The neighborhood pond that backs the Clinton’s home is a fun catch and release hotspot for bass and catfish. But on the weekend of July 14, using only a piece of bread as lure, Charlie fished out an odd-looking creature and called his mom, Janna for help.
“He was screaming, ‘Oh my God, mom! Oh my God!’” the mother said. “I thought he was just being dramatic, to be honest.”
Before reaching out to wildlife about their creepy catch of the day, the family released the fish back into the pond.“It’s a catch and release pond…so we unfortunately did release it back because we didn’t know any better at the time,” Janna said. “We made a mistake there
The family learned that the fish caught by Charlie was a pacu, a cousin to the piranha, that’s native to South America. Unlike its omnivorous relatives with razor-sharp teeth and an underbite, the pacu is mostly a vegetarian with square teeth and a slight overbite.