Big fish story...

went out to throw a few flies today; little urban drainage lake close to home. Landed a few nice hybrid 'gills and a couple small greenies. Then I hooked a decent cat. I'm not a huge fan of cats on the fly rod; not that they don't give you a damn good tug, but they're kinda like hooking a bulldog; mostly they wanna go deep and tug and shake. Anyway this'n'd go 16" or so I'd reckon; maybe a pound or pound-in-a-half. This particular lake has pretty steep banks and 5-6' of rip-rap around the perimeter; I had a hard time figuring how I could keep the rod up, keep tension on the fish and get down to unhook him without getting wet. Turned out I couldn't; as I reached for him I put too much pressure on the leader and broke him off. Or well; was gonna cut him loose anyway but I did lose a nice new wooly-bugger.


A few little ones later I hooked another one. Now, I gotta tell ya, I felt like Johnny Cash singing Shel Silverstein's "Boy Named Sue"...I'll tell ya I've fought tougher men but I really can't remember when...I think I've caught bigger fish, but I have NEVER had a fish fight me like this'un. I fought him for over half an hour. He took me deep into the backing more than once in long runs down the lake; just when I thought I had him tuckered out off he's go again. I was fishing a little 5wt WW Griggs glass rod...up to the task it turned out, but I wondered. My belly is pretty banged up from bracing the rod butt against it; I have a pic but when I looked at it (an old fat guy's belly with a lot of hair) I decided it wasn't fit for public consumption. But let me tellya, I'm gonna have some major bruises over the next coupla days.


I didn't even get to see this mother for quite a while, and when I finally did I reckoned he'd go 22"+, maybe 24" which would equate to 4-5lbs; lotta fish. But I could see there was no way I'd ever land him by myself given the situation of this particular shore line et al. Finally I managed to get to my cell phone and called my son-in-law who lives not far and long story short said get over here, which he did. He slid down the bank and said should I grab the line and I said no it'll break him off if you do. So he's trying to take pics with HIS phone, and he slipped on a rock and reflex action...he grabbed the line. Gone. He felt really bad but I said hey, I was gonna let him go anyway. But it woulda been nice to put a measure on that hog and get a pic. Oh well.

So no fish pics but my son-in-law did get kind of a neat shot against the sun which almost looks like a night/moon light shot...

https://i.imgur.com/QFAPigcl.jpg

That is a cool photo! And great story.
Catfish are great fun on any gear, but especially on flyfishing gear. I've noticed my natural reaction after hooking one is to start looking around for a place to land it.

Nice story. They are fun on the fly rod.

Rick

I actually managed to land this one. Not as big as the lost fish, but about 22" and a solid 4 pounds of fight! I used my 7wt with fighting butt too; a little easier on my tummy...

https://i.imgur.com/2c9AIESl.jpg

Awesome! Woolly Bugger again?

Kinda. Sorta. Pulled this out of the fly box; don't know what it's called or even where it came from. I do know the big fella actually straightened out the hook! I bent it back and caught a few sunnies with it though.

https://i.imgur.com/qIfylqUl.jpg