We anchored in a bizarre spot where the water plunges within a stone's throw from shore to 35 feet deep.
My older daughter had already racked up at least a dozen fish. My count: 0. Her sister's count: 0.
No one thought much of it when she hooked another. I became much more interested when I heard it take line and run after seeing the boat.
A slow, muscled turn at the surface made me blink. Did I just see that?
When we got it alongside, I realized that without a net, the only way this creature was coming aboard was if I could get my fingers up in its gills. The head was so wide, it would've taken both hands to get around it. That was way too precarious to attempt.
When I got it lifted, we all marveled. I certainly never saw a channel catfish that large in person. I estimated 10-15 pounds by the feel of it and at least 28 inches long.
Here he is. A monster of the Chesapeake Bay. That's the fisherman documenting her prize.
We let him dive back down to the channel depths and disappear into the murky dark.
There's no greater thrill for a child than to land a great fish, except letting him afterwards swim free . . .
ReplyDeleteThere's no greater thrill for a child than to land a great fish, except letting him afterwards swim free . . .
ReplyDeleteThat is one mighty fine catch, sir.
ReplyDeleteI've caught a few of those myself in Lake Huron's Wild Fowl Bay.
ReplyDeleteNice ... so glad you let it go!Thx for giving us a glimpse into the daylight side of your life. ;)
ReplyDeleteI don't know if I could have let that one go any where but to the batter and the frying pan but then male or female I guess it would have been a prodigious producer of a good gene pool.
ReplyDeleteI would probably have reluctantly let it go too,
Jackie, very true. I still remember one of the very biggest fish I caught. I was 12. Great memory.
ReplyDeleteLoren, she was thrilled. :)
J.R., them are the nice ones!!
Lee, the daylight side...I like that! Yeah, I'm not always in the dark. ;)
Walking Man, I don't have a problem harvesting fish. Honestly, if we had a cooler and ice for it, I probably would have kept it. Even though it's a notable catch for us, there are uncounted catfish in that water.