Species identification help

[The J-Man!]

First off I apologize for not having a picture here, I took pics with my cell phone and don't have the correct USB cable to upload them.

With that being said I caught the strangest looking creature Saturday on the Minnesota River in the Black Dog vicinity. It was about 18 inches long, brown, with 4 small legs, a tail like an eel pout, gills, small teeth in its mouth, and it was slimy. I caught it on a night crawler. It even coughed up a small minnow sized fish when we were taking the hook out.

I have never seen anything like it. I can try to get the pics here if I can find the right size cable. Any help in identifying this creature would be great help. Thanks for your help.

***Pics added below***

[updecreek]

mudpuppy? it sounds. looks like there going north walking up hwy 52.

[fishdale]

That would be a mudpuppy. Google it to see a picture to verify.

[The J-Man!]

http://www.marshall.edu/herp/images/mudpuppy1.jpg

Yes it is a Mudpuppy! Thanks for your quick responses. We could not figure out what it was. The link above shows you what one looks like.

[rushing]

Yep that's a waterdog, muddpuppy, river chode...ect

[Ralph Wiggum]

Sounds like a mudpuppy to me!

[PierBridge]

First off I apologize for not having a picture here, I took pics with my cell phone and don't have the correct USB cable to upload them.

Slightly off topic but you can send the Picture to your E-Mail directly from your phone. Send a picture text to your E-Mail addy is all you need to do.

[DonBo]

Disgusting little creatures.

[nofishfisherman]

hmmm, how do they taste?

[The J-Man!]

Here are the pics, thanks PierBridge for the phone to email tip, I had no idea. Yeah it was a slimy little thing.

[CarpKing921]

nice catch never caught one that big

[Ralph Wiggum]

Disgusting little creatures.

I think they're cool as heck! Not exactly a good fight, but I like them, nonetheless.

[DTro]

I was able to keep one for a short while in my Aquarium. The gills wouldn't leave it alone though and he didn't make it.

[hanso612]

Growing up on the Croix there was always an urban myth floating around about divers under bridge pilings seeing giant mudpuppies.

I've caught many and think the one you caught is about the biggest.

[goose89]

That there's a Master Angler award winning mudpuppy for sure. I've cause several, but that's a MudDawg!!

[JBMasterAngler]

I caught one nightfishing on the kettle river once. Many years ago (at least 15) joe's bait used to sell them. Supposedly walleyes love them.

[walleyehunter80]

that is the most disturbing thing i have ever seen, almost lost my lunch when i saw the pic. I would have burned my line and let it have my hook!!!!

Hooks are easy to come by

[Ralph Wiggum]

They're just big salamanders. I don't understand why they freak people out so much

[Scott M]

Great cat bait...EC30x06 and I will be doing some head to head comparisons of favorite post spawn live baits this summer. We have access to a good 'sally pond.

[JBMasterAngler]

Apparently cold water doesn't bother them too much. How come they don't hibernate like all other amphibians?

[walleyehunter80]

because they are freaks of nature!!!!!

P.S. Dont touch them

[river rat316]

Dtro that is a cool tank!! Looks like your gills were hamming it up for the camera! That Mudpuppy would have been a cool addition to the crew, its to bad those gills are so dam aggressive in tanks, there pretty hard to keep with other fish. I had one and a crappie once, the gill would eat ev erything and the crappie would go hungry, darn gill would be swimming around with 5 minnows in its mouth!

[ec30_06]

The fish really chewed them up on the river last year. Mostly channel cat attacks.

[heating guy]

If I remember right mud puppies are great for walleye bait