Swimming slithering snail’s pace slow
Sucks the bottom blindly
Searching shallow’s tasty treasures
Muddy water turns to gold
Trickling off iridescent scales
Flowing into golden ripples
Disturbs light chocolate color
Abstract / Animals / fish / Rio Grande
Bottom Feeder
Off Center & Not Even 
What in the WORLD is THAT!? THING…YIKES
Hi Eleanor. It’s a very large fish, about 4 feet long, scavenging off the bottom of the Rio Grande in shallow water close the the bank. Last week the pterodactyl got a catfish about half the size of this fish near the same spot. I posted one of the photos of the pterodactyl and the catfish on my post Deadly Dancing. The pterodactyl was across the river, not too far away, but I guess he figured that fish was too big for him.
UGH…been a while since I’ve been noodling. Okay, it’s been a great grand while since I’ve been noodling. You just reminded me why I don’t miss it much…
I wouldn’t miss it at all. Photographing a giant fish and writing a poem about it is enough for me. When I walked back to the clear water ditch, there were a couple of boys fishing along the bank. I asked if they had any luck, they said no. I told them if they wanted to go for a big one they could walk to the river. When I told them how large the fish is, their eyes widened and they said “No Thanks!”
BAHAHAHA!!! If you can imagine lil ole me, 100 lbs. soaking wet, jumping into the North Canadian River to prove to a bunch of jerky boys that a girl could noodle just as good as a guy! I was cold, scared too death, and praying the ENTIRE time but I PROVED my point! 😂
Good for you. Never underestimate a 100 pound girl.
I thought the same thing as Eleanor—what is that thing? lol I’ve never seen anything like it around here. The weirdest looking fish we have are alligator gars.
Your poem almost made the fish as lovely as your words. Almost.
Thanks, KT. It was a big fish. I could have waded out a few feet and picked it up. But I’m sure it would have put up a fight.
And I’m sure you’re right.
Sweet and interesting catfish?
No. It’s a large carp. Thanks, Cindy.
I would have guessed catfish, too. Found a good link on fishes in your river.
https://aces.nmsu.edu/pubs/_circulars/CR653/welcome.html
Thanks, Lavinia. I think its a river carpsucker. It has the scales of a carp.
What a shot, Tim! I wouldn’t have thought it’s a fish. A rock or a dinosaur pup taking a swim maybe!!!! Poem is amazing and a brilliant interaction with that image. Merci!!!
Thank you, Marina. The fist is weidly abstract and moster-like. Or dinosaur puppyish like you said. Its size made it even more surreal.
I wouldn’t cross that fish. EPiC ‘catch’ though and again lovely words.
I was content photographing it. I could have waded and and wrestled with it, and I might have lost. Thanks, Shey.
One never knows what a fish is capable of !
They can be very fishy about things.
Absolutely. you never know when they might just smack you one with their tale either.
That would make a good tail tale told. You live close to a river if I recall. Do you have any good fish stories?
We live by the River Tay at the mouth part. My fishy ‘tails’ all prob concern rowing the boat for him and his mates up at Lintrathen reservoir when he was on the local council and a perk was the council having their own boathouse and boat. YOu wanna have seen that boathouse and boat. Not exactly state of the art shall we say? What is more to this day I can’t swim a stroke….. Water and i don’t get along that way though I love rowing. You are looking at someone who nearly drowned in six inches. Anyway, way back out rowing, i got a turn to fish aged 9 and caught the biggest one that day. I dunno the fellahs were best pleased.
Laurie used to row. We are all good swimmers. Here’s a rowing story for you. Around 1980, before Laurie and I were married, a guy named John Adams who worked for my dad wanted to go fishing. Laurie, I, and my friend Ron, loaded up Ron’s John boat, and headed up to Cochiti lake with John Adams. Laurie rowed us out to the middle of the lake, but the fish weren’t biting, so we decided to go to another location. While Laurie was rowing back to shore we came across a small yacht with a couple stranded in the middle of the lake. Their motors had quit and they were drifting way out in the middle of the lake. We had them throw us a rope, and Laurie towed them to shore. The fashionable couple looked humiliated with a woman towing their great big yacht to shore in a tiny rowboat by comparison with three men lounging in the rowboat while Laurie rowed everyone to shore.
That is epic. I love it. Gotta laugh too. It made me think of the time 3 of us hired a cabin cruiser on the Norfolk Broads for the week. Let’s just brush over the first attempt to moor the thing. (It was also the second and third in one. I think in the second one person got left behind on a sandbank and we had to go back for them, that was after leaving someone up a tree on the first and sitting rolling about on the river over our meal with half a ton of greenery coming in the window on the third.) ) Okay, so the next day we sails forth undaunted in this vile storm and the we finally gets to a lake and the engine breaks down leaving us peeping the horn several times as per the handbook for I have broken down, Oh and drifting towards these private owned moored very expensive yachts. Let’s not forget the fancy privately owned expensive yachts. The only one of us who could swim refused to get out there and drop the anchor, so the two who couldn’t– we got out on this tiny deckin the lashing rain and we throws it and hey, it’s not attached, I can’t remember if was me or the other girl who nearly went down with grabbing the end of the rope as it vanished off the deck but certainly one of us nearly did. But we couldn’t get it reattached Eventually as a crowd gathered for the spectacle and we’re still drifting wildly, we managed to persuade this other cruiser driver to help us. You could tell he was what we would call bricking it trying to catch the rope we must have flung about ten times to him.
I knew you would have great boat stories. That must be a sinking feeling when you discover the anchor wasn’t attached to anything.
It was epic actually, like that we’d come out in waterproofs the wee deck was slippy, we got it heaved off and then the rope ran right through our fingers and we both thought OMG, get that. it was the end of the season and the boat was needing all sorts. The next day at the same place, the engine went on fire. Yeah. And talking stories after that and it had been all repaired, it wouldn’t stop when it started. Sort of randomly. We were yet to have the epic time where we doubled parked it cos there was no mooring space and that girl who could swim, she ran along the decks of three boats asking was it all right to tie up to them, then she had to jump back onboard cos I couldn’t stop the engine. Then we made polite conversation with this lady from Dunbar as we then bashed her boat to bits, trying to nose turn ours and head off further up the river. Lol, I have tales all right.
Hilarious. It’s great slapstick humor material to boot.
You might say. The day after that one, I believe there was a hideous moment as we chugged up to this low bridge and we had to put the engine in reverse while we dismantled the wheelhouse cos the engine wouldn’t stop…. I could tell our fame had spread when we arrived back in the boatyard to be met by a team of mechanics…
I wonder if people stil say “Remember that time when…”
Yeah… Some actually might!!!
[…] Bottom Feeder […]
The poem is beautiful, but I wouldn’t want to come across that fish anywhere, any time….OMG:). What does it mean to ‘NOODLE?’
Thanks, Janet. Noodling is catching fish, primarily catfish, with your bare hands. It’s a term used in southern states.
Thank you Timothy. I love to learn new things. Happy noodling:)
Thats an amazing photograph of an awesome fish! I’ve never seen anything quite like it, even here in the swamplands. Have a great day Timothy!
Thanks, Holly. This fish would make a good swamp thing.
It sure would. We have some slimy water creatures here. A beautiful iguana was in my tree a few days ago. He’s in IG.
Iguanas are beautiful.
EW!
Your poem certainly describes the reality.
Do people eat those?
People don’t generally eat carp. Thanks, Resa.
Ahh!
Not the prettiest creature in the Rio Grande!
I don’t think there are many, if any pretty creatures in the muddy water of our section of the Rio Grande. Thanks, Tiffany.
Timothy, I love the poem. It’s excellent.
xoxo
Thanks, Gabriela. Do you fish?
No, my father did. A great deal. He loved it. Oh, I got to tell you this. I probably was 9 years old, my father came home from fishing and put the catch in the kitchen sink . There were a bunch of fish. He said to me; can you please clean them? Lord I though some were alive and I’ve had never done that in my entire life. I don’t know what he was thinking. I tried Timothy, but I could not. I must have cleaned 2 fish and I threw the rest in the garbage. The two cleaned went in the refrigerator. Can you imagine my dad’s face opening the refrigerator later? He was stunned. Where is my fish? Papa that’s all you got 😊
Sorry, for any typos. I am on my iPhone.
Anyway, how do you feel? How is your tooth?
That’s a great fish story, Gabriela. I don’t fishing unless it’s with my camera. Cleaning fish is awful. I’m doing well. The tooth is fine. How are you and you lovely kitties? Did you get the tree pics I sent?
Yes, I agree. It’s awful.
I am glad you are well. You sent me pictures. Yay! Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I don’t have that email account on my phone but once I get to my computer I will write to you. I can’t wait to see the pictures. Thank you again. Sending hugs to everyone 🥰🤗
You were pretty rotten for throwing out a bunch of fish, but it made for a excellent fish story. I have a good fish story I’ll relate some time.
😊
Oh yes. Excellent poem to go with this gigantor of a — catfish?
It’s a River carpsucker. It’s very large. Kind of monstrous in fact. Thanks, Dale.
Is it like those big-ass fish the guys in the swamps catch with their hands?
Noodling by noodlers, mentioned by Eleanor, go more for catfish like the one the pterodactyl noodled with his beak in Deadly Dancing. People will catch carp with fishing poles for sport out here, but there is not a lot of Noodling to be found in our waters.
Your photo is a reminder that there really is a lot happening under water. So many stories, and some very big fish! Yikes!
Especially in the muddy waters of the Rio Grande. Thanks, Rebecca.
that was quite a capture Timothy and one big fish. great poem to describe it as well. Our waters at the lake are quite green and murky and we wouldn’t eat the cat fish, bass or carp with the mercury levels being high as well but they do have some big bass tournaments there which are fun and catch and release.💖💖💖💖
Thanks, Cindy. I wouldn’t eat anything out of the Rio Grande. One of the Xerox techs who worked on our machines at the office is really into fishing. In the lakes up north, he fished for something like a pike that is another big fish. He said they can only keep them if they are over 6 feet long.
You’re most welcome Timothy.
I agree with you. Wow, that’s quite a big fish. I hope they eat them if they catch them that big💖
There is Nessie!
Is that Loch Ness or the Rio Grande
Too muddy to be Noch Ness. Thanks, Dawn.
When I brought up this post the theme from Jaws was playing in the background – how bizarre ha!
[…] Bottom Feeder […]
Wow that’s a biggie Tim!
Thanks, Julie.
That fish would haunt me in my dreams 😅 Brilliant poem and wonderful photograph! I mean, he could have chosen not to “pose”, but you got lucky 😜
I was lucky to be there at that time. The fish seemed totally oblivious to the Paparazzo clicking away. Thanks, Sam.