Recently, my wife and I bought a little runabout boat and for the past few weekends we’ve been exploring the Mississippi. With water levels at near record lows, there are lots of new “beaches” within reach and many quiet coves and backwaters.
Yesterday, about five miles above Memphis, we stopped on a sandbar for lunch. Just for grins, I wrapped a piece of bacon on a hook and cast it out into some quiet water. A few minutes later, the line started stripping off the reel. When I set the hook, I knew I had a whale and that my little spinning rod was probably over-matched. However, using all the skills I learned watching Jeremy Wade on Monster Fish, I was eventually able to get the thing onto the sand.
I picked up the 20-pound blue catfish, posed for the obligatory “man holding fish” photo, and let him go “swim with the fishes,” which in his case, is a good thing.
