Eddie's Most Memorable Fishing Trip

This is a hard choice between nearly four trips. Each one having it's own highlights. I suppose last December sticks out in my mind the most. It was already a phenomenal month of fishing. It was the second or third week of December if I recal. We (Ed and I) had just discovered our secret catfish hole two days earlier. I had gotten hooked up on a beast of a fish and lost it nearly three feet under the boat. Dad had told me the next day that he was going back there with my uncle Robert. This through me into a slight panic as I was greedily affraid that they would catch "my" big fish. So I took Friday off and went with them.

We put in at Byrnes Lake that morningm it was clear and cool out. We had to dress warm. As we were launching the boat a man coming in on his boat approached. We conversed with him shortly about the speckled trout that had been biting around Gravine Island. Most people were out fishing in the main river for trout. He asked if we were doing the same and we replied that we were going catfishing. The man replied that a 29lb  catfish was caught at the mouth of Byrnes. This made me even more excited about the day.

So we headed straight up to our catfish hole and decided we would drift through it as opposed to parking next to the shore. We didn't have any luck with this method. So we eventually decided to park in our spot and fish that way. And no sooner did we park was I reeling in a 4lb Bluecat! At the time this was a huge fish for me. I had only caught a 4lb and a 6lb two days earlier. And those being firsts! A few moments later I was battling an 8lb to the boat. Then a hard hit with a nice fight brought in 10lb whopper! We were all mesmerized by this fish, little did we know... This fish was so big to us we were being extra careful about handling. I was told several times to "hold him now or hes gonna wind up overboard." After weighing the brute we had a fun time making him fit in our cooler, that was already full from the 4lb and 8lb. We tried putting the lid on the cooler but the fish kept knocking it off. So we had to bungie cord the top shut to keep it contained.

I was on fire! Uncle Robert was in disbelief at all the big catfish hoisted in from one spot. And we weren't done yet. I rebaited and tossed out yet again. The bite slowed down a little when all the sudden my bait alarm started screaming. I picked up the rod quickly and engaged the reel. It was like an instantaneous jolt of weight. Like someone was trying to rip the rod out of my hands. The force of the weight bending it over like an arch. This was something I had never felt before, raw fish power. How could a fish fight this hard!? It started running up river, and all I could do was hold the rod up to keep the hook set. After about 30 yards it turned and decided to come back down river. This was my opportunity to reel in the slack line. Then the fish tried submerging deeper, using raw force to try and win the battle. I pulled up hard and felt the beast move a little. Then I cranked as much line as I could before repeating the process. The fish was finally coming up about 20 feet from the boat. My heart was racing! Then like Godzilla emerging from the ocean, a huge "SMACK" and water splashed everywhere. A massive tail came swinging out of the water like a monster movie. All of us in the boat giving an astonished "HOOOOO." Like we just David Copperfield vanish an army tank. The fish rolled and jerked before stopping momentarily. I dragged it towards the boat as Uncle Robert grabbed the net. This was the biggest fish I had ever seen with my bare eyes. We lifted it into the ole green boat and stared in amazement. This was a BEAST! Once we calmed down enough I got it out of the net and weighed it - 28lbs and some odd ounces! We got a few pictures and I let it go (against Uncle Robert's will.)

That ended our spree that day in the catfish hole. Later that day we caught about 15 small eating cats on our way back to Byrnes Landing. We finished an amazing day of fishing. And I had caught the biggest fish in our family history second only to my Grandma Gilman's 30lb drum (I guess her genes were passed down to me :-)