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.
7 comments:
There's no greater thrill for a child than to land a great fish, except letting him afterwards swim free . . .
There's no greater thrill for a child than to land a great fish, except letting him afterwards swim free . . .
That is one mighty fine catch, sir.
I've caught a few of those myself in Lake Huron's Wild Fowl Bay.
Nice ... so glad you let it go!Thx for giving us a glimpse into the daylight side of your life. ;)
I 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.
I 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.
Loren, 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.
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