albino catfish

Avery Bulot of Mandeville shows an albino catfish his grandmother, Janet Jones, caught near Buras Monday. (Mike Jones photo)

A high Mississippi River is a like a fish-conveyor belt for Mike Jones, who heads down to Buras to wade-fish the river and catch catfish almost non-stop.



The New Orleans resident and his family landed 40 this weekend, but one was particularly special. It was a 30-inch, 15-pound albino blue catfish hooked by his wife Janet and landed by his grandson, Avery Bulot.



"That's the first one we've ever caught, and it was a sizable catfish," Jones said. "We let it go hoping we get a chance to catch it again."



The fish bit a chunk of cut mullet fished under 2 ounces of weight, and fought for about 10 minutes, Jones said. To catch it, Janet Jones waded to the edge of a drop-off that regularly produces. Among the 40 fish caught by the famly were two 25-pounders.



"We do pretty well on catfish down there," he said. "It's great year 'round as long as it's warm enough to get in the water. We catch a lot of fish, but that one was pretty unique."



The Mississippi River is currently cresting around 16.5 feet in New Orleans, and Jones said that was evident everywhere between the levees. The area in which they usually park contained 5 to 6 inches of water, he said.



As a result, currents were swift in the river, and that made the fish particularly aggressive.



Albinism is a congenital absence of pigmentation in skin that usually results in early death of affected animals due to their reduced ability to hide from predators. Janet Jones' fish had pink fins and tail, which is a common indication of albinism.

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Todd Masson can be reached at tmasson@nola.com or 504.232.3054.

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