Piranha Caught In Lake Winnebago?

September 16, 2009

Release from: WLUK-TV

FOND DU LAC - Fishing for bluegills on Lake Winnebago, Richard Pardee never thought he would come with what might be a piranha.

"I was getting pretty excited, thinking I had the biggest blue gill of my life," said Pardee. "I finally got him out and saw the face full of teeth, I thought, yep, I got a piranha, not a bluegill."

He took it to exotic fish shop Rivers and Reefs, 107 N. Main St., where they sell a species of piranha. There is still some debate at the store about what the 12 1/2 inch, toothy catch actually is. Owner Greg Schwantes is leaning toward the piranha's larger, generally more vegetarian cousin, the pacu.

"Lake Winnebago doesn't have a lot of vegetation, but it has a lot of bait fish, so it could survive eating minnows or other small fish," said Rivers and Reefs owner Greg Schwantes.

Schwantes is familiar with pacus in Wisconsin waters.

"About 5 years ago we had somebody pull one out of the Fond du Lac River, about the same size," said Schwantes.

He says because the two fish look so similar, pacus are often mistaken for and sold as piranhas. While piranhas usually stay 10 inches, pacus can grow to more than two feet, too big for many aquariums.

"Then in the river or lake they go," said Schwantes.

Even if Pardee's catch is the infamous, carnivorous, piranha, Schwantes says it probably would not have been a threat to any Lake Winnebago water goers.

"It's when they're in their natural habitat and they're in schools of 50 or more that you hear the stories about a cow crossing the river and piranhas eating its legs off on the way."

While Schwantes says neither of the Amazon fish would have survived a Wisconsin winter, Pardee is glad he could help pull this fish story out of the lake.

"I'm going to stretch this one forever," said Pardee. "Yeah, yeah, you know how us fisherman are. We've got the tallest tales."

DNR officials had not looked at the fish as of Wednesday. They say people should not dump their aquariums into rivers or lakes because anytime you deal with exotic fish there is a concern with spreading disease.