M - Holy Catfish, Batman!!!

Last night it took some coaxin'...but as always I caved and took the kiddos fishing. This time however, the little ones weren't content to fish in the pond right outside our backyard. We had to travel to another little pond (a.k.a. mudhole) in the neighborhood that no doubt held fish barely big enough to bite a hook. Nonetheless, mom needed a night off and I figured we'd have fun no matter what we did. Besides, a bad night of fishing is ALWAYS better than any night of TV so off we went to the 'mudhole'. I forgot to bring a bobber for Katie so the best I could do was tie on a big top water lure and make sure I did all the casting for her. In the first few minutes sure enough she pulled one in and all was right with the world. She was SO happy. I know no matter what it is that brings the joy for our little ones, not much warms our hearts more than seeing them experience pure joy.

While I was 'de-hooking' the little perch Noah was hooking into a fish of his own. The more his pole bent the more excited he (and I) became. I wish I had started the video sooner. He was really struggling to fight back against the thing at the other end of his line.

Noah's drag was set way to tight on his reel and the line he was using to fight that 'thing' was the cheap stuff that come on the cheap reel when we bought it at Walmart. Sure enough, the line SNAPPED!! Oh no! This is never a good thing. Fortunately, the fish was swimming sideways and the line floated on top of the water for a split second - just long enough for me to launch towards the water and grab it. I lost a shoe and got pretty muddy/wet in the process...but it was definitely worth it.

This all takes place around 9 seconds into the video. The screaming is hilarious. The rest of the video is mostly just audio but the excitement from the kids makes it worth listening to.

You can't imagine the concern in my little boy's life (and yes, mine too) when that line broke!!! Everybody knows that when you lose the line you lose the fish, right?! Well not this time by golly. I threw a shoe in the process of grabbing the line but fortunately if floated back to shore. As the fish continued to REALLY fight, I could only walk up and down the muddy shore with what little line was left and I had wrapped around my fist. When the fish decided to run, all I could do was lean as far as I could and pull back with just as much force as I thought I could to keep the line from breaking again (in case you didn't catch that detail but we had already proven the line wasn't strong enough for this fish!). Noah was of course screaming for me to "PULL IN THE FISH!!"..."DON'T LOSE HIM DADDY!!"..."HURRY, DAD!!" After the fish got a little tired I managed to turn him toward the shore on one of his runs and give him a little momentum to get about half-way out of the water. Sure enough the line broke again but at this point I could grab him pretty easily. Noah and Katie both (yep, me too) were ecstatic! As you can see from the pictures, this was a doggone nice fish. The two largest fish caught in 2007 in this family were both caught by Noah and both were caught using the smallest hooks I own. One was a 3.5lb bass and the other was this 6.5lb catfish. Both were weighed on a digital scale so no need commenting on the weight you doubters!

I called Uncle Neil who was kind enough to interrupt his dinner and drive a plastic tub to us. We really wanted to release the catfish in the much larger pond behind our house for future catchin'. We also need more big fish in that pond to control the perch and crappie population. We loaded up the catfish in the 1/4-full plastic tub (with lid!) and placed him in the back of the mini-van for the short drive to our house. I'm happy to report there was no catfish goo or smell in the van at the end of this adventure. Since I had a 'hand' in catching the big fish I took a little photo-op right before releasing him into the pond. What a fun night and I'm so glad, ONCE AGAIN, that I wasn't too tired to hang with the kids and enjoy some special time together. Can anyone say they've ever really regretted that decision? I didn't think so.