Shot me a chondrostei with a big rostrum...

[Big Lefty]

Beautiful fish!!!  Fine eating too!!!

[Phrogdrvr]

Well done.   looks fun.

Tom

[Sockrsblur]

From Wikipedia
Leviathan is a sea monster referenced in the Tanakh, or the Old Testament. The word has become synonymous with any large sea monster or creature

   

[VictoryHunter]

Good shooting! That is one cool fish!

[The Vanilla Gorilla]

Thanks for the kind words everyone!

Originally posted by Walt Francis:
Congratulation, those are nice.  Did you save the skins?  I always figured they would look good on the back of a bow.

No, I didn't save the skins.  Wouldn't have any idea how to preserve them.  I have seen them backed on a selfbow.  Fella at OJAM had one backed with grasscarp skins and another with spoonbill skin.

[Richie]

Awesome  

[tracker1]

Now that is a Fish.  I bet he put up a good fight.

[Rob DiStefano]

Originally posted by The Vanilla Gorilla:
... Hope these pics are sized correctly.  I recently switched to imgur and still learning to use it. ...

congrats on yer catch!

there is no longer an image sizing issue - post 'em as large as ya like!

[59Alaskan]

NICE FISH!  Congrats!  That must have been a blast.

[coconutdave]

WOW!    

[twitchstick]

Nice fish!

[FerretWYO]

Good shooting that is a brute

[John146]

VG, Nice kill! What exactly do you do with your garfish? You mentioned the "boiling pot?"

[wooddamon1]

Nice!  

[The Vanilla Gorilla]

Originally posted by John146:
VG, Nice kill! What exactly do you do with your garfish? You mentioned the "boiling pot?"

Ain't you ever boiled gar fillets? After you skin em, boil the meat with a crab/seafood boil seasoning.  About 5 minutes.  I like to serve it with rice and beans.  Or corn on the cob. It'll change your life. Its good fried too.

[Big Ed]

Very nice

[bowhuntingrn]

That's some fine eating right there! Used to have a friend of my dad that snagged for spoonbill. When he got lucky and ended up with more than he could eat, he'd bring the extras to us. Hard to beat a "steak" cut from one of those ugly suckers.

[Cyclic-Rivers]

Those are just cool looking fish. Congrats!

[Thumper Dunker]

Cool stuff  

[Chromebuck]

Paddle fish are an interesting creature of North America.  They are filter feeders, which is why they allow them to be snagged.  Like sharks they have no bones, but cartiladge, hence the Latin reference.  They have an exstensive lateral line of darkish meat that is removed.  The main meat is flakey and white and delicous deep fried.  Almost the halibut of the lower 48 interior    

Unfortunately, the roe from these fish is highly prized by a certain culture.  Your guess as to what culture...  Therefore poaching of spawning fish has skyrocketed in the last couple decades.  Fish being found discarded with bellies cut and roe removed for sale on the blackmarket.

These are a very special fish of this Country.

Hadn't seen anyone post anything about them so thought I would share what I have known of them.  My late grandfather would go snag paddlefish every year.  Actually made the paper for a fish over 70#'s

~CB