Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Review: Monsterquest 12-19-07

This was a rather interesting episode, examining giant fish. An expedition is taken to the Amazon River in Brazil, where giant catfish are seen and are said to suck children under and eat them. A reenactment takes place from 1975 in which a canoe is bumped severely and a child is knocked overboard and is never seen again, and reports have been taken of children being found inside giant red-tailed Peraibas. A catfish wrangler, Lee McFarland, is interviewed about his techniques for capturing fish bare-handed. A record fish caught in Oklahoma was 9 feet long and 546 pounds. The Mekong Catfish in Cambodia is 5 times larger than the largest one found in the U.S. In 2002, McFarland encountered a large fish in The Sooner State which threatened to pull him under so he let it go. In the Amazon, the research team is having to catch bait to catch giant catfish, this consisting of Piranha and Barracuda. Fisherman Mike Knee is presented with quite a challenge down there. The catfish stories are compared to the fictional film Jaws and also the Mattawan Creek, New Jersey shark attacks of 1916. Shark expert Ralph Collier is interviewed for this part of the program. Barracuda and Alligator Gar are also examined. I will not give away too much more, but it makes for interesting television. Next week, Hajicek delves back into Bigfoot territory by examining Swamp Beasts, Skunk Ape-like creatures found in the swamplands of the U.S. The show begins at 10:00 EST/9:00 Central on the History Channel, and make sure to check your local listings for time and channel.

(Editor's note: My grandfather's friend who owns a store down the street from us caught a 40-pound catfish about three weeks ago, and we still have meat from that large fish in our deep freeze. The fish measured at least 2 1/2-3 feet long.)

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