Holy Sh*t or Bull Sh*t: Catfish eats basketball?

Last week we published some amazing fishing photos sent in to us by FishMax regular Robbie, which claimed to be a large catfish in Lake St Mary's (in the USA) chomping down on a basketball.

According to the story, the fish bit the basketball but then couldn't let go and had to be rescued. But is this amazing fishing story bullsh*t or holy sh*t?

Like so many of these stories, it seems to be a bit of both. The photos certainly weren't taken just a few weeks ago, and certainly not at Lake St Mary's near Dayton Ohio. In fact, it appears that these photos have been circulating in the internet for years.  However, the photos themselves are real, and an event similar to the one did occur, but at Sandalwood Lake in Kansas on 28 May 2004!

According to a report in the Wicheta Eagle newspaper published on 30 May that year, Wichita resident Bill Driver was standing on the deck of his home overlooking a lake when he saw an eight-inch ball bobbing in the water. "Noticing the ball wasn't floating normally," Pearce wrote, "Driver wandered to his dock for a closer look. A catfish had its mouth stuck around the ball." The fish couldn't dive and appeared to be in distress, so, using a knife handed to him by his wife, Driver poked a hole in the ball and deflated it. The 50-pound fish swam away and is presumably doing well in deeper waters far from the dangers of human civilization. No idea why someone decided to change the story to Lake St Mary's!

And if that wasn't crazy enough, it seems this isn't the only time it's happened. In 2008, German policy from Bavaria reported that that a 2 metre long (6 1/2-foot-long) catfish was found dead in a canal, floating on the surface of the water with a blue-and-white football (soccerball) in its mouth!

If nothing else, these stories do appear to be proof that catfish will eat just about anything!

If you've seen a big fish photo, crazy fishing video, wierd fishing tail or tall fishing story that sounds too good to be true send it in to holy@fishmax.com.au and our team of reporters and experts will investigate and tell you whether they are truely "Holy Sh*t" or "Bull Sh*t.