He wanted to have fresh fish for dinner, so I brought a tube of crickets, and commenced to whippin' the 'gills. ( He and his wife don't know a hellluvalot about fishing )
I took a smaller 'gill, and cut it up for bait. I told him we needed some catfish for dinner too. I caught one channel around 6#, and another about 3# in less than an hour.
Before I started to show him how to filet fish, I baited the circle hook again. I knew better, because my rod was just propped on a forked stick.
Every 15 seconds or so, I turned to check my rod. About 5 minutes into the cleaning, I saw my rod fall off of the stick, and start it's way to the middle of the lake.
I ran over and grabbed it, and knew right away that the fish was unlike anything on the stringer. I couldn't do anything with the fish.
I felt it wrap me around a stick or log, or something, and figured it was over. To my surprise,it turned and freed itself. After it peeled copious amounts of line, I started gaining on the beast.
I was lucky enough to get it to the bank , and my buddy netted it. Big egg laden female channel, she was 33" long, and weighed 23 pounds.
I've caught bigger cats on set lines, but never on a spinning rig with 10 # test. She was photographed with me and my buddy's seven y.o. daughter, and released unharmed.
