Fishermen at popular B.C. lake surprised to catch piranhas
Conservation officer service confirms two red-bellied piranhas caught in Nanaimo lake
It wasn’t quite like a scene from the Piranha movie series, but two fishermen were surprised when they caught something much different from the rainbow trout they were angling for.
Sam Cho, a Nanaimo sport fisherman, said he’d recommended Thomas Lee and Lee’s friend try their luck catching trout at Westwood Lake on Tuesday. The university students were fishing from the bluff rocks in Westwood Lake, one of Nanaimo’s most popular summertime swimming areas, when something hit Lee’s bait and he reeled in what appeared to be a piranha.
The novice anglers, not certain what kind of fish it was, took pictures with a cell phone and sent them to Cho.
“They sent the pictures to me to confirm what this is. They thought it was a piranha, so I confirmed, yes, it’s a piranha,” Cho said.
He recommended Lee file a report with the B.C. Conservation Officer Service and put the fish in their refrigerator at home so conservation officers could study the remains.
The B.C. Ministry of Forest, Lands and Natural Resources did not have anyone available for comment, but did confirm in an e-mail Friday that the fish was positively identified as a red-bellied piranha.
More: https://www.goldstreamgazette.com/news/fishermen-land-piranhas-in-popular-swimming-lake-in-nanaimo
Conservation officer service confirms two red-bellied piranhas caught in Nanaimo lake
It wasn’t quite like a scene from the Piranha movie series, but two fishermen were surprised when they caught something much different from the rainbow trout they were angling for.
Sam Cho, a Nanaimo sport fisherman, said he’d recommended Thomas Lee and Lee’s friend try their luck catching trout at Westwood Lake on Tuesday. The university students were fishing from the bluff rocks in Westwood Lake, one of Nanaimo’s most popular summertime swimming areas, when something hit Lee’s bait and he reeled in what appeared to be a piranha.
The novice anglers, not certain what kind of fish it was, took pictures with a cell phone and sent them to Cho.
“They sent the pictures to me to confirm what this is. They thought it was a piranha, so I confirmed, yes, it’s a piranha,” Cho said.
He recommended Lee file a report with the B.C. Conservation Officer Service and put the fish in their refrigerator at home so conservation officers could study the remains.
The B.C. Ministry of Forest, Lands and Natural Resources did not have anyone available for comment, but did confirm in an e-mail Friday that the fish was positively identified as a red-bellied piranha.
More: https://www.goldstreamgazette.com/news/fishermen-land-piranhas-in-popular-swimming-lake-in-nanaimo
