We all have our right to an opinion. I stand up for what I believe is right. I will always stand up for what I love and try to right a wrong when false or wrong information is being said about one of my friends or team mates. You said at least the Flathead was returned to the water unlike the Tennessee record, which is 100% false. That’s how rumors get started and rumors are carried by haters, spread by fools, and accepted by Idiots. Fact is that the fish was released and swam off healthy, and lastly I caught hundreds of big fish that were previously caught and survived. You’re entitled to your opinion and it’s also within your right to get mad when someone points out that you are wrong but facts are facts and the fish was released. Im certainly not not holier than than thou and I’ve helped more people in this fishing game than you will ever dream of and never asked for a single thing in return. While you choose to hate I had 5 other guys reach out and say thank you for standing up for big fish.

Well, if it makes me a hater to defend a person for LEGUALLY fishing, then I'm guilty! and done

Nope, that would be your opinion which has absolutely nothing to do with anything I said Makes you a hater for spreading false information about someone and then name calling Mad Katz a diseased team. Hate all you want if that makes you feel better about yourself and I will stand up for my team mates which makes me feel good. To each his own

So what did you mean maxj ? You said at least they returned the Tawakoni fish back into the lake unlike the Tennessee river giant that was laying on a slab. Your words were not taken out of context. And even if a fish is caught legally we can still have an opinion. You seem to have a problem with El Gato after rereading your comments. And I dont think you and your comments are going to be missed here very much. But feel free to clarify your comment.

Holier than thou. Dude walks on water. I quit posting here as well for the last year. Welcome to the team.

My opinion is if you don’t like people keeping fish over “X” size why don’t you write a petition? I don’t like noodling or set line fishing just because I think it’s unfair, but ultimately they legally caught the fish and they should be able to do what they want with it. Don’t hate the person, hate against the law itself. If you don’t like the rules, petition against the rules rather than chew out people who do what’s within the law. Do I like it when someone kills a 2.5 year old deer? No, but I get over it because if it was big enough spread then they took a deer they liked within the law. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought cat-fisherman would be worse than bass fisherman when it comes to things like this. I’ve kept plenty of 20-30lb cats of every variety for no reason other than I like to keep fish in the freezer.

It's one thing to have an opinion. It's clearly another to be spiteful and hateful. El Gato is right on the money with defending a friend from a snarky, fact-less, short-sighted comment. I've seen a ton of people make comments based on a two second glance at a picture without any consideration of the back story. I've said it before on here, you can't weigh in and make a stand on something until you have all the facts. It's not about being "holier than" or "better than". What El Gato is about is the long term effects of angler's actions to the sport we love. People absolutely have the right to do what they want with a legally caught fish. As a trophy catfisherman, I long for all catfisherman to see the benefit of letting bigger fish survive. I agree with McKinney that the laws need to change. Unfortunately, lobbying the state to change these laws would be like my fantasy football league trying to get the NFL to change a rule that we don't like. There's simply not enough voices (ie, money) to be heard.

Luckily for the trophy guys, most cat anglers aren't good enough to regularly put 40 and 50 pounders in the boat. If they were, these record fish would become fewer and fewer. The big-fish genetics would eventually be bred out of the species. This is the same mentality that trophy bass fisherman have. Try posting a pic of a ten pound bass in the bass fishing forum with a caption that reads "biggest bass I've ever kept" and see how well that goes! Why is It so much better accepted in the bass fishing community than here?! Not a single one of us trophy guys are advocating that people give up eating their favorite fish. Just use some common sense! I can guarantee you, you can got out and catch twice as much weight in eaters as you can trophy's.

McKinney, if you keep plenty of 20-30 lb cats on a regular basis, you are doing the exact same thing as the guy who goes out and shoots a 2-1/2 year old basket rack every single season. And you are well within your right to do so. I don't have any negative comments for you. The only thing I can say is, if you join our lease and hunt like that, you won't get to come back next year. Through the years we've weeded out those guys and we've seen the average year class of harvested deer go up almost 2 years. And the average size of our trophy's have gone up around 30 percent. Simply from selective harvest. We didn't suddenly start feeding protein. We didn't put up a high fence. We just started letting younger deer walk. That's the difference of a 120 class buck and a 160 class buck. That's real and that's fact.

Luckily this is still America and we all have the right to our opinions. If noodling is unfair then write a petition. I for one don’t care if it’s fair or not, I think it’s harming the resource and should be outlawed because of it. What I said was a long way from chewing someone out either. I simply stated my opinion and then explained why. Lots of things are legal until they no longer are just like trophy paylakes in other states, which I believe should be outlawed in every state just like it is here. It is currently within the anglers legal right to noodle and it’s within mine to disagree with it. Just because something is legal doesn’t mean we have to blindly agree with it. And as far as the Bass guys, I look up to Jimmy Houston and Bill Dance for their efforts in conservation the last 40 yrs and I am also glad that Bill Dance helped found the American Catfishing Association to help with catfish conservation now as well. Thanks to guys like them change is happening, it might move slow but it’s happing and will continue to move more and more towards protecting the resource many of us love for future generations.

Momma always said if you didn't have anything nice to say then don't say anything... So I will apologize to her in advance...

To each his own. If you want to noodle, no one can stop you. It is a legal method of fishing. It is also a great way to destroy the resource for future generations. I don't agree with it, but I am not the Authority Having Jurisdiction. The fish that is the new Tennessee State Record was well cared for by the angler that caught it and it was weighed on a certified scale, it was measured and it was returned to the Cumberland River and it swam off immediately. The shape the fish was in when it went back into the water is a testament to the care Mika gave it while it was out of the river.

As far as the comments about EL Gato, unless you know the man your comments are baseless. You are a keyboard warrior. You should do more scrolling and less commenting. I know him. I've been on his boat and he has been on mine. There is no one, and I mean no one, who has a more fierce commitment to the conservation of our resources than he does, period. He has brought more people to this sport than the rest of us. He has shared more knowledge with this group than the rest of us and he is by far the most experienced catfish angler I know.

So, if you want to say you'll leave the forum because of him, then leave. You sound like a liberal threatening to move to Canada after Trump was elected. Shut up and go. The rest of us will continue to learn and grow by paying attention to what Chris shares with us. I know the man and I will defend him because he has the passion to say what the rest of us just think...

I’ve pretty much turned into a lurker in here but skeetmaster sums up how i feel-
Im not sure if i have ever caught a large fish and not quietly thanked the unknown anglers that most likely CPR’d that same fish that gave me or someone else the chance at catching a trophy fish-

Well I wasn’t trying to start a $?!t storm but it is good to see guys standing up for big fish. One of the coolest things about fishing is the brotherhood. I’ve met a ton of great guys through this catfish game from all over the country, many of whom I have had the pleasure of sharing the boat with. Skeetmaster and I had a trip I will always remember as he got a PB that day and we had to really work our tails off to get those big fish. Tim and I have shared the boat a handful of times and have become great friends as we both share the same passion for getting kids out on the water. Jaxon got a PB of 44 lbs while fishing with Tim and Wyatt on another tough trip and Tim helped Jax land and net the fish, epic battle and something I will never forget. Wyatt got his PB that trip of 30 something and seeing those boys battle it out is what fishing is all about. They have both broken those PBs since but the memory is burned into the brain forever. Since then we’ve continued to be great friends and fish together and will continue to do so. I fished with so many guys from TFF over the years it’s hard to remember them all. One thing for sure is when you put yourself out there you’re going to have haters, just comes with the territory, a and guys hate for all kinds of different reasons but the reward is a brotherhood of likeminded anglers and a lifetime of great memories shared with them. And really I gotta thank the haters for motivating me to start my own FB group El Gato Azul TV last year, which spring-boarded me and my son into the National catfishing scene and got us all our sponsorships. God works in mysterious ways and I’m thankful he put those obstacles in our path. Tight lines and God Bless.

Obstacles certainly CAN make some of us better and stronger, that sentence really speaks to me right now-

The state did their job to stand up for big fish in a lot of area lake with new regulations. Just as they did to protect young deer with antler restrictions (no it’s not perfect but it’s been working and I’m seeing bigger and older deer, and yes, I harvest by age). you can only take one cat over 30” on a lot of our area lakes anyway, so conservation minded” regulations are in place already. When I say plenty I mean I’ve taken probably 2-3 per year in the 20-30 lb range. So maybe I should clear up right there. But here’s the deal, not everyone is in these things just for the sport, some people like to eat their catch too, and they pay the exact same licensing fee as you. I highly doubt your brood stock is gonna be gone here anytime soon a lot of these new regulations.