Invertavores and Haff Diseases???? The Rodney Dangerfield of our rivers

So for some reason I catch Buffalo. A lot of buffalo, more than anyone I know. And not just snared in the tail with a crankbait like the way most are caught, but actual lure inside the mouth, it bit the dang thing catches. I think I've finally figured out why. It's because of the way I fish? Well duh... No let me explain. Any one that knows me knows I like to fish a jig. Grubs or hair jigs are I guess are what you might call my specialty. Not exactly mainstream.  And I have another habit that is even more out of the ordinary. I lure fish rivers after dark. Most people chase smallies during the day but night time is the time to settle down with a chunk of bait for catfish. Me I'm constantly wandering around the river at night doing another of my crazy hobbies, trying to catch shovelheads on lures. All of these random things put me in the unique position to regularly catch buffalo on lures.
Buffalo are not well known or understood even though they are one of the most common fish in our rivers, Heck, I think half the people that catch one think they have caught an especially handsome carp. There's just not a lot out there on buffalo. A google search will tell you the difference between the different kinds, their ranges, and a couple lines of general description and maybe a bit on feeding habits. And that's it. Amazing really considering if you look up crappie or walleye or catfish or even carp you will find more than you can read in a week after even the simplest search.
The world record smallmouth buffalo is a whopping 82lbs 4oz while the world record bigmouth buffalo is 70lb 5oz, from Texas and Louisiana respectively. In other words they get huge. Ohio lumps both species together and the record is 46lb. Kentucky's record is 55lbs. Simply put, they are among the biggest fish you are likely to encounter in one of our local rivers.
But no one really ever catches them except for the occasional snared fish. Why? Well buffalo are considered omnivores because in addition to eating plant material they are considered by biologists to also be invertivores. Which means they eat all manner of small crayfish, shrimp, snails, insects and arthropods they find poking around on the river bottom. All the creepy crawly stuff that supports the base of the food chain. And every now and again a hair jig or grub that's fished slowly on the bottom.
Buffalo seem to me to be one of the most strongly nocturnal and crepuscular I know of. I don't know how many times I've been standing knee deep in a riffle casting for smallmouth right at dark and watched as big buffalo ghosted up into the riffle and began to feed right at dark. Making them more vulnerable to someone lure fishing after dark instead of during the day.
I also feel that once full darkness settles in that buffalo become less shy and possibly a bit territorial. Several times, too many to be a coincidence, I've caught them on a rattletrap type lure I was fishing for shovelheads. These fish are invariably hooked either in the mouth or more often on the outside of the mouth. But almost always somewhere around the head instead of snared in the dorsal or tail. Which leads me to believe they are swatting at the bait, maybe not feeding but definitely striking at the bait. But I've also caught them with a rattletrap or grub deep in their throat as well. I have to think though not tops on their list of things to feed on, these big omnivores aren't above eating a minnow every now and then. These are usually among the biggest buffalo I catch, maybe the bigger a buffalo gets  more predatory the larger it becomes.
What I like about buffalo (and shovelheads for that matter) is that they are big fish that come up very shallow at night to feed. Hook one and it makes a terrific run for deeper water. If there is moonlight you can see it pushing a big wave out in front of it as the fish streaks for safety. Some of the most memorable moments of drag screaming, rod bent double, just trying to hold on, fish fighting I've experienced have been when hooking a big buffalo in just inches of water in the middle of the night.
Buffalo are one of, if not the most important commercially caught fish in the United States and are supposed to be delicious but I don't think I'd eat one. Every year there a few mysterious cases of what is known as Haff Disease. Haff disease is is the development of rhabdomyolysis. Rhabdomyolysis is an onset of acute pain and swelling and breakdown of your skeletal muscle sometimes followed by kidney failure. Most cases in the US occur in people who have eaten buffalo in the previous 24 hours. The theory is that toxins found in the plant water hemlock are built up in a few buffalo. Either by eating the plant itself when it's flooded or by ingesting small invertebrates that have eaten water hemlock. There have also been rare cases traced back to eating crawfish so the invertebrate theory seems likely.
The best bait I've found for buffalo has been a nightcrawler. This seems to out produce anything else for me. I've read of people catching them on crickets and shrimp as well, both of which make perfect sense considering the buffalo's penchant for invertebrates. The best lure for me has been far and away a hair jig followed by a grub on a light jighead. In midsummer though when chasing shovelheads I can count on three or four big ones every year smacking a lipless crankbait. I'd love to hear any of your stories you might have or see any of your photos of this underappreciated and little known fish.

Here's a few photos of just a few of the buffalo I've caught including two from just the past week or two...