The Chopique:
Some years ago, while fishing the Spring Bayou complex in Central Louisiana, a Texas friend hooked a 5 lb. grindle aka chopique aka bowfin aka mudfish, etc.. He managed to get it into his small bass boat with the help of a dip net. After getting it untangled, he decided he would dispatch it with his homemade fish billy (garden rake handle). The previously docile fish launched into a frenzy at the blow and flopped itself right into the Texan's open UMCO jumbo cantilever tray tackle box. The creature managed to impale itself with a half dozen or more lures and flopped back out of the UMCO into the boat, where it thrashed about with its treble hooked adornments. I was on the verge of abandoning ship. Alligators be damned- when the Texan pulled out his pistol. He was considering shooting the armored fish in self defense, but before he could get off a shot, the fish made a mighty leap for freedom taking the Texan's rod and reel along with a handsome assortment of his lures with it. We later managed to snag the rod and reel, but never saw the chopique or the lures again. As Emeril says: "You just can't make this stuff up"!