The 40 Pound Catfish

The first week my dad and I Bass fished on the James River we could not get a bite. The second week my dad caught 4 but we never ran into many. But I had no such luck but as always there was still a fun experience being on the water and something worth telling about.

            Since last summer my dad and I have caught a lot of catfish while bass fishing on the river. My dad always remarks that right where a bass should be is where we keep hooking these catfish.

            While we always go looking for bass I always enjoy fighting any fish that bites. I will occasionally throw a small spinner and catch crappie, ring perch, and brim. But catfish are never the goal. They are nasty. They leave slime on your line and they are not easy to unhook.

            This day my dad and I put the boat in the water and ran down to what he calls the cut through. It was a beautiful day nice and warm and sunny. A few different times while running from one creek to another we would feel the air change from hot to cold. But overall it was a beautiful day for fishing.

            We fished the cut through for about an hour and a half or so. My dad finally caught one bass that hit his bait right near the boat. Maybe he just got lucky and found one cruising. Because no other fish were around.

            We finished making our way through the cut through and ran across the main river to kittiewan creek. We fished kittiewan for a couple of hours and stopped and ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch. My dad caught one bass in kittiewan. I again had no luck. So on to the next creek we went.

            We headed down to flower dew creek and made our way all the way to the back of it. There is some very shallow creeks that run in at the end of flower dew creek and some wood pilings that we hoped some bass would be on. We fished our way towards the front of the creek and when we got to a bank with some fallen trees in it and a few small cuts where water was running in. It looked very promising and a few minutes later. I finally had some activity.

            I casted out the chatterbait I had been throwing most of the day. And as I was reeling it back all of the sudden my line got very heavy. I felt something go sideways. Any fisherman knows there is just a different feel when your hung up on a tree versus when you feel something swim. There was definitely a fish on and my rod was bending.

            My dad said “take your time that’s a good fish”. He could tell by how much the rod was bending it was hopefully a ten pound bass. I reeled consistently but slowly trying to keep pressure on the fish without reeling too hard and risking the line popping.

            The fight kept on. I thought the fish was coming up but it got close and attempted to swim under the boat. Again I’m hearing my dad say “take your time, take your time” as he prepared the net. Hoping to get a giant largemouth in the boat to measure and weigh and take pictures of.

            I continued reeling and kept the fish from going under the boat. I almost had it to the surface. Expecting to see the open mouth and green scales of a giant largemouth I finally got the fish to breach the surface and first saw a bluish back. A large fin breached the water and I heard my dad say with a bit of disappointment “that’s a catfish”. Then with a bit more excitement he said “that’s a huge catfish!”.

            I let a little slack in the line and luckily the fish came off. I do not know if we had the equipment in the boat to deal with this fish and I certainly didn’t want to lose my bait to a fish I didn’t want.

            We joked about how that fish could have pulled the boat all around the river. It was definitely the most excitement of the day for me. As we kept fishing my dad caught another catfish that was probably about 12 pounds that he did have to get in the boat and do some work to get the hook out and clean up his line.

            I remarked how the catfish I had hooked was at least twice the size of the one my dad caught. He agreed there was no doubt. Again not the fish I was after and I have no interest in catching one. But sometimes it is the fish you aren’t even after that causes the most excitement.

            Bass Fishing is sometimes not about the fish you catch but about the huge fish you had on the line that got off. Sometimes it is about seeing ducks, geese, eagles, otters, and deer. Sometimes it is about seeing the way the sun hits the water and the way the cypress trees grow and sit in the water, Appreciating how beautiful God’s creation is. And is definitely about spending quality time with my dad and having a story about the giant catfish that luckily got off the line.