If any of you have ever watched Catfishing on YouTube, you have probably heard of Hammer Down Catfishing. It is a channel mostly dedicated to river fishing for flatheads but when the weather gets cold and the flathead bite slows down he will venture down to the James river and hoist some huge blues over the gunnells. He is a huge conservationist. He is strictly CPR. He was even instrumental in stocking blues in the river system in western Pennsylvania including the ohio river. Other than that he is just a great guy. He has given me a lot of support and encouragement in my efforts to post fishing content on YouTube. He hooked me up with a guide friend of his for a trip to the James river. A bucket list trip I am really looking forward to.

On Monday Joe had a serious heart attack. His wife called it a widow maker. They recognized it quickly and got him to the hospital so he lived through the first event. The put in a stent and a few hours later he started showing symptoms of another serious cardiac event. The stent had been blocked with clotting blood. So he was back in the cath lab to replace the stint. The stint being blocked is a one in a million thing according to the doctors. He made it through that too. His wife has posted that they have a very long road ahead. His heart is performing at about 20% of it's normal capacity and that is not enough to sustain him. They are hopeful that he will regain 40% or so but they have started talking about putting him on a transplant list.

Y'all he has 4 young children. And I think the reason this is so heavy on my heart is that he is way too young for this. This is for guys like me... not him.

Anyway, I'm going to share a link to a meal train site that has been set up for the family. There is a place to donate to the family on there. First I ask all my TFF Catfish brethren to lift up Joe and his family in prayer. And if you are able, please donate to the family. They are going to need a lot of support going forward. Hug your kids and grandkids tonight...

The link is here

God Bless & Tight Lines Y'all...

Never heard of it, just watched one.. he is young, prayers sent

Thanks for posting that Tim, I never made the connection.

A young guy with a passion for our sport. Prayers sent up that he fully recovers from this.

Tim, thanks for the heads up. I hope to meet Joey one day. He is definitely a serious conservationist and where he fishes, he's got his work cut out for him with regards to regulations. I would ask that anyone who can, please make a donation. Even if it's only ten bucks. I don't care how good your health insurance is, having a serious heart attack costs a lot more than your deductible. Who knows how long he'll be out of work.

Joey really goes after the flatheads. I'm gonna try to target them this summer when the big blue bite cools off. If anyone has some experience with the flatties, please post any info you have or any links to vids on them. Maybe by doing so, we can keep this thread going.