00:28From giants every bit as big as their prehistoric ancestors.
00:00:33I can see the individual scales on this thing is how big it was.
00:00:36To killers silently prowling, ready to attack.
00:00:41Now, I meet the people who've encountered these fish.
00:00:44I think that he would have grounded me. I would have ate supper with Jesus that night.
00:00:50The water around me just started filling with blood.
00:00:53Then, I risk my life going after them.
00:00:56We could be pulled into the water and never be seen again.
00:01:00Boom!
00:01:01Got me once.
00:01:02Oh!
00:01:03Oh!
00:01:04What a stupid thing to be doing.
00:01:07Could one of the most developed countries on Earth...
00:01:10That is a beast.
00:01:11...still have deadly monsters hidden in its rivers and lakes?
00:01:15Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:01:17Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:01:18Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:01:20I've been on the trail of monsters all over the world, I've discovered that you have to expect the unexpected.
00:01:50Whether it's a huge beast in the middle of a city, or in a drying out puddle in South America, or even at the bottom of a raging waterfall in Africa.
00:02:03Over the past few years, I've been hearing of stories and sightings from all over the states, suggesting that there are freshwater monsters right in people's backyards.
00:02:21So, I'm going on a monster hunt to find out if there really are killers lurking in America's fresh waters.
00:02:34My journey begins in Florida, to investigate a deadly fish that's been spotted throughout the state.
00:02:44And the reports that I've been hearing suggest that this potentially lethal animal is prowling unsuspected right under the noses of tens of thousands of people.
00:02:56This fish was the inspiration for the most horrifying attack story in movie history, Jaws.
00:03:06The film is about a great white prowling off the coast of New England, but it's actually based on a series of bull shark attacks in New Jersey in 1916.
00:03:18Two of the attacks didn't happen in the ocean. They took place in a river 16 miles inland.
00:03:25Bull sharks are top predators in warm coastal seas around the world, but they also trespass into freshwater.
00:03:37They are the only common shark with this ability.
00:03:41I'm hearing reports that bull sharks are stalking rivers in Florida.
00:03:54I want to find out if these deadly animals really are prowling Florida's inland waters.
00:03:59And if so, is this a modern day Jaws just waiting to happen?
00:04:05Although great whites have the bad reputation, bull sharks are responsible for more attacks on humans than any other shark.
00:04:15In recent years there have been several horrific attacks off Florida's coasts alone.
00:04:20Two in particular might give me some insights into bull shark behaviour.
00:04:25One happened off Pensacola in 2001.
00:04:30Eight year old Jesse Arbogast was spending the day at the beach with his family.
00:04:37As he paddled just feet from the shore, a six and a half foot bull shark attacked him.
00:04:44First biting his thigh and then his right arm.
00:04:50Jesse's uncle dragged the shark by its tail up onto the beach.
00:04:54But by then the shark had taken the boy's arm.
00:04:58It takes your arm off, it can take a leg off just in the blink of an eye.
00:05:07That's major tissue damage.
00:05:09It's going to sever some major arteries and vessels.
00:05:11So, you know, you bleed out quick with no blood to push oxygen around.
00:05:16You know, the chance of survival is real slim.
00:05:21Within minutes of the attack, an air ambulance was dispatched with Chris on board.
00:05:27The initial contact, once out of the aircraft, was just to ask, you know, was he breathing or did he have a pulse?
00:05:34And of course they said no.
00:05:36It's going to be a pulse.
00:05:37It's going to be a pulse.
00:05:41While flying to the trauma center, Chris found out that the victim's arm was still in the shark's mouth.
00:05:47My comment to that was, okay, if he lives, he lives without an arm.
00:05:51While the helicopter was en route to the hospital, a park ranger shot the shark four times and retrieved Jesse's arm from its jaws.
00:06:02It was packed in ice and rushed to the OR so surgeons could attempt to sew it back onto Jesse's body.
00:06:09Against all odds, and despite the massive blood loss, Jesse survived, with his right arm successfully reattached.
00:06:21This year, he graduated from high school.
00:06:24This attack tells me that bull sharks can strike in the shallows.
00:06:31Unlike many big fish, they are not restricted to deep water.
00:06:36With so many houses on the canals around here, they can literally swim right into people's backyards.
00:06:42There's a second attack victim who's got more information to share.
00:06:49Dawn Shorman was nearly killed by a ten-foot bull shark off the Florida coast in 1993.
00:07:00I'm hoping that her first-hand account will give me insight into the ideal conditions in which to find one.
00:07:07And I was probably about 25 to 50 yards out past the waves, maybe in 15 feet of water.
00:07:15And I just felt something slam into me.
00:07:20I felt this burning in my hand and a burning in my leg.
00:07:24I pulled my hand out of the water and it was just dripping in blood.
00:07:27The whole water around me just started filling with blood.
00:07:32Dawn wasn't just worried about her own life.
00:07:34She was six and a half months pregnant at the time.
00:07:38And I did start panicking and I think I remember just like calling out for my mom.
00:07:44And just being really worried like I needed help.
00:07:47And then no one was there but me so I just relied on me.
00:07:50And that's the point where I gathered myself together.
00:07:55The only thing she could do was try to swim to the shore.
00:07:58The whole time swimming back thought for sure any moment I was waiting for that slam again.
00:08:06And that was the longest swim of my life.
00:08:09She finally made it to safety.
00:08:13Dawn was rushed to the hospital where her life threatening wounds were treated.
00:08:19Her leg alone needed 85 stitches.
00:08:23Two and a half months later she gave birth to a boy.
00:08:27He's now 18.
00:08:28And he was born healthy and we named him McIntyre shark shaman.
00:08:35Since her near death experience, Dawn has gained an expert understanding as to what could have led to the bull shark attacking her.
00:08:42You can make your odds go up by doing something like what I did.
00:08:48Swimming during cloudy, murky water, bait fish season.
00:08:52If you swim in the early morning or late in the afternoon, evening, that's when the bait fish are coming through.
00:08:57You know, if you see a lot of fish jumping out of the water, you shouldn't be in there because something bigger is chasing them.
00:09:03So you can definitely lower your odds by avoiding all that.
00:09:08The details of these two attacks on Jesse and Dawn have given me useful information.
00:09:21I now feel better prepared to start trying to catch a bull shark and prove they're prowling Florida's fresh waters.
00:09:29My investigation is going to focus around the Indian River Lagoon.
00:09:34This is where I've been getting the most reports of bull sharks roaming inland.
00:09:43In 25 years of fishing around the world, I've learned that local knowledge is key to catching elusive fish.
00:09:51So whether I'm in Papua New Guinea, the Congo or in Florida, talking with the locals is a must.
00:09:58After some asking around, I've been put in contact with Mike Palmer, who's been catching bull sharks for over three decades.
00:10:10He used to catch and kill, but for the past 15 years, it's been strictly catch and release.
00:10:21Mike is going to help me hunt a bull shark, but he only fishes from the shore without the security of a boat.
00:10:28Also, unlike most of my normal fishing, the rod will be attached to me with a harness.
00:10:35If I find myself being dragged towards the water, it won't be possible to let go.
00:10:41For fishing on the river bank and hooking a 500-pound bull shark, there's nothing like it.
00:10:47Sounds very, very physical, potentially dangerous. Is that a correct summary, perhaps?
00:10:52We've actually hooked fish and got pulled down to our knees and drug down to the water's edge.
00:10:58And by some luck, the line broke.
00:11:01And what could be the worst possible thing that could happen with this kind of fishing?
00:11:04We could die.
00:11:07We could be pulled into the water and never be seen again.
00:11:10I've fished for bull sharks before, in Australia and South Africa,
00:11:15but mostly this was from the safety of a boat, which could follow the shark.
00:11:19So the risk of being pulled in wasn't such an issue.
00:11:24Having my feet on the shoreline calls for a different approach.
00:11:32Because I could hook something over three times my weight, I'm using some serious tackle.
00:11:38From enormous forged hooks to the strongest line I've ever used.
00:11:42And we used the best harnesses to take the load off our back.
00:11:46How's it fit, Jeremy?
00:11:47I don't feel good.
00:11:49When we hook up on these big sharks here, we have a spotter on the back of our harness.
00:11:52We use the belts.
00:11:54They have a little handle on the back.
00:11:55So when we hook up that first surge, I mean, you could easily go in the water.
00:12:07During the daytime, people use those little stretches of beaches in the river.
00:12:11And people on rafts playing this and that.
00:12:14And when the sun goes down, the whole life ecosystem changes.
00:12:19That's when the sharks move into the shallows.
00:12:21They feed on stingray, they feed on mullets.
00:12:23And it's a whole different world at night.
00:12:25I want to get my bait out a couple of hundred yards into the deep channel.
00:12:37I can't cast that far, so the only option is to paddle out to where the sharks could be and drop it in.
00:12:56Once I get back to shore, it's a waiting game to see if a bull shark will bite.
00:13:02That is official.
00:13:21I'm leaning into this.
00:13:36My reel is nearly on full drag, but the fish is still able to swim off with ease.
00:13:43This has to be a monster.
00:13:45Thankfully, the heaviest line I've ever used is just about holding out.
00:13:51I've got light hanging on the back of the harness here because I've got a very tight drag, very strong line.
00:14:02And if the fish takes off, the weak link is probably me ending up in the water.
00:14:08After a twenty minute fight, I have the fish close to the shore.
00:14:17When it finally breaks the surface, I see something I didn't expect.
00:14:25Look at that!
00:14:26I'm trying to catch a bull shark to see if these lethal fish really are prowling Florida's inland waterways ready to attack.
00:14:47I have something weighing in the hundreds of pounds on the end of my line.
00:14:5130, 30, 30, 30, 30.
00:14:56As I work it close to the shore, it's clear I've hooked a giant.
00:15:00But it isn't a shark.
00:15:03Fishes beach now.
00:15:07It's a goliath grouper.
00:15:10That is just a massive, a massive grouper.
00:15:15After a twenty minute struggle, it should be worn out.
00:15:18But there's still a lot of fight left in this beast.
00:15:26As it thrashes around, I have to watch out for the giant sized hook.
00:15:37And be careful not to get impaled by the spikes on its back.
00:15:42Slip this out. Hook's out.
00:15:45I'm off to something with a mouth full of beak teeth.
00:15:47But that is a beast.
00:15:51That is a beast.
00:15:53The length is...
00:15:5683 inches.
00:15:5883.
00:16:00About 69 inches.
00:16:02That's just short of seven feet long, and more than five and a half feet around.
00:16:06At this kind of size, it's going to weigh over 350 pounds.
00:16:14They can grow even bigger, to over 600 pounds and eight feet long.
00:16:20I could feel it as a heavy fish, and it was also taking line against a very heavy drag.
00:16:25But what I was expecting to see when it came in close, was a big dorsal of a bull shark.
00:16:30And then, these spikes break the surface.
00:16:36It's a predator.
00:16:37When that mouth opens, anything that's swimming around, even in the vicinity, just gets sucked in.
00:16:41There are stories of giant grouper grabbing divers by the arm and even by the head.
00:16:49With a mouth this enormous, I can well believe that this could be true.
00:16:53Although these are very tough, resilient creatures, it's probably time to put this back.
00:17:01I want to get it into deeper water to release it.
00:17:04But this giant isn't cooperating.
00:17:06I think I'm knee-dipping water. This fish, it's belly is still scraping the water.
00:17:24If it's feeling anything like as tired as I do, it'll sink into a corner somewhere and just recover for a little while.
00:17:37It's now 5am, and while I have caught a monster, it isn't the bull shark I'm looking for.
00:17:43I'm going to use my daylight hours to find out what I can do to increase my chances of hooking a bull shark in Florida's freshwater.
00:17:57I'm meeting up with Grant Gilmore, an expert in bull shark behavior.
00:18:03The females entering every spring, giving birth in the lagoon or in the downstream freshwater areas.
00:18:09So they're 500, 600 pounds, 8 and 12 feet, then they leave.
00:18:16The young stay for the first 5 or 6 years till the 5 or 6 feet in length.
00:18:21You know, a large predator by freshwater standards.
00:18:27So at any time, bull sharks could be stalking the water just feet from these suburban backyards.
00:18:33Florida is criss-crossed with canals, which give bull sharks access to just about any water in the state.
00:18:44How many of them might be swimming around? Are we talking dozens, hundreds, thousands or what?
00:18:51Well, certainly thousands.
00:18:52I think they have to recognize we do have these very large predators that are right off your front door if you live on the water in Florida.
00:19:07The Indian River Lagoon is over 150 miles long and has numerous rivers feeding into it.
00:19:14It's also connected to the ocean by three inlets, one of which is at Fort Pierce.
00:19:26Right up ahead there is the main way in and the main way out between the open ocean and these thousands of miles of freshwater canals.
00:19:34So this is where, at this time of year, the 10 or 12 foot long pregnant females are coming in to drop their pups inland.
00:19:42This is also the same place where those juveniles, those 6, 7 foot long sharks having spent 5 or 6 years inland, are swimming out.
00:19:50So this here, you can see it's only a couple of hundred yards across, is like a highway for sharks.
00:19:55You know, potentially hundreds or even thousands of sharks every year, swimming up and down, and it's just, you know, just right past all these people.
00:20:11My plan is to meet up with Mike later on, to fish through the night from land.
00:20:17But after hearing about these bull shark numbers, I can't resist dropping a line in the water while I'm here.
00:20:25Bull sharks go for both live and dead bait, so I'm using one of each.
00:20:44There's a balloon on the line above the live bait, to keep it clear of the bottom where it's more visible to predators, and to show me where it is.
00:20:52There's about 6 foot of water here, but we're right on the edge of two channels.
00:20:57There's the main dredged shipping channel there, then there's another side channel here, so we're in a bit of a V between the two.
00:21:05So this bait, swimming around, what I'm thinking is, from time to time, it's going to stray over the drop-off, above the deeper water.
00:21:12That's classic sort of bull shark ambush territory.
00:21:25Just giving the chum a bit of a work, just getting some smelly, oily fragments into the water.
00:21:29This will create a scent trail, hundreds of yards long, to attract the sharks onto my bait.
00:21:43After three hours, I get my first bite.
00:21:46Drop it on the end of the rod.
00:21:56It's round the other prop!
00:22:01Hey!
00:22:02It's a tarpon, a fish famed for its fight, and it just spat my hook out.
00:22:12That one was about 40 pounds, but they can grow to 8 foot long and weigh nearly 300 pounds.
00:22:21A fish that size is capable of causing some serious damage.
00:22:24Just thinking about how that tarpon threw itself out of the water, just the strength and the energy that they have.
00:22:34There have been stories of people in boats being killed, after being hit by a large tarpon as it jumps out of the water.
00:22:45As night falls, it's time to meet up with Mike, and brace myself for another session going after bull sharks from land.
00:22:54There are shoals of bait fish swimming through here, just the thing that would attract a large predator.
00:23:07And something seems to be chasing them.
00:23:15I have to stay focused. A take could come at any moment.
00:23:19A lapse in concentration could mean losing a catch.
00:23:34It's a fish!
00:23:37Why are bull sharks thought to be more aggressive than great whites?
00:23:41Why are bull sharks thought to be even more aggressive than great whites?
00:23:47The answer? The highest levels of testosterone ever found in the animal kingdom have been recorded in bull sharks.
00:23:54I'm fishing the fresh waters of the U.S. to find out whether there really are lethal fish lurking beneath the surface.
00:24:12I'm currently in Florida, and I'm hoping this is a bull shark.
00:24:25There's a weight there, it's just sort of pulsating. It's not running, but it's a solid old weight.
00:24:30But I have got about a good 150 yards of line out here.
00:24:38This feels like a good fish. It's been taking line off the drag.
00:24:44Oh, oh, here we go.
00:24:45After fighting with a large fish for several minutes.
00:24:51Hold on, hold on.
00:24:53That feels like it might be off.
00:24:56My line suddenly goes slack.
00:25:02There's a catfish on the bait, but what I felt was definitely bigger than a catfish.
00:25:08And it's definitely a shark.
00:25:09I can tell it's a shark from the bite marks, and how half the bait has just gone.
00:25:18That was a good fish on there that was taking line, but that got off the hook.
00:25:24I'm guessing a bull shark about six feet long grabbed this bait.
00:25:30Not a catch, but it's a start.
00:25:32And the hope of another one taking my bait spurs me to carry on fishing, well into the early hours.
00:25:40But I get no further success.
00:25:45The next day, I fish from the boat again, grabbing some rest whenever I can.
00:25:58But I still catch nothing.
00:26:02Having the best local knowledge and the best gear doesn't guarantee success.
00:26:09Which is partly why I find fishing so addictive.
00:26:13The lows make the highs so much more exhilarating.
00:26:16As is often the case, tracking down the myth is one thing, but tracking down the flesh and blood behind the myth is proving a bit more complicated.
00:26:27Not a sniff of a fish at all today.
00:26:29Before going out night fishing with Mike again, I pick up some special bait that has to be handled with care.
00:26:36Stingrays are just perfect bait for bull sharks, but even though these are dead, I'm taking the spines off the end because I've seen what these things can do.
00:26:47And even if I was to just graze myself with one of those spines, I could end up with sort of, you know, going numb down my arm or whatever.
00:26:56So, better to play safe.
00:26:57I'm hoping this new bait will give me an edge.
00:27:12Night four brings with it another chance to catch a bull shark.
00:27:16Dark.
00:27:36Yep, that's something on.
00:27:39There's a very stop, start, run.
00:27:42Let's see.
00:27:44That's the fish on.
00:27:46Oh, oh, oh, oh, yep.
00:27:50I can feel a kick though.
00:27:52Yeah, it's a kick in the way, kick in the way, kick in the way.
00:27:54There we go, it's taken, oh, that's, that's waking up now, it's waking up.
00:27:59If a big fish pulls, the worst case scenario is I actually end up in the water.
00:28:03Finally, the fin I've been waiting to see.
00:28:07A little bit closer.
00:28:11After fishing in Florida for days, I've already caught one giant.
00:28:26That was a beast.
00:28:28But now, I've finally hooked my first convicted killer.
00:28:33Yep, that's something on.
00:28:34That's something on.
00:28:42To get a good look at it, I need to put a rope around its tail and bring it up onto the beach without getting bitten.
00:28:48This is the same size as the shark that attacked Jesse Arbogast.
00:28:55And I had to be very careful, as it could whip around to bite me.
00:29:00It takes your arm off, it can take a leg off in the blink of an eye.
00:29:07You know, you bleed out quick.
00:29:08They go bigger than this, but this is a respectable sized fish.
00:29:20This juvenile bull shark is about six feet long.
00:29:24About the right size to be leaving the fresh waters around here and heading out into the ocean.
00:29:28The hook has cut the shark's mouth, but once it's released, this will heal very quickly.
00:29:42This shark's gums are concealing its mouthful of razor sharp teeth, which are only revealed when they bite into something.
00:29:49You can absolutely see how effective they are, and you can absolutely understand how somebody, even with an exploratory biting away from an animal like this, you know, could just bleed out, lose a lot of blood.
00:30:04And that could be a fatal encounter.
00:30:05This fish could have spent the last five or six years actually in the inland waterways, in the canals, along with possibly thousands of others.
00:30:17And that's certainly quite sobering.
00:30:20You know, if your paths crossed with a creature like this, it could end very badly.
00:30:24But I think the miraculous thing is, is that most of the time, bull sharks go their way, we go our way, and actually nobody's any the wiser.
00:30:31These bull sharks were suspected to be in Florida's fresh waters.
00:30:37But now I've caught one, it's clear they are swimming amongst us, in rivers and canals only feet from human habitation.
00:30:49Until now, attacks have only happened along the coast.
00:30:53And I think the reason they have occurred is through mistaken identity.
00:30:57Not because bull sharks are specifically going after humans, but because they're confusing humans with their usual prey, fish and dolphins.
00:31:10Horror films and news reports have made people aware of the potential for shark attack in the ocean.
00:31:16But it's in the quiet inland rivers and waterways where devastating encounters could be more likely to occur.
00:31:25Because most people aren't aware that these predators stalk these waters.
00:31:30And as more and more humans and sharks share the same space, an inland attack may just be a matter of time.
00:31:37Bull sharks growing up to 12 feet long make for a potentially prolific killer.
00:31:46But 1000 miles away from Florida, another monster is reportedly stalking America's fresh waters.
00:31:53A beast said to grow to 14 feet, prowling the waterways of Texas.
00:31:58This armour plated prehistoric beast has a giant skull packed with 500 needle sharp teeth.
00:32:08Recent sightings of this monster have come in from the Trinity River in Texas.
00:32:14It's a fish I've investigated before.
00:32:16The alligator gar.
00:32:23That time I doubted whether the gar alive today still reach the massive sizes reported in the past.
00:32:30But now I have reason to question that opinion.
00:32:39When I caught alligator gar before, along the upper Trinity, I learned how dangerous they could be.
00:32:47Oh, my God, you got bit, huh?
00:32:50The largest I hooked then was six and a half feet long.
00:32:55But now I'm hearing about a monster gar living 400 miles downstream in the lower Trinity.
00:33:06I've hooked up with Eddie Garcia.
00:33:09Morning, Eddie.
00:33:10A fisherman who knows the area well.
00:33:12Good to go.
00:33:16Eddie has fished here nearly his whole life, catching his first gar when he was 10.
00:33:25He's experienced the sharp end of the gar's teeth.
00:33:30Almost lost the pointer finger there.
00:33:32I didn't have any gloves on, I reached down and grabbed the leader and when I pulled it up, there's a six footer on the end of it.
00:33:36And when he'd come up, he'd just come across the side of it, hung the side of my finger and cut it all the way through.
00:33:40This, this gar here?
00:33:41Oh, yeah.
00:33:42It went all the way to the bone.
00:33:44Alligator gar are particularly hard to catch because of their bony mouths, making it very difficult to set the hook.
00:33:51Also, if you do get a hook in, they put up a strong fight.
00:34:00Catching one is going to be a challenge.
00:34:03I'm going to get two rods out, one with a bit of cut buffalo carp on it.
00:34:09Nice thing about this, it's fairly fresh.
00:34:11That's going to be giving off scent, smell into the water.
00:34:15So I've got about 18 inches of wire, a bit of lead to hold it down on the bottom.
00:34:21It's a running lead so that the fish can move off without feeling the resistance.
00:34:24And I've got here just a bit of 30 pound line on with not very good knots.
00:34:30Normally, I'll try and tie good knots.
00:34:31These are not very good knots.
00:34:32The idea is if that gets hung up on anything, that's going to break.
00:34:36The main line, which is 150 pound breaking strain, won't break.
00:34:39So, simple rig, but I'm hoping it'll be effective.
00:34:54A strong wind is buffeting the boat, causing the anchor to drag.
00:35:05Maybe these ones up here?
00:35:06Okay.
00:35:08Good.
00:35:10We decide to tie up next to the bank, where the air is calmer.
00:35:17Around here, alligator gar are considered trash fish.
00:35:21They're believed to deplete the stocks of other fish, and they're potentially dangerous.
00:35:26So some people still kill them.
00:35:32But Eddie sees something in these fish that most other fishermen don't.
00:35:36You hear people call it a trash fish, and nobody really grasped the fact that, you know,
00:35:42it's a top predator in the river as far as a fish.
00:35:46And we do, here in Texas, hold some of the world's largest guard.
00:35:49It's not every day that you can get out in a boat and come down here into the river
00:35:52and see a fish that's almost as long as your boat, you know, that weighs more than you do.
00:36:02While I'm fishing, I'm actually looking at the water just to see if I can see any fish rolling.
00:36:05But there was not an alligator gar, but an alligator probably about 10 yards behind me just now.
00:36:10Something has picked up my bait.
00:36:20Just a pull on this line.
00:36:23I've got something to take in line now. Let's pause now.
00:36:28The exact moment to set the hook with a gar is hard to judge.
00:36:35Yeah, hold on.
00:36:37Too soon, and it'll drop the bait, because it's only holding it lightly in its mouth.
00:36:44Too late, and it'll swallow the hook.
00:36:46Yeah, yeah.
00:36:51This makes it like no other fish.
00:36:54Timing is everything.
00:36:55Yeah, I think, I know.
00:37:01I've tried setting the hook too soon.
00:37:06I bait and recast immediately.
00:37:08Maybe the same fish has come back for more, as I get another bite almost immediately.
00:37:18Yeah, this one's going, this one's going, this one's going.
00:37:30I'm in Texas, investigating reports that monster killers are prowling America's waters.
00:37:35I've already caught one potential killer, a bull shark that's been stalking Florida's freshwater canals.
00:37:43Now, I'm trying to catch an alligator gar that's large enough to be lethal.
00:37:48Yeah, this one's going, this one's going, this one's going.
00:37:57It feels good, it's...
00:37:59There we go, that's it, that's it, that's the fish, that's the fish there.
00:38:01There's still a risk it could spit the hook out.
00:38:03So, Eddie snags it with a lasso.
00:38:15This one is four and a half feet long.
00:38:18I've been bitten before, so I'm taking no chances with this gar's teeth.
00:38:22I'm wearing Kevlar gloves for protection.
00:38:24Having a closer look, I think the alligator gar is far from ugly.
00:38:30In fact, its ancient design is actually quite beautiful.
00:38:34Interesting mark on here.
00:38:36It looks like this has actually been attacked by an alligator at some point.
00:38:39That's an indication of the strength of this gar's armour.
00:38:44It can withstand being attacked by a large alligator and still carry on as normal.
00:38:50It's not a bad start, but I'm looking for a monster.
00:38:56Ah!
00:38:58That's what I like to see, fish going back.
00:39:01Nice and lively.
00:39:07I carry on fishing.
00:39:08But the monster is proving more elusive than I expected.
00:39:17There are lots of people fishing the lower trinity.
00:39:22And the likelihood that a gar would live long enough to grow into a real monster is looking pretty slim.
00:39:27I need to explore some other options.
00:39:36I received an email from a microlight pilot who said he spotted a giant gar while flying over a canal that was once connected to the lower trinity.
00:39:47But for the past 44 years, this canal has been cut off from the river and, I'm told, hasn't been fished since.
00:39:54A gator gar, similar to the one I caught earlier, could have swum into the canal and become trapped when it was sealed off.
00:40:08Alligator gar can live for over 50 years and in that time can grow monstrous.
00:40:13This unfished, quiet canal could be the ideal place for a monster gar to hide.
00:40:26Ever since humans took to the air, monster sightings have been on the rise.
00:40:31Looking down on the water offers the ideal vantage point for spotting extraordinary fish.
00:40:37I'm reminded of my search for a lake monster in Alaska.
00:40:45That's where we saw it.
00:40:47To find out more about the giant gar sighting, I'm meeting the pilot who saw it.
00:40:53Coda Riley.
00:40:55Nice to meet you.
00:40:56I've been flying for about 22 years and I've seen lots of things from the air and I know what things look like.
00:41:03It's very distinctive.
00:41:06He goes on to tell me exactly what he saw.
00:41:09It was a nice still afternoon and I was in the micro lot.
00:41:14And I was back on some of the irrigation canals.
00:41:18Probably about a mile out across the fields over there.
00:41:21I was flying probably 50 feet off the canals, watching fish shoot out into the deep, into the middle.
00:41:27As I start climbing up, I see something silver in colour.
00:41:34I'm looking down and I see this alligator gar.
00:41:38And it's stretching across a good third of the canal.
00:41:41It was really large.
00:41:43What kind of length would that fish be?
00:41:46I would say 14 foot.
00:41:49Gar have been proved to be this big before, but that is from the fossil record, back in prehistoric times.
00:41:57I could see the individual scales on this thing is how big it was.
00:42:01I actually sat there and orbited around this gar until he slowly sank out of sight.
00:42:08Coda feared the giant fish would be caught and killed.
00:42:12So he refused to tell anyone exactly where he saw it.
00:42:16But he did tell me.
00:42:19And because I'm the only other person who knows, I've promised to keep the exact location a secret.
00:42:24So you say you spotted it in a canal.
00:42:27I mean, is there very far it can go?
00:42:30I think all in all, it's somewhere around four to six miles of canal.
00:42:34And he's landlocked. He's been there a long time.
00:42:37It's very obvious. He's been there a while.
00:42:40Everything seems to check out.
00:42:42So I'm going to investigate this further.
00:42:46But first, I need the layout of the landlocked canal.
00:42:49To the main feed canal, which is locked off with gates.
00:42:52So, you know, here's a road here, here's a road here.
00:42:55Right here in this crook area is where I spotted the alligator gar.
00:42:59This is exciting because Coda's sighting was only a year and a half ago.
00:43:09And with no way out of the canal, the gar can't have gone far.
00:43:14I want to get in the air to look for it myself.
00:43:16A helicopter will offer an advantage over Coda's microlight because I'll be able to hover over one spot if I see anything.
00:43:28When I think about all the monster sightings I've heard about, this one really stands out.
00:43:34Normally, it would be a bit of a waste of time to go back to the exact spot of a sighting.
00:43:38But this fish lives in such a confined space that from a good viewpoint such as this, there's a very real chance that I could see something myself.
00:43:50I can see something, I think it might be a log.
00:43:52I can see something, I can see something in the corner.
00:43:57Unfortunately, it is just a log.
00:44:03The problem with man-made canals is that they tend to be the same width, the same depth.
00:44:07Everywhere. In other words, no real features to attract the fish.
00:44:11So when it comes to putting a line in the water, it tends to be a bit of a random affair, which I don't like.
00:44:17But the interesting thing about Coda's sighting is that this fish was lying right next to about the only features there are down there.
00:44:25A junction and a culvert.
00:44:28I haven't spotted anything from the air, so I'm going to have to hunt for this monster the old fashioned way.
00:44:33By getting back on the ground and putting a bait in the water.
00:44:40The levels are a few feet down at the moment.
00:44:42So I've met up with local fisherman Mike to put a boat on the water and check whether this depth could actually hold a monster sized gal.
00:44:49Mike's propeller is in the mud, clearly there's not enough water here to support a monster.
00:45:04A large fish there, I think half its back would be out of the water and if it's sunk out of sight, even if it's on the bottom, you're still going to see it.
00:45:13So I think with the water the way it is now, I possibly have to move that way a little bit until I've got sufficient depth for a large fish to feel comfortable.
00:45:24After polling along the canal, we finally locate a stretch of water deep enough to hold a giant.
00:45:35This may be a man-made and manicured canal, but dangerous wildlife is everywhere.
00:45:48I'm just keeping a bit of an eye out into this strip of woodland here as well.
00:45:52It's not just the large creature in the water I've got to keep in mind, there's also wild hogs in here, there are alligators.
00:45:58The fact that I can't see them doesn't mean they're not here, they've been spotted here, including one quite big one, about ten foot.
00:46:11I fish for three days, all along the four-mile stretch of canal where the monster gal could be trapped.
00:46:19But I catch nothing.
00:46:20Finally, on my last night, I get a bite, but it's a tiny one.
00:46:33There we go, the hook's come out.
00:46:37That's a gar.
00:46:39This is a different type of gar from the one I'm searching for.
00:46:43This is a long-nosed gar.
00:46:44The alligator gar I'm pursuing is well over ten times the length of this fish.
00:46:51Nice to see this, there are gar in here then.
00:46:55This could possibly even be food for the big one.
00:46:58That's a result of some sorts, I've caught a gar from this canal.
00:47:05I'm disappointed to be leaving here empty-handed, but I have little doubt that Coda saw a monster gar in this canal.
00:47:12Maybe it has died since it was spotted.
00:47:21But all is not lost.
00:47:23Evidence that they can still grow monstrous may instead lie in a taxidermist's freezer.
00:47:34There's the skin.
00:47:35There's the skin.
00:47:38This is the skin and head of a gator guile netted from the Mississippi River.
00:47:42So what actually were the figures for this?
00:47:53The fish weighed 327 pounds and is eight and a half feet long.
00:47:58One the size that Coda saw would be adding nearly six feet to this length.
00:48:02And its weight could be nearly three quarters of a ton.
00:48:07The gar I caught a few days ago survived being attacked by an alligator.
00:48:11With this skin in my hands, I can really see how impressive their armour plating is.
00:48:17That looks quite a thickness there. I mean, how did you open it up?
00:48:19We used a sawzall, an electric or battery powered saw.
00:48:26You can't cut through it with a knife. We used the sharpest knife we had.
00:48:30I mean, it wouldn't even go into the skin, let alone cut through it.
00:48:34It's not the size of the monster Coda saw, but it shows me they can still grow massive.
00:48:43The teeth on this gar are big enough to cause serious injury to a human.
00:48:47On a 14 foot monster, I believe they would have the potential to kill.
00:48:54This skull and skin was used as a mould for this.
00:48:59An exact model of the outsized gar.
00:49:04Just look at the length of this animal.
00:49:11Just enormous. And not just the length, this massive girth.
00:49:17So what I've got here, I mean, it's not a story, it's not an old black and white photograph.
00:49:20This is real concrete proof that the monsters still exist.
00:49:25This gator gar is huge.
00:49:27But if left untouched in a secluded water, it might have reached 14 feet in length.
00:49:38Maybe such monsters are still out there, just waiting to be found.
00:49:43Like canals, dams can give fish the opportunity, if left undisturbed, to grow to monstrous proportions.
00:50:01Just like the giant wells catfish I caught from a dam in Spain.
00:50:08Recently, I've been getting lots of reports about one dam in south central Missouri, the Bagnell Dam, which is at one end of the lake of the Ozarks.
00:50:22I'm told commercial divers have seen catfish big enough to swallow a man.
00:50:30Fish so large that some of them have refused to go back in the water.
00:50:35It's a treacherous place.
00:50:36The lake behind the dam is, according to the US Coast Guard, the third most dangerous stretch of water in the United States.
00:50:45It's a deep, liquid black hole, where bodies regularly go missing.
00:50:51Could the giant catfish, and the high number of unexplained disappearances, be linked?
00:50:58I begin my investigation by meeting up with local historian, Michael Gillespie.
00:51:06No one really knows how many bodies have been lost in the lake and never recovered.
00:51:11But the best known incident involving that sort of thing was back in 1954.
00:51:18It was a boating accident involving an excursion boat called the Grand Glaze.
00:51:22The Grand Glaze left Bagnell Dam just in front of a large thunderstorm that was moving in.
00:51:31It was Memorial Day weekend.
00:51:33The boat went out across the lake and about two or three miles up the lake when it hit the leading edge of that storm.
00:51:42Just as it turned into a cove to escape the worst of it, a strong gust of wind capsized the boat.
00:51:4815 people went into the water.
00:51:55One of those 15, eight were drowned.
00:52:00Three of those eight bodies were never recovered.
00:52:03One of the victim's fathers, actually out of his own expense, contracted to have divers search for his drowned daughter.
00:52:12They never did find her.
00:52:14It's possible the bodies sank to the bottom and were consumed by catfish.
00:52:21It's a grisly scenario I've encountered before.
00:52:26The gunch catfish in India is thought to have grown gigantic by eating semi-cremated bodies in the Kali River.
00:52:34Maybe something similar is happening here.
00:52:38I know there are large catfish in here, but there's a possibility there are some giant catfish in here.
00:52:48By giant I mean fish as large as myself, maybe more so.
00:52:51Drowned corpses being eaten by catfish could explain why some people have never been found, but not whether they were killed by them in the first place.
00:53:04To find that out, I've got to catch one.
00:53:12I'm hoping the local fishermen can offer some advice, but in this tackle shop I'm told a story confirming what I've heard about scuba divers seeing man-eating sized catfish in the dam.
00:53:23I was actually fishing on the upper side of the dam under a bridge and some inspectors were down there diving and I ended up talking to these guys myself.
00:53:36They said there's fish down there that I would never bring in and one of the guys thought he would never dive there again.
00:53:42Really?
00:53:43And that's a story that I know firsthand from the guy that was in the water.
00:53:48Normally these stories, it's always at several removes, you know, who were these divers who've got a name or whatever.
00:53:53But you actually spoke to a diver who said he would think twice about getting back in that spot.
00:53:57Yes.
00:53:59That's interesting.
00:54:04It really does seem as if there are seriously large fish in the water behind that dam.
00:54:08And what's interesting to me is that this is not some tropical jungle.
00:54:14We're talking about a body of water here that is right in the heart of the developed world.
00:54:21I want to start fishing as soon as possible.
00:54:24I meet up with Steve Brown, who knows these potentially dangerous waters well.
00:54:31The dam here is known to contain three types of catfish.
00:54:34The flathead, blue and channel, none of which I've caught before.
00:54:40Two of them can grow to well over a hundred pounds and could potentially be man-eaters.
00:54:49Both those fish are predatory, so two of the baits are live baits.
00:54:53Shad about sort of six, seven inches long and also a couple of bits of fresh cut shad on the bottom.
00:54:58Most fish are opportunistic.
00:55:00I've taken the unusual step of fanning out four rods to maximise my chance of catching a monster.
00:55:07At this spot, the lake bed is flat and the water is only six feet deep.
00:55:12But that's still plenty deep enough to hold a monster.
00:55:14I've actually got interest already, which is a good sign.
00:55:22Some of the rods are starting to kick.
00:55:24It's interesting, it's the dead bait rods that are going.
00:55:30That's really bouncing that, I think.
00:55:33That's coming this way.
00:55:34How many cemeteries were flooded to create the Lake of the Ozarks when the Bagnall Dam was finished in 1931?
00:55:44The answer, right after this.
00:55:46To create the Lake of the Ozarks, over 60 cemeteries were flooded, holding a total of some 2,800 graves.
00:56:03Only around half the bodies were able to be exhumed and relocated.
00:56:07The rest are now underwater.
00:56:09I've fished for monsters in the most remote parts of the world.
00:56:16But now I'm in America to find out if freshwater killers are here too.
00:56:25I've already been on the hunt for lethal sharks and monster-sized gator gar.
00:56:30Now I'm in Missouri to see if there are giant catfish here that have grown fat on the bodies of people who've inexplicably disappeared.
00:56:43And I may have one on the end of my line.
00:56:48Not a giant, but it's the first blue catfish I've ever caught.
00:56:53That's a very sort of fit-looking fat fish.
00:56:56They go a lot bigger than this.
00:57:00They have been known to weigh close to 150 pounds and are one of the strongest freshwater fish in America.
00:57:08So bringing a big one in will be a real struggle.
00:57:13After my first catch, it all goes quiet.
00:57:18So I move to a location where the underwater landscape is different.
00:57:21This looks like a place where large catfish could be lurking.
00:57:28The fish certainly seem to be in abundance here as it's not long before I get another bite.
00:57:39That's a little bit bigger.
00:57:42So this is a channel catfish.
00:57:43This is actually quite a good day for me. I've not caught a channel catfish before and apparently this is not a bad size for here for a channel catfish.
00:57:52The largest these grow is around 50 pounds.
00:57:57Although smaller than the blues, they make up for that with aggression and energy.
00:58:01Oh!
00:58:06That was a channel catfish.
00:58:10Aside from potentially giant catfish, there are large paddlefish in the dam here as well.
00:58:15And everybody on the water around me is trying to catch one.
00:58:18Because they only feed on plankton, they can't be caught with a bait.
00:58:25Instead, the method for catching them is to drag a line with very large bare hooks through the water.
00:58:32The idea being that you'll eventually snag one.
00:58:36Although they aren't my target species, I still want to take a look at this strange fish.
00:58:42American paddlefish first appeared around 400 million years ago and can grow to seven feet long.
00:58:52They're related to the now extinct Chinese paddlefish that was the largest freshwater fish in the world, growing to 23 feet.
00:59:00Overall length of that is about five and a half foot, something like that.
00:59:04Yeah.
00:59:06Despite the size of that mouth, there's no teeth in there.
00:59:09This fish actually feeds on microscopic food items in the water.
00:59:17And it just filters them through the gills there.
00:59:20So it's not actually harmful.
00:59:21It sort of looks pretty outlandish, but it's not going to be any danger at all to people.
00:59:26This is a really unusual and special beast, this.
00:59:32Anchoring up and fishing hasn't yielded a giant catfish yet.
00:59:36So I'm going to try drifting instead.
00:59:40This constant wind that's blowing will push the boat along and I can cover a lot of water.
00:59:45We've got 150 feet out on the centre rods, 125 on the other ones.
00:59:51They're fanned out, it's a bit like a farmer ploughing a field.
00:59:54And we've got a drogue out the back of the boat, it's a bit like a parachute.
00:59:57It's slowing us down and we're doing about one mile an hour, something like that.
01:00:01And the idea is we're covering a lot of water.
01:00:04I'm hoping that this will bring us a bigger fish.
01:00:12Using this method, I get a barrage of bites.
01:00:15But keeping track of four active rods is a challenge.
01:00:24We just want to find a bigger one, that's all.
01:00:38See how greedy these things are?
01:00:47Still well short of the size we want.
01:00:52I'm going to call it a day.
01:01:03It's just one fish after another the same size.
01:01:06These blue catfish go a lot bigger, over 100 pounds.
01:01:10But they're not on the move today.
01:01:12So I'm going to get a good night's sleep and come out again tomorrow.
01:01:15I haven't given up on my search for a man-eating catfish.
01:01:31But after seeing the paddlefish in its capacious mouth,
01:01:35it makes me wonder if some of the divers who have seen monsters
01:01:38actually witnessed one of these instead.
01:01:45I'm hoping to get an answer to this, and to the question of whether catfish are eating human bodies,
01:01:51from a salvage diver who's got a lot of experience with the fish in this water.
01:02:00Tim McNitt has clocked up thousands of hours diving around here.
01:02:05Most people who dive, they're diving in nice clear water.
01:02:08You can see for a nice long distance.
01:02:10What's it like here on the bottom?
01:02:12It's a cold, dark, lonely place to be.
01:02:17Three and a half feet visibility, that's about as best it gets.
01:02:25I've dived in claustrophobic conditions like this before,
01:02:30where it's almost impossible to identify a big fish looming out of the darkness.
01:02:35So as well as boats and things that people have dropped,
01:02:39are you sometimes retrieving bodies out of the water?
01:02:41Yeah.
01:02:42I've recovered eight bodies in my lifetime.
01:02:44Sometimes they're in branches or trees under water.
01:02:48Sometimes they're in vehicles under water.
01:02:50Have any of the bodies of the tree had ever had anything partially feeding on?
01:02:56I have seen bodies of that nature.
01:02:59Many catfish are scavengers and will eat just about anything.
01:03:05All over the world, there are stories of them ingesting humans.
01:03:10Tim confirms that some of the bodies disappearing here could be because of catfish.
01:03:15But it still doesn't prove they're also big enough to kill.
01:03:19And so far, I don't have a reliable first-hand account of a man-sized catfish living in this lake.
01:03:26What's the biggest catfish you've seen here?
01:03:27Oh, probably at least a six-footer, six to seven-footer, close to 280, 300 pounds.
01:03:33Head on him, about that big. Bigger than me, heavier than me.
01:03:37This is a breakthrough.
01:03:40A first-hand account from somebody who has seen a giant catfish in the dam.
01:03:45Morning.
01:03:47And if it was this size, it could easily be a man-eater.
01:03:53After hearing what Tim has said, I have renewed enthusiasm.
01:03:56I get back onto the water and start fishing for a monster.
01:04:09Yeah, that's a good fish. That's a good fish.
01:04:11Shallow water is dashing. It can't go down, so it's going side to side.
01:04:17That was within minutes, seconds even almost, of putting the bait out.
01:04:22Keep it away from that other line there.
01:04:23Getting some side strain on it.
01:04:26Unlike yesterday, it seems that the big fish are now on the move.
01:04:31This feels exciting. This is good size.
01:04:33I can see the flank of that. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:04:46I'm traveling through America, looking for freshwater killers.
01:04:49And now I'm in Missouri, investigating whether there are man-eating catfish in the dam here.
01:04:55Yeah, that's a good fish. That's a good fish.
01:04:57Shallow water is dashing.
01:04:59And there's something big on the end of my line.
01:05:01There we go.
01:05:02This feels exciting. This is good size. I can see the flank of that. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Lovely, lovely.
01:05:11Slaking off the drag a little bit.
01:05:14Where's the net?
01:05:16Oh.
01:05:19Lovely. In the net. In the net.
01:05:21This one weighs in at 58 pounds.
01:05:27Oh, yes. Oh, gosh.
01:05:32People think catfish are ugly, slimy scavengers.
01:05:36But I mean, this fish is just a muscular predator.
01:05:40And this fish took within a couple of minutes of getting the bait out.
01:05:42And in shallow water, that's interesting, shallow water.
01:05:45Again, people think big fish, deep water, not always the case.
01:05:48I'm so pleased with that. That's what I wanted to see, a big catfish.
01:05:51And there's a big mouth on here, very capacious mouth.
01:05:55And there's no teeth as such, but I can feel, well, it's like lots and lots and lots of very close set points.
01:06:02They're for gripping. If they do grip something, they don't let go.
01:06:06But, yeah, lovely fish.
01:06:08Lovely fish.
01:06:11These rows of tiny teeth would be ideal for gripping onto a human corpse underwater.
01:06:17And, like alligators, catfish can spin, which would allow them to rip flesh, or even limbs, off the body.
01:06:26If we went over the back, close to four feet.
01:06:32Eight inches across the head, a good six inches.
01:06:38Scaling this up to the size of catfish that Tim saw, the mouth would be big enough to take in somebody's head.
01:06:48There are big fish in this lake. That would be frightening, to actually bump into that in low visibility.
01:06:53You know, you literally don't see it until you're a couple of feet away.
01:07:00From what I've discovered at the Bagnall Dam, I'm convinced that divers here have been seeing giant catfish that would be able to eat human flesh from drowned bodies.
01:07:10But I have to try something else to conclude whether or not they can kill.
01:07:20In my quest for answers, I sometimes find myself doing things that make me really uneasy.
01:07:26Like the time I sat in a pool of piranhas to prove they don't always attack humans.
01:07:33This case calls for something that makes me equally nervous.
01:07:37But it's the only way I'll truly experience the full force of a catfish.
01:07:43I'm going noodling.
01:07:46This is an ancient form of fishing from before when rod and reel were invented.
01:07:52It's done when catfish are spawning, building nests in holes along the rivers and in the lakes.
01:08:00To catch the catfish, you dive underwater, putting your arm or even your whole body into the nesting hole.
01:08:07This is to get the catfish to attack you as it protects its eggs.
01:08:14The theory is that when it bites your hand, you grab hold of its jaw and haul it out.
01:08:25To put my money where the catfish's mouth is, I'm travelling to Oklahoma, where noodling is popular.
01:08:32I feel exposed without any fishing gear and will be way outside my comfort zone.
01:08:42I'm normally happy using bait to lure a monster, but when I'm the bait, it's a different matter.
01:08:49I've done this before when fishing for eels in New Zealand, and I was terrified.
01:08:54Look at that! Look at that! Look at that!
01:08:56Noodling, like many sports, is entertainment mixed with an element of danger.
01:09:02To find out just how much danger, I'm meeting up with noodler Bobby Sparks.
01:09:08And we were going along, two buddies of mine, and they were quite a ways in front of me,
01:09:13and I stumbled over this hole.
01:09:16And I thought, hey man, this is a good one. I started into this hole.
01:09:20I got kind of about half the way down in it, and he come up and hit me real hard.
01:09:25This fish was possibly breaking 100 pounds. He come up completely over my army boot, size 12, all the way up to nearly my knee.
01:09:38The fish had the bottom half of Bobby's leg in its mouth and wouldn't let go.
01:09:43And he clamped down, and he started shaking and spinning.
01:09:49I didn't know whether I was up or down. I was almost to the top.
01:09:54I couldn't get my nose above the water.
01:09:56And he was pulling me down.
01:09:59I thought he was going to pull my leg completely off.
01:10:05That last pull, because he was pulling me down in, when my friends finally got to me and caught me and pulled me out.
01:10:12And I didn't know if I'd had the strength to fight back a nub to get out of that hole.
01:10:20If your friends hadn't been with you on that day, what do you think would or could have happened?
01:10:26I think that he would have held me there and drowned me.
01:10:30I really feel that I would have ate supper with Jesus that night.
01:10:36There's so much power there, so much strength in that fish's body.
01:10:44That's their domain.
01:10:46And I have full respect for them in their home.
01:10:55Clearly, I need to learn how to noodle correctly.
01:10:59I won't attempt to do this on my own.
01:11:00Plus, if I get into any trouble while I'm underwater, I'll need people to help me back to the surface.
01:11:13I've managed to hook up with Nate Williams and his friend Dylan, both very experienced noodlers.
01:11:23I'm already apprehensive about the dangers, but adding to this is the fact that I'm joining them halfway through a noodle.
01:11:30I'm going to try to do a noodling contest when only the biggest catches will do.
01:11:34Each team has its own noodling spots, and the group with the highest combined weight of its top three fish wins.
01:11:42After the contest, we'll release the fish back into the water.
01:11:47Nate's spot is a stretch of isolated river.
01:11:51I have to keep the exact location secret in case other noodlers muscle in.
01:11:55Here, I'll have the chance of catching a flathead catfish, the type I've failed to get back at Bagnell Dam, and one that's capable of growing to man-eating proportions.
01:12:06I've done extreme fishing, normally with a rod.
01:12:11Fish on!
01:12:13It normally feels like you're in pretty direct contact with the fish.
01:12:17But this is real hands-on, isn't it? And I can imagine that gets pretty intense.
01:12:23Yeah, this is a very different form of fishing. It's one of the most extreme and dangerous methods of fishing that you're going to find.
01:12:32You know, you reel on a fish for 45 minutes on a pole, even if he's very large, same size as these fish, he's going to be tired by the time you actually get him in your hands and handle him.
01:12:40These fish have every bit of fight in them right now.
01:12:43You're going to stick your hands in there, you're going to feel a full force straight on your hands without ever wearing him down.
01:12:47So, I mean, it's pretty, pretty intense.
01:12:52Right, OK.
01:12:54I've already established that catfish with their pads of teeth can rip the flesh off drowning victims.
01:13:01But what will one do to my arm if it gets hold of it?
01:13:05You want to keep that grip as tight as you can because they can sense weakness.
01:13:08And when they feel you just loosen it, that's when they'll try to do their death roll.
01:13:12Got that bottom jaw, it's a big handle.
01:13:14If they slip past that, they'll get up here and they'll just go to spinning.
01:13:17And they'll just kind of wear grooves in your arms.
01:13:19See like that?
01:13:20Sometimes they'll come way up here.
01:13:22I mean, they can really get you anywhere in here.
01:13:23And they'll come up and they just, that's what they do, they just wear around your arm.
01:13:29If his mouth is closed and he's bolted himself up where he can't actually fit out, then you're just going to be stuck.
01:13:35And they can hold you down there every year if people die noodling or drowning.
01:13:39Sometimes their head's close to the surface and they just can't quite get there.
01:13:41Yeah, it's clear ahead and don't panic isn't it?
01:13:44Yeah.
01:13:45Right, okay.
01:13:47Let's go and do this then.
01:13:52Before having a go myself, I'm content to let the experts try it first.
01:13:58We've found a concrete tube that is a perfect place for a catfish to nest in.
01:14:03The opening under the water is silted up, leaving only a tiny gap for entering.
01:14:11The plan is for Dylan to stick both his legs into the hole.
01:14:15When the catfish attacks, he'll pin it against the side.
01:14:19But to do this, he has to be totally submerged.
01:14:21Seeing Dylan about to offer his body as bait in part makes me understand why America is called the land of the brave.
01:14:37There's definitely a big catfish in there.
01:14:40Got him?
01:14:42He's in the middle of my legs.
01:14:43Dylan has a catfish pinned against the opening, but he's now wedged in.
01:14:49Luckily, he can get his head just above the water to breathe.
01:14:53Go under his legs?
01:14:54What I'm going to do, I'm going to get my head under you and try and get that gill.
01:14:56Okay.
01:14:58I've got to put my fears aside.
01:15:00It's time to go down there and get it.
01:15:02I'm in America, investigating whether there really are lethal fish in its waters.
01:15:21Right now, I'm in Oklahoma, seeing just how dangerous a big catfish can be.
01:15:28I'm attempting to noodle, to determine if the fish are powerful enough to be lethal.
01:15:37I've got my first catfish on the end of my arm.
01:15:45It's a real team effort.
01:15:48As soon as I get it to the surface, Nate puts a stringer through its mouth and out through its gill flap, so it can't escape.
01:15:57This is a flathead catfish.
01:16:05Who would suspect a river like this, so shallow, you know, you'd think there's nothing in here.
01:16:09Maybe there's stuff a foot long.
01:16:11But there's some real monsters in here, and they're hiding very, very close.
01:16:16But boy, it's work to get them out.
01:16:18It's short, but it's very intense.
01:16:21You've got this protruding lower jaw, and you've got these needle-like teeth forming very big pads, and that's basically what I'm trying to get hold of there.
01:16:33You've also got crushing pads at the back of the throat.
01:16:36Your hand can even go beyond those.
01:16:38It's a bit like a sphincter.
01:16:39Your hand can go right past into the gut.
01:16:41The other thing you've got to watch out for on these is you're trying to reach in and just get on the gill flap, but the gills are protected by those very sharp gill rakers.
01:16:53And if you get one of those getting near your fingers and the fish starts to thrash and try to spin, you know, those are going to sort of create a bit of an injury as well.
01:17:00So it's quite a formidable mouth that can do a bit of damage.
01:17:08This one weighs around 40 pounds, a big fish by anybody's standards.
01:17:13But Nate thinks it's too small to enter into the contest, so we let it go.
01:17:19I'm not sure I'm ready to catch something bigger.
01:17:24Training is over, and I'm taking the lead on the next one.
01:17:31We move further downriver.
01:17:36Along the way, we keep an eye out for footprints, signs that a rival team has got here first, taking any potential prize-winning fish.
01:17:50We arrive at a hole where Nate has noodled some massive catfish before.
01:17:55I'll try to get you a little mental image of it real quick here.
01:17:57Basically, we're going to come up to this hole and say this is the surface of the water here.
01:18:03Bottom of the river is going to be about four foot, and the sand at the bottom of the river is where the bottom of the hole is.
01:18:07Then the clay bank is eight away like this.
01:18:09Now it's about two people wide.
01:18:11You're going to be about here.
01:18:13You're going to be about chest-deep water.
01:18:14You're going to have your feet in the hole at first when we first get there to keep the fish from swimming out.
01:18:18Me and Dylan are going to get on each side of you.
01:18:20We're going to put our feet in the hole and basically make a wall.
01:18:22He's going to come up and he's going to find you.
01:18:24You're not even going to have to find him.
01:18:27This is going to be more complicated than the first hole because all of us are going to have to block the opening.
01:18:33Otherwise, any catfish in there could escape.
01:18:38Time for discussing tactics is over.
01:18:41Before going underwater, it's essential to build a mental picture of the layout below the surface.
01:18:50If I don't, I could panic if I come across something unexpected.
01:18:56After feeling around, I've worked out that there's a flat shelf that then drops down to the riverbed.
01:19:02In this vertical face is an opening that goes back into the bank.
01:19:07In here is where a catfish could be hiding.
01:19:12At the moment, I can't tell how far the hole goes back.
01:19:18I'll only find that out by sticking my arm in there.
01:19:21I'm just going to fill him up.
01:19:22If you get in there far enough, he's going to be right here and you're just going to be able to maneuver him however you want.
01:19:26If you get in there far enough, it'll be no problem to know that you've got people here to help you if anything goes wrong.
01:19:32And basically, as soon as you hear anything go in, you're starting to pull me out anyway, aren't you?
01:19:36If there is a catfish in there, I'm going to feel the full force of what it's like to be attacked by one as it defends its nest.
01:19:59I feel around for what seems an eternity, but there doesn't appear to be anyone home.
01:20:11My lungs are starting to burn.
01:20:16I get the feeling I'm maybe not in there far enough, is that the idea?
01:20:19Yeah, you have to keep going there as far as you can.
01:20:22Yeah, I'm getting...
01:20:24I haven't reached far enough into the hole.
01:20:26As we feel around the opening,
01:20:31something...
01:20:33rams our legs.
01:20:35Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh!
01:20:36He's in there, keep it blocked.
01:20:37Yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:20:38He just swallowed my whole foot.
01:20:39We have to make sure that the hole is totally blocked, so it can't escape.
01:20:45I submerge again.
01:20:47This time I go head first into the hole, which just keeps on going and going.
01:20:51When I'm in it as far as my thighs, something bites me.
01:20:56Hard.
01:20:57Hard.
01:21:09I've traveled the world searching for freshwater killers.
01:21:15Now I'm in America, hunting a monster in a way I've never done before.
01:21:19I'm noodling in Oklahoma, and I've just dived into a hole head first.
01:21:26Visibility is zero, and as I feel around, something bites my hand.
01:21:32Hard.
01:21:36Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
01:21:38I manage to get a good hold of it and bring it to the surface.
01:21:40I've landed my first catfish, noodling style.
01:21:45Oh!
01:21:47Well, that fish was lying there, boom, bit me once and let go.
01:21:50And then I sort of fumbled around and then actually reached into its mouth.
01:21:57It's a creepy feeling.
01:21:58I'm putting my body in there.
01:22:00Dylan's feeding me in, pushing me in, head first into a hole under the water.
01:22:04There's something that's going to bite me in there.
01:22:05It's dark.
01:22:06I can't see anything.
01:22:07What a stupid thing to be doing.
01:22:08You know, just ridiculous.
01:22:09But I mean, as fishing goes, it doesn't get much more mad than that.
01:22:15As Nate promised, the catfish is still full of fight.
01:22:20It tries to do a characteristic role.
01:22:24If we can't control it, it has the strength to break my wrist.
01:22:29That's doubling my...
01:22:32Luckily, it decides to let me go.
01:22:38Big flathead catfish.
01:22:39I mean, well-named.
01:22:40That head is flat.
01:22:41That lower jaw poking up as well.
01:22:44But just what a beast.
01:22:48It looks a bit sort of torn up.
01:22:49It's got some battle scars.
01:22:51That adipose fin here should just be a normal clean lobe.
01:22:55And that's been split.
01:22:56It's got a bit of a lump on it.
01:22:57Tail's a bit torn.
01:22:58One possibility is these things move into beaver holes.
01:23:01And if there's a beaver already in residence, you know, the beaver probably takes exception.
01:23:05And so, you know, these things have a bit of a tough time.
01:23:07They've got to compete for real estate down there.
01:23:11At over 50 pounds, it's a strong contender for the contest.
01:23:15Also, having felt the full force of one of these on the end of my arm,
01:23:19I now completely understand how close Bobby came to being killed.
01:23:25When I first heard people talking about North American catfish as being fish that can potentially kill people,
01:23:30my first reaction was this is a bit unbelievable.
01:23:32This is something I've got to look into.
01:23:34But now, having actually tried this form of fishing where what you're actually doing is trying to provoke the fish to bite you
01:23:39and then hang onto you while you're under the water, in the dark, with just one lungful of air,
01:23:44I can really, really appreciate how these fish can potentially cause human fatalities.
01:23:51Time is running out for the contest.
01:23:54We have to load up our three biggest catfish and get to the weigh-in.
01:23:58All the teams are coming back from their various noodling locations from all over the county.
01:24:13It's a tense time as everybody gets their catches weighed.
01:24:20Pressure mounts as lots of people have recognised me.
01:24:24My reputation for catching monsters is on the line.
01:24:29It's our turn to weigh our catches.
01:24:39Hopefully our third fish will be at least 50 pounds.
01:24:45Last to be weighed is the catfish I pulled out of a hole.
01:24:51I'd say 53.
01:24:5253 pounds.
01:24:56Are we ready to pick him down?
01:24:59This gives us a combined weight of 155 pounds.
01:25:03We'll have to wait and see if this is enough to win the contest.
01:25:08The third place goes to the team of Michael Gill.
01:25:14The second place was the team of David Walker.
01:25:19The first place goes to the team of Nathan Williams.
01:25:21Thanks to the skill of Nate and Dylan, my inexperience as a noodler has passed unnoticed.
01:25:32And my reputation as a monster catcher remains intact.
01:25:35After taking our prize, it's time to release these three catfish back into the river.
01:25:44I came to America to see if there are killers in its fresh waters.
01:25:57I found potentially deadly bull sharks prowling Florida's canals right under the noses of thousands of people.
01:26:04An exploratory bite and I could just bleed out, lose a lot of blood and that could be a fatal encounter.
01:26:11I searched for lethally large alligator gar in Texas and landed a prehistoric giant I hadn't expected to see.
01:26:21And I uncovered that there are man-sized catfish in a Missouri dam which could be feasting on human corpses.
01:26:28Head on them, about big, big old flat head. Bigger than me, heavier than me.
01:26:35And after going noodling, I'm in no doubt that a catfish of that size would also be capable of drowning somebody.
01:26:42As I wrap up my adventure, I leave convinced even in the 21st century, America's rivers, lakes and canals are still home to potential killers.
Recommended
1:24:09
|
Up next
42:19
42:26
43:25
42:17
43:18
42:20
43:18
42:27
1:26:56
42:26
43:17
41:40
41:43
51:34
22:22
41:39
1:20:08
42:26
41:41
43:27
42:20
42:10
42:27
43:10
Be the first to comment