"Mr. Whiskers" With The Kids (Part I)

[Gr8ful Fish]

On Mon. after school, my 9-yr old son, Adam, wanted to hit Turkey Swamp Park to try to catch a channel cat as he was bummed he didn't catch one at Sun.'s Outdoor Expo. So, after wrapping-up all of his homework, we headed to the park armed with some hot dogs for bait. My 5-yr old daughter, Anna, decided that she wanted to go as well, so we knew we would only have at most a 1.5 hour window before she got bored and wanted to head home.

Within the fist few minutes, Adam caught & released a nice slab bluegill while Anna managed to catch and release a decent largemouth that I livelined a small sunny to when I saw it crashing bait in the shallows nearby. This was a good start, but Adam made certain that we kept our "eye on the prize" and he reminded us that we were looking for catfish not panfish or bass.

A short while later, Anna caught and released our first channel cat. It was only about 13 inches long, but it was a genuine channel cat. To say that my son was disappointed that his sister caught the 1st one would have to be the understatement of the year. However, Adam hung in there and kept trying.

About 10 min. before we planned to leave, Adam set the hook on a great bite; he started fighting a real nice catfish. Sadly, the fish threw the hook before we got a look at it, but I could tell by the way it was fighting that it was good one. We quickly re-baited with another chunk of hot dog and tossed it back in; once again, he hooked another big one pretty quickly. This time he fought the fish all the way to shore, but as I tried to get in position to land it, the fish broke his 6 lbs. test mono. Once again, we quickly re-baited; and once again, he hooked, fought and snapped-off another big one right at shore.

With only a few minutes left, Adam set the hook on another bite, and he started fighting some serious dead weight on the end of the line. However, as he got the beast near shore, a giant head twice the size of my fist rose above the surface. It was an ENORMOUS snapping turtle. The turtle decided that once he was drug into about 4 inches of water that he wasn't coming any further, so he put on the brakes and started hissing and snapping in the air. I tried to carefullly unhook the monster, but he easily snapped the line and headed back to the deep.

We decided to make the proverbial "last cast" and almost immediately upon the bait hitting the water, he got a great strike. Adam set the hook, and started fighting another big fish. However, as he got this one to the bank it was not a catfish ... it was largemouth bass that was easily over 7 lbs. It was HUGE! (For all the bass pros out there: forget about those Senkos, drop shots, Carolina rigs, topwater plugs, crankbaits, & spinnerpaits. Big bass eat hot dogs!!!)

Sadly, this fish also broke his line before we could land it, so we left the park on a little bit of a low note as not only did he not catch his catfish, but he also lost the biggest largemouth of his life. Being the gracious kid she is, my daughter offered to "share" her successful catch & release, but Adam made it painfully apparent that he wanted to catch one on his own.

- Gr8ful

Adam's Slab Bluegill Before Release


Anna's Channel Cat Before Release