A man was talking to a friend on his cellphone near Lake Moultrie, South Carolina when he came across a catfish flailing desperately to throw off the snake attached to its side.
Clyde Hall happened upon the unusual sight by the water’s edge last week, McClatchy reported. Hall instantly told his friend goodbye, hung up the phone and videotaped the scene on his cellphone. Then he posted it to TikTok.
Watch here:
“I heard some splashing,” Hall told McClatchy. He was walking along the dock. “I looked down and the snake had a big catfish in his mouth. I thought it was awesome.”
The video offers only a short window onto a much longer struggle. Many viewers wanted to know: who won the battle?
“The fish kept the snake underwater so… long that he eventually got tired and let him go,” Hall said.
Catfish are common in South Carolina. And according to Game & Fish magazine, Lake Moultrie is a great place to find them.
“Lakes Marion and Moultrie are loaded with catfish and the warm water presents opportunities to fish effectively by day or night,” tournament catfisherman Jimmy Ledbetter told Game & Fish. “Plus, depending on where and how you fish, the bite can be great in shallow or deep water.”
Besides Lake Moultrie, catfish are abundant in South Carolina’s Cooper River, Lake Hartwell and Lake Wateree.
South Carolina hosts 38 different species of snakes, according to the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. Six of those are venomous. But the venomous snakes tend to avoid humans and are less frequently seen.
Snake advocates point out that snakes perform a valuable service by eating rodents and other pests. It’s slightly less common to find snakes going after catfish, but that has happened before and it probably will happen again.
