A Hardcore Junior Angler.
I am blessed to have a son who is as interested as I am in fishing, hunting and being in the outdoors. Lane has always been interested in it, probably in part because I started taking him fishing when he was about 18 months old. Over the past few years his interest in fishing and hunting has grown a lot, and he has become what I would call "hardcore."
I committed to taking some time off over the holidays to get him out on the water to catch some blue catfish, and he wanted to catch a junior angler record blue catfish on one of the North Texas lakes. Lake Lewisville and Eagle Mountain Lake hadn't been producing good numbers of big catfish that week, so we set off for Lake Worth.
One Pound Short.
When we arrived at the lake, a friend called to tell me his son had landed a new junior angler lake record blue catfish of 37 lbs about fifteen minutes earlier.
We ended the day with a 36 lb blue as our biggest fish. Just one pound shy of the record caught earlier that day. Had that fish not been caught, Lane would have had a fish in the record books. Pretty disappointed, we headed home.
The Boat Turned Into the Wind.
Two days later, we snuck out for some quick afternoon catfishing on Lake Worth with plans to catch some trophy blue catfish. We set up, and after a short while hooked into a fish.
When the rod doubled over in the water I knew immediately it was a good fish, but I didn't know how good. A few minutes into the fight, the boat turned into the wind, and when I realized the boat was being dragged along by this fish, I had a much better idea what kind of fish it was. It takes a pretty good catfish to move the boat into the wind in that kind of wind.
A short while later I netted a monster catfish and put it on my scales: roughly 66 lbs on my digital scales. I immediately realized it was at least a junior angler record, so I put the fish in the livewell and headed to find certified scales. That proved difficult at 4:00 in the afternoon on a holiday weekend, but we finally found them and had the fish weighed.
Official weight: 66.28 lbs.
The Records.
Lane's 66.28 lb blue catfish was submitted for the following records:
- Texas Junior Angler Blue Catfish Record
- Lake Worth Junior Angler Blue Catfish Record
- Lake Worth Blue Catfish Record
- Lake Worth Blue Catfish Catch and Release Record
I couldn't be more proud of Lane, and this was the best Christmas present I could have received.
This is the best time of year for catching trophy-class catfish on rod and reel. If you'd like to book a fishing trip, book online or give me a call at 817-522-3804.
This Is Trophy Season.
The best time of year for trophy-class catfish on rod and reel. Book online at txcatfishguide.com/book.