What's your craziest catfish story?

Mine is when I was fishing with my step-brother and step-sisters over 30 years ago.

Pam was using an old "gray" cane pole. She hooked a catfish and when she set the hook the pole broke clean in half. The fish was gone; half the pole was gone. About 5 minutes later, the pole bobbed to the surface and we watched it as it slowly trekked across the pond. I was able to snag the line with a rod and reel and pull in he pole and a 3 lb. catfish.

We still laugh at that story to this day.

I was crappie fishing in Valley Ranch about 7 years ago. I had a minnow on a bass rig 2 feet under a cork. the cork went under, but nothing else happened. I Picked up the rod never set the hook. Started taking in the slack. needless to say on the end. a 64 LBS catfish. that fish ran me up and down the bank for about 30-40 minutes. I only had 15 lbs line. but I finally got him. Not to crazy but a lot of fun.

My son caught a 29” channel cat off of our dock at Lake Granbury using a salmon egg pattern. We noticed these huge fish swirling every night up and down the canal where we live right at dusk. He cast to one on the surface and had a long fight on his hands. They must come into the area because our neighbors throw out puppy chow that floats on the surface. I guess it’s like feeding the ducks with bread. We let it go and was there again the next day

My son caught a 29” channel cat off of our dock at Lake Granbury using a salmon egg pattern. We noticed these huge fish swirling every night up and down the canal where we live right at dusk. He cast to one on the surface and had a long fight on his hands. They must come into the area because our neighbors throw out puppy chow that floats on the surface. I guess it’s like feeding the ducks with bread. We let it go and was there again the next day

I think I may have relayed this story before, but oh well.

My wife and her mom "decided" that I needed to spend some time with my father in law. So, I met him at their house in Cherokee, and we drove the 45 minutes or so to Colorado Bend SP to fish on the Colorado. This was in April, and there had been some rain recently. I had a few dozen minnows and my cast net. When we got down into the park and could see the water for the first time, it was like chocolate milk and moving at a pretty good clip. My instinct, having not fished rivers very much, was that we would drown a few minners and I'd listen to some stories for a few hours, and then we'd call it quits, but I did NOT expect to catch much except debris on our lines.

We hadn't been there 10 minutes, and I hadn't even gotten a pole in the water before he had a 3lb blue cat on the bank. I thought to myself, "wait, what?!" So, I threw my cast net to see if any bait was up this far. Caught a dozen 6-8" gizzard shad in one cast, so I chopped them into chunks and into the ice box, with one piece on my rod. My FIL had already caught another blue cat on a minnow by that point. We fished about 4 hours, and ended up with 17 really great eating-sized blue cats. We were pretty giddy the whole time - that's more and bigger fish than he's caught in 20 years. He's a self professed perch-jerker.

Anyway, he had to make it home for a meeting or something, so we headed out. When he dropped me off, you can guess what I did. Yep, I drove straight back to the park, and caught the rest of my 1-man limit, then drove home. That was a great day.

A side-story - we saw a guy put his little boat in at the ramp while we were fishing. Right about the time we were packing to leave, he was coming back up the river, stopped and asked how we'd done. My FIL could barely contain himself, and said that we'd kept 17 nice cats. The guy in the boat congratulated us, and said that he'd limited out on blues, including "this one"...he opened up a separate cooler, and pulled out what looked like a blue pig with a tail. We guessed it was around 50lbs. Quite the hawg.

Had a setline out in a creek and as I rounded a bend in the creek to check my line. A couple was fishing right on top of it so I killed my motor and watched them. The lady that was fishing had a big one on her line. She fought it until she got it to the top of the water only to discover she had caught 5 or 6 lb channel cat that was on my line. In tears she dropped her rod, and they started to move off my line. As they did I told them to wait,after such a good fight on her part I thought,she should get that fish.

classy, tater.

It was a couple of years ago and we were fishing around thanksgiving. A cold front was blowing through with the wind howling out of the north. We set up several rods into the wind, and used a fresh caught Buffalo that we chopped up earlier that morning for bait.

I don't know if the stars aligned or the fishing gods smiled down upon us,but we caught 23 Catfish totaling 97 pounds. With the biggest being a 23 pound hog. Every fillet of that buffalo was used. We had never had a fishing trip like this, especially from the shore. So we decided to clean all of the fish, even though in retrospect the bigger ones should have been thrown back. All of our fillet knives dulled, so we had to run to Walmart to invest in new fillet knives.

We went back the next day with another fresh caught buffalo and did awesome again, with a total of 27 pounds of fish. That weekend we caught 124 pounds of catfish,all from the bank, and all on rod and reel. We never even had trotline trips that were that productive. The quality and quantity of fish was just insane.

I was fishing for panner channels one day using a 1/0 gold hook baited with worms. I had gotten a couple of bait-stealer pecks, so I reeled in to check by bait. My hook was impaled through the mouth of a tiny flathead about 2 inches long.

Not too crazy but fishing Lake Travis after 4th of July a few years back my daughter and I caught a nice cat. Had an abnormally large belly but she really wanted to keep it so I went to work with the filet knife. Fish had a full water balloon in its belly from the water balloon fights they have on the lake. Whole thing smelled like latex so we tossed it.

One winter while duck hunting along the river, my friend and I saw a backwater behind what is normally a high bank full of water. The river had come up enough to fill a channel about 100 ft long and 25 ft wide up to about 6 ft deep but the inlet and outlet were now only about 6" deep. We agreed to bring a small boat the next day because it was sure to have some nice catfish. We had to carry a 12' boat with no motor, oars, our tackle, etc, about a half mile so we both just brought the essentials. As we rowed out and anchored in a good spot my friend told me he had found a new spool of line in his garage and spooled up with it for this trip; neither one of us brought extra rods, tackle, etc, because of the hard labor to get in.

As soon as our baits hit the water, the catfish were all over them. Each time my friend set the hook, his line snapped. He trimmed off a few feet and recast only to have it happen time and time again. I saw him break off at least 25 times until he had almost no line left. Evidently the spool had been sitting in the sun on a window ledge for who knows how long and his wife put it on his fishing shelf when she found it. The stuff was as brittle as frozen thread. Meanwhile I kept yanking them in one after another and the more I caught the madder he got. After ribbing him with no letup for about an hour I offered him my rod but by then he was so mad he wouldn't take it. I ended up catching about 45 fish from 14" to 7 lbs and, after running out of cut bait, we took home two beautiful limits.

As we were packing out we agreed to come back the next day and do it again. He showed up with two rods, extra line and about 20 lbs of bait! As we walked over the crest to our fishing hole, we saw that the river had come up about 5 ft. We fished all day and never caught one because the flood of water moved them all out overnight.

That was about 30 years ago and I still laugh when I think about it.

Hopefully I will have a lil story to tell after I check my trot lines tonight. Due to kids and life I have to squeeze in time to do what I love. Never ran them in the day time. Will see how it goes. My best story was with my father fishing rod n reel at night on the rio grande south west Texas. My father hooked a monster we jumped in the rio as I held a spot light and the net and he had the rod I was 13 years old waist deep. Chasing that fish around for about 30 minutes. Pulled it out about 20 lber then hooked another on trot line that night. First time we ever caught big ones like that. Good times.

"clunkerboat78",
You'll be glad to know that Sunday & Monday are YC on my Calender, meaning YellowCat. Tuesday & Wednesday are both BC (BlueCat). However, as to the YellowCat pattern, this is a 3 day Run, as to my PYC (Personal YellowCat days) for Sun/Mon/Tues. So you may have a Yellow or two if in a good Yellow Hole or Path. The Blues also bite good on YC days.

This not a short story, but it is a short version of the whole story.

Hmm, the Tale of "Big'Un" and Lynn's Catfish Calendar comes to mind here. You see, I had been taught by two YellowCat teachers as to the things they were told & had learned over the years. That was between 1979 & 1980. I applied their knowledge. However, I might have caught 1 or 2 on the heels of all that learning. That is until finally in 1981, on into 1982. I had started working for The Western Company & somehow after training, got thrown into the Cement division. Both Cement & Stimulation department had slightly different days off. In Cement, we had Tues/Wed, Thurs/Fri, and Sat/Sun/Mon as to our pattern. What that did, was in basics, give you one weekend a month, and it was a 3 day one. I would set lines out & leave the boat parked at one of the rivers I fished off here from TX 21 highway. On my days off, I would bait them, and run them the next day. In August of 1981, I got out late the 2nd day. I had set lines out the day before upstream in the Brazos River. As I started running the big line, I felt nothing. I recollected fishing with Newt in this "Yellow" hole & sadly accepted that I had come too late, as I should have had a nice one. And then, caught offguard, a very big pull, told me I had made an error in judgement. I had a good size one below. But then the line was hung & I could not raise the line. So, I got the line tight on the edge of the flat bottom (my Dad's 1962 12' Aluminum Elgin he had bought new at Sears) and held good & rocked the boat trying to free the hook that might have hooked the ledge below. I finally broke it free & then felt nothing. But as I proceeded, it woke up again. It was a beauty, a 28# Yellow caught in the same area I had fished with Newt the year before (he pulling over 140 pounds of Yellows on that 1 trotline from there in a week and a half, most in the first 4 to 5 hooks, except the 35# being out just a bit further). His biggest of that 1.5 weeks was a 35# & two 19 pounders. Now I had a 28# to add to that hole. The next year (1982), Randy (another fellow employee of Newt's & mine), said he tied off my stake & caught a 26# Yellow. I never did backtrack, but I am betting that in those days during our Spring Break trip was a 3 day run, and the following weekend was a 2 day run. That would be consistent with the pattern.

Now, the following week, a friend's father & I spent a two day trip (my off days again). I caught 5 Yellows with the biggest being 15#. As I spent my off days fishing the Brazos & Navasota Rivers, I seemed to be hitting the Yellows very consistently. In late 81 & early 82, I realized all that YellowCat knowledge had not gained me much as to producing or catching YellowCats. However, now it seemed to be leaning towards some sort of pattern that was running with my days off. I decided to test that theory. So in 1982, after I left that company, I got on a concrete company as a mechanic. Of course that threw me off as to the previous days off pattern, except for the weekends & perhaps holidays. So I worked out a plan to test this calendar theory concerning Yellows. I had also noted a little pattern towards Blues & that they did also hit on the days the Yellows did, but not as strong. I also prepared the boat, along with getting a good motor.

My plan was to start in April or May of 1983 & fish into summer's end of 1985 on the Trinity River about 5 or more miles below TX 21 bridge. You see, my father-in-law (Jimmy) had gained us access to a spot known as "The Park" by a church buddy of his. I fell in love with the place. We mainly set lines upstreams because if the motor broke down, much easier to go downstream than up, getting back to camp. As I noted, I planned trips according to my calendar. I think we were doing pretty good, as to our catches. I had planned on a week vacation trip in August (83), as it consisted of what I referred to as a mix of Yellow & Blue days. And on the Zip day, I came to town, cleaned a good amount of fish & headed back to the river. I had the wife's family coming for a river fish fry. Everybody ate quite well.

Next morning was Friday & soon it would be winding down for the end of the vacation trip. Jimmy made it before I headed out to check lines. The fog had rolled in, so I was hoping it would cut down some. In estimation, my lines were from camp up about 1/2 mile to 1 1/2 miles, maybe even 2 up to "The Wall" (about 25' there). We headed up to check lines. I would run ones on the left heading up, then on the other side coming back. As we went around the second bend, I had one tied to a huge stump. Actually, it was the top of a huge tree about 15 to 18' deep, only about 5 to 10 feet off of the bank. As I pulled up from below, I had Jimmy reach his hand just off of what protruded & put his hand in the water to grab the main line coming out. This was a 5 hook throwline. I was using 4/0 or 5/0 Eagle Claw O'Shaunessy J style SS hooks. Newt had always said he used 4/0 SS. As Jimmy eased the line up enough for me to get it, he had felt nothing, so I grabbed it with no thought at all, expecting it to be empty. And then BAM!!! That line that had nothing on it, dove with power, with me on the other end. Caught offguard & holding it out to my side, I was ripped from the center of the back set, slammed into the side. Next thing I realize, is my left hand is heading down into the water. It had pulled me low & I was off balance. My arm was just crossing the elbow mark in the water. At that very moment, the thought swiftly came in a split second that I was heading into its domain. If I played this out, did get into the water, I might get entangled with the line, the fish, or no telling else what lurked below. If I let go, I could brace myself better to catch it. Or if it got off, I could still catch it another day. I not only had the calendar (as to when), but knew where its location was (as to where). In that very split second, I simply let go of the main line & bobbed back up in the seat. I am sure Jimmy saw the surprised look on my face as the ordeal was taking place. I recall saying, That was a Big One! So we eased over to the stump, this time being very careful & poised ourselves to be ready for this really Big One (thus "Big'Un"). Well, sadly it got off.

And so the Tale of "Big'Un" began & me trying to catch it. I knew it was a big Yellow or big Blue. I tried moving the throwline some. Finally I set a trotline to run diagonally across to perhaps give me leverage from both ends of the main line. "Big'Un" bent hooks out until I got up to around 8/0 or 9/0. I stayed with it, but it mainly hit on YellowCat days. As we got into the following year (84), I started getting larger perch. I had a Vacation Trip planned in the first of June, to which we had the closest encounter ever. I had just put some very large perch on the side that "Big'Un" hit, 12 of them. I, my 1st Wife, and a brother-in-law (Mike), had passed the center weight & were about 2/3rds or 3/4 of the way baiting out the trotline when I felt the tug. Yes, the main line was going crazy, as we backed up, it was going up & down the river, but as it was trying to dive, it was boiling water fiercely. We all knew we finally had caught Big'Un. Then once again, the line went limp. As we got closer, it was apparent that Big'Un had escaped yet another time. It had devoured 9 of those 12 huge perch.

And so the Tale lived on. That is until July 1985, almost 2 years after we first encountered it. I ran out of perch Saturday July 5th and almost gave up hope. Me & my Daughter (Kristina, who was not quite 4 years old) were checking the lines a little later than normal Sunday morning, about 10 AM or after. On that side, we had a few small Blues. And then it AWOKE!!! The water was clear & had a strange hue to it. As it surfaced, I knew we finally had Big'Un. As it had awoke, it was running the figure "8" pattern that Yellows tend to do. As I first gazed at it, the water played tricks on its color. It seemed as if I first thought it was a Blue. But as I watched it, I then saw it was an Op, a short, stocky splotchy Yellow. I had been correct, as my hunch hinted it was a big Yellow.

I told Kristina to sit tight as I was about to try & get it in. By realizing Yellows will sometimes run this fure "8" pattern, my eyes were fixed on it & timing it. I timed my scoop of the net as it was heading to my right, I scooped to the left so the Net would swallow it whole. My momentum kept going & as it went in, I was bringing it up as I was coming around. Enough so, that it did not feel heavy at all (perhaps an adrenaline rush helped). So, that scoop was brought full circle (right into the boat). I told Kristina to sit down while I secured it with 1/4 nylon rope. And then she could come from the back seat to look, once I had it secure.

Our weekend trip included Monday, as we had arrived late Friday night. As we headed in Monday morning, "Big'Un" was resting in a sort of hammock style water tank I had made in the bed of the pickup. After getting to Jimmy's in Madisonville, we went by the meat locker plant to weigh it. Due to its tail dragging the scale, the guy said even though it weighed 59#, it would be at least a 65 pounder. I decided to just call Big'Un a 60# Op. From there, it was by the local newspaper there- Madisonville Meteor (picture & caption). Later Big'Un was in the twin city paper here- The Eagle (picture & a big story). In the Fall, it was featured in The Pictorial Press (weekly paper) Fishing & Hunting Guide (picture & caption).

The run with Newt back in 1980 & the beginning of Catfish Calendar testing research was in the Hard Copy "Nostalgic Edition" of the 2010 Lynn's Catfish Calendar & the "Big'Un" Bonus Sheet (it had the 3 newspaper clippings on it). Two lessons to be learned- always be prepared for what lurches below the surface (never let your guard down) and never waiver in persistence (victory is always yours in due time aka Never Give Up).

"Big'Un" (she) helped big time to confirm the YellowCat pattern & the Catfish Calendar. When you fish for a fish you missed, for 2 years, you learn things.

it was 21 years ago we set up camp on the Lake .... had 4 big 14ft river poles fishing off the bank casting long distance.....seen some lightning off in the distance ...then it got still....then the wind began to pick up we decided to check the radio for storm bulletins ( no i-phones then people LOL) soon as we turned it on it stated a funnel cloud was spotted and done some damage and was heading right in our path we start reeling in and gathering quick as possible...it was on us we heard the roar grabbed the poles slid them under my truck and we got under my truck a heavy 90 model extended cab ford bug v-8....i grabbed the drive shaft and robert grabbed transmission housing as we laid on our poles...... when it came over it lifted my truck straight up until it got to the end of the shock absorbers then set it straight down...... we lost everything but the poles and tackle box....it tore up a 1/4 mile path just about 500 yards away.....that was close...

God is still merciful Sam.

Yellow cats on the clear fork of the Brazos on hoppers on a 8 weight fly rod up to 15 pounds just north of noodle Texas... Caught a 65 and a 40 on limb lines with dad in tow.. He later wrote us a letter about how much fun he had that day

yes he is and usually more than once is what i have come to find out!!! i have more than 1 angel i think or i have one working overtime!! good thread it reminded me of that event.. I could have told others but that one seem to fit to me..

I was fishing a creek and noticed a squirrel running down a lay down log to get to an acorn on the end. As soon as I looked away I heard a big splash and quickly looked back to the log in time to see a huge catfish eat the squirrel. A few minutes later there was another splash and there was that catfish putting another acorn on that laydown.

Now you've done tell a fish tale,that's a gooden.

I fished with Gato and Tom Gravely once. Nobody would believe me if I spun that yarn!

Many years ago when I was a teenager a friend and I were grabbling in a river. The friend hollered at me and said he had the biggest catfish that he had ever felt laying under a over hanging bank. He said that the fish was so big that he was afraid to grab him. I told him that I was not afraid of him and I would get that fish. I went down and rubbed the fish on his belly, eased my hand along his side into the gills and out his mouth. Well that fish took off to deep water carrying me with him. He would get close enough to the surface every once in a while that I could get my nose out of the water long enough for me to get a breath of air, then back down again. My friend ran to the truck and got his lariat rope and when that fish surfaced and started back down again my foot came out of the water my friend threw that rope around my foot and pulled me and the fish out of the water. I don’t know what he weighed because when we got me loose from him we did not want any part of him and shoved him back in the river.
THATS MY STORY AND I AM STICKING TO IT!!!

My daughter and I were fishing for sandbass, vertical jigging spoons. I hooked one and then my daughter that was fishing on the other side of the boat, hooked one. Mine got me hung in some trees and so did hers. I could feel the fish pull down so I knew I still had it, but I started to notice that when I pulled up on my rod hers would go down, I told her to lift and reel, she did and then my rod would go down. Finally landed a two pound channel with my spoon in his mouth and my daughters spoon hooked in the barrel swivel of my spoon. We got a good laugh out of that.

Great thread and great stories!!!!! As for mine I hope it’s coming because almost all I’ve been doing this year is working like crazy and posting old stuff!!! I’m beginning to lose my mojo and the wife says I’m starting to get a wee bit cranky which is not me...

Amazing video Rick. You hear the phrase " Jack of all trades, master of none"... That don't apply to you bud. You are top shelf my friend!

When I attended Texas State, I lived in an apartment complex (next to the Walmart) that the Blanco river ran behind. Me and my neighbor Jason would put out make shift trot lines for catfish on regular bases. One day I went out to check the lines and I knew there was a fish on because the line was tight. Well I pulled up the line in my initial thought was that we had caught a huge soft shell turtle. However, after further inspection I realized it was a monster flathead. The only problem was i was on a bank about 6 to 8 feet above the water. I lowered the cat back in the water and ran to go get my net. Unfortunately, the cats head would not fit into the net, so I tried to pull the line up to the bank far enough to get my hand in its mouth. I had almost pulled the cat up to where I could grab it but the hook straightened out and I of course lost the biggest flathead that I have seen in person.