rsimms
Well-known member
Tim Harty has been seeing my posts on the TNDeer.com Fishing Forum and decided to bring the family down from Knoxville to sample some catfishing. The Harty Family are neat folks... really laid back and easy going. That makes it really easy on a guide.
The bite has been strange lately... my "eater" cats just haven't been cooperating in the numbers I like. I decided to put one big skipjack I had in the freezer to use. We went and caught a handful of little bluegill in a hurry and headed to anchor down in Hole #1. I am not known for my patience... hence I'm not very good at "anchoring down." We sat for about 30 minutes without a bite. I advised the Harty's "Time to move." As I turned to get ready to pull anchor I heard Tim yell, "There's one!"
The battle took far longer than I thought it should have, until I realized I had the drag way too light and Tim simply couldn't make any headway on the fish. We tightened 'er down and Tim finally got the 44-inch beast boatside. Paul (9 years old) didn't quite know what to think of a fish that was nearly as long as he is tall. Quick pictures and a clean release.
We hung out there a few more minutes but soon decided to move on to Hole #2. Again, all was quite for 15 or 20 minutes then a rod tip nearly buried itself in the Tennessee River. Drag was set right on this fish so it fought hard. Tim did the lion's share of the work but Paul helped his Dad out. Here's some video of the last 2 or 3 minutes of the battle.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzsEnst9_lg
It was interesting that the second fish was an inch shorter than the first fish, but weighed six more pounds. As they say, "Got girth?"
After two big fish in the boat we sized down so Paul and Karen could get in on the action. As per norm, we found a few good eaters drifting chicken on the light tackle, and Paul did battle with most of them. Tim did hook one other BIG fish on the light tackle. The fish was absolutely having it's way.... going where it wanted to go whenever it wanted to go there. Sadly it simply came unbuttoned after about a minute. emoBawl emoBadLanguage
Paul's 9-year-old patience pill wore off after about four hours, which was fine because it got us off the water just before the huge thunderstorms rolled in. emoApplause
It was a great morning with a great family... and that means life is good and gettin' better every day!
The bite has been strange lately... my "eater" cats just haven't been cooperating in the numbers I like. I decided to put one big skipjack I had in the freezer to use. We went and caught a handful of little bluegill in a hurry and headed to anchor down in Hole #1. I am not known for my patience... hence I'm not very good at "anchoring down." We sat for about 30 minutes without a bite. I advised the Harty's "Time to move." As I turned to get ready to pull anchor I heard Tim yell, "There's one!"
The battle took far longer than I thought it should have, until I realized I had the drag way too light and Tim simply couldn't make any headway on the fish. We tightened 'er down and Tim finally got the 44-inch beast boatside. Paul (9 years old) didn't quite know what to think of a fish that was nearly as long as he is tall. Quick pictures and a clean release.
We hung out there a few more minutes but soon decided to move on to Hole #2. Again, all was quite for 15 or 20 minutes then a rod tip nearly buried itself in the Tennessee River. Drag was set right on this fish so it fought hard. Tim did the lion's share of the work but Paul helped his Dad out. Here's some video of the last 2 or 3 minutes of the battle.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzsEnst9_lg
It was interesting that the second fish was an inch shorter than the first fish, but weighed six more pounds. As they say, "Got girth?"
After two big fish in the boat we sized down so Paul and Karen could get in on the action. As per norm, we found a few good eaters drifting chicken on the light tackle, and Paul did battle with most of them. Tim did hook one other BIG fish on the light tackle. The fish was absolutely having it's way.... going where it wanted to go whenever it wanted to go there. Sadly it simply came unbuttoned after about a minute. emoBawl emoBadLanguage
Paul's 9-year-old patience pill wore off after about four hours, which was fine because it got us off the water just before the huge thunderstorms rolled in. emoApplause
It was a great morning with a great family... and that means life is good and gettin' better every day!
