Bulging stomach of catfish caught in the Ohio River was from adult toy it swallowed

When two Indiana men caught a 20-pound catfish recently on the Ohio River, the real shock was what was inside the plump fish.

“We noticed the stomach was hard but didn’t expect this to come out of it,” Richard Kesar, of Shelbyville, wrote on Facebook.

Kesar told outdoor publication TheMeatEater.com he initially figured the bulging stomach of the catfish was from eggs.

“But when I felt that hard lump, I knew that wasn’t the case,” he told the publication. “I’ve found turtles, muskrats and all kinds of stuff in catfish before. I just assumed it would be something like that instead.”

Not quite.

The surprise was a large sex toy, which the Kesar and Jon Hoop found when they cut open the catfish. Kesar said he has no idea how the object ended up in the Ohio River, WXIN reported.

“When it came out Jon, my wife, and I started laughing,” Kesar told WXIN. “My wife immediately covered my daughter’s eyes and turned her away from it.”

There was also a foam ball and part of a fish inside the catfish.

Kesar said on the Indiana Catfishing page on Facebook that it was his friend’s first blue catfish — and the find inside of it certainly left for a memorable catch.

“We were definitely surprised,” Kesar said.

Kesar’s June 5 Facebook post — one that is perhaps not safe for work — has more than 18,000 shares as of Friday, June 10.

This story was originally published June 10, 2022 at 9:28 AM with the headline "Bulging stomach of catfish caught in the Ohio River was from adult toy it swallowed."