Forty-Niner, And I’m
Not Talking San Fran!
By Chuck Bauer
Please feel free to print this article out and
share it freely with others
Mother Nature
sometimes works in mysterious ways and one of those ways showed up
recently in one of those lifetime experiences that I
was blessed to be a part of.
I was fishin’ on a private one-acre pond that I have nicknamed
“The Laboratory.” The “Lab” is unique in the
fact that it is small yet is fed by a spring that is reported to have
been there for over 100 years. It’s infested with a few massive bass
and its true beauty lies in the fact that many days the water is crystal
clear and it becomes an educational place to watch and learn
the habits of large bass. Even better, I have lived there for quite
some time and the shoreline is only 15 feet from my back porch!
On this particular day, my premeditated plan was
to position myself on a small walkway that runs over the middle of The
Lab. It would give me casting access to the deepest parts and the
highest probability of bangin’ a big bass. I hooked up a live
bluegill and proceeded to make a nice long cast. As soon as the gill
hit the water, I pushed line off the reel to make
sure their was plenty of slack and that the gill would have the best
possibility of a natural presentation. I set the rod down and walked a
few feet away and leaned against the rail of the walkway, watching and
waiting.
After a few minutes, I looked over and the line was on the
move. I picked up the G.Loomis rod and reeled up the slack
and it felt like the gill had been spit out. I sat on the rod for a
few seconds and nothing happened. Reeling up a few turns of the
Shimano Calais, it was evident nothing was there. I hit free-spool and
placed the rod back down on the walkway and went back to my leaning
post.
Looking back over at the line, it started to move again, yet this
time it wasn’t pulling away, it was moving directly opposite to my
original cast, backwards BACK UNDERNEATH THE WALKWAY!
The walkway sits about 15 feet above the water and I ran over to the
rod watching the line starting to rip off the reel. I took the rod and
aimed it down towards the water to remove any resistance. Lo and
behold something HUGE has just passed below me and
the walkway, cutting a large swath in the moss. This was no bass!
The line is ripping off as if I had a Yellow Tail Tuna
onboard, yet the line is running underneath the walkway and I have the
pole stretched out in reverse under the walkway as best I can. It’s
time to set the hook and doing a hook-set backwards, hanging almost upside
down over a rail of the walkway is something that I don’t
often practice. With the rod backwards, I slam the hook as best I can
and it feels like I have it buried yet the fish is in control, not me.
Now begins my dilemma. I am 15 feet above the
water and the fish has run under the walkway and is in control. So, I
ascertain my options quickly. One . . . I can attempt
to reel the fish, backwards, back under the walkway, even though I now
estimate the fish to have ripped off over 100 feet of line. Two
. . . I can kick off my shoes and fanny pack and jump down into the
water to get under the bridge to begin the chase. The water is way too
cold - this is January of all things, I am up way too high . . . not a
good option. Three, I can attempt to find a passerby
and with the G. Loomis rod being eight and a half foot long, I could
pass the rod underneath the walkway to the passerby, then I could grab
it on the other side and start the REAL fight. Yet, this option would
nullify a record catch if this turns out to be some type of large
catfish. At this moment, this appears to be the only viable option for
landing this fish and as I look around for help, there is no one to be
found.
Well, when I speak to many audiences across America, sometimes I
use an example of when people feel or think they have run out of
options when faced with a challenge. Here it is . . . when a challenge
shows up, what options do you have? Take a goal that
you have . . . a reachable goal that has a brick wall or challenge in
the way of that goal. What are your choices? Well, you have many! You
can walk left around the wall; or you can walk around the right side
of the wall. You can get a ladder and go over the top. You can dig a
hole and burrow right below it. Or, you can find some object and plow
right through the brick wall in an effort to reach the goal. Know this
. . . all challenges are usually never limited to one or two options.
There are always multiple options to solving most challenges. If you
only come up with a few options to any challenge, it’s usually based
on the “box” that you have placed yourself in.
So, here I am believing that there was no other choice. Yet, I
remember my own training. There is another way, what is it? I said to
myself . . . “Think outside the box, settle down, figure it
out, you will find the way!” (It’s hard to settle down
when you have a huge fish tugging on you like a big Tuna!) I look
about 15 feet away where I had been leaning up against the rail and
there sits my other eight and a half foot long G.Loomis rod. Okay, what
if I grab the other rod, use that to reach across the other
side of the walkway and lift the line up so I could grab it. Then, if
I could grab the line from the other side of the walkway, I could
engage my reel then swing the rod underneath the walkway and grab it
on the other side . . . that would work! And that’s exactly what I
did, I used my other rod, was able to reach it over the other side of
the walkway, I used the tip of the pole to carefully bring the line
up, I grabbed the line, engaged the spool, swung it underneath the
walkway, and caught it on the other side on the first try!!! Yahoo,
I’m in!!!!! Plus, I have developed a new “stretch”
technique to teach about!
Now I have a chance to land this fish. I run to the end of the
walkway and along side the bank and now see that the fish is 100 feet
away and as I do a double take on the path of the line, it is apparent
that the fish is wrapped around an aerator fountain that is positioned
in the middle of The Lab. “Great . . . how are we going to get out
of this one I ask myself?” I spy down the pole straight to the line
in an effort to see which side of the fountain the catfish has
traveled. I am unable to tell . . “Do I go left or do I go
right?” It’s hard to tell which side of the fountain the
line is on! One more look down the straight line and I guess that the
fish has swam around the right side. Here is the trick, I need to walk
around the perimeter of The Lab (around the right side of the
fountain) to get ahead of the fish and get clear of the obstacle that
the fish is wrapped on. The only challenge is that to
get around to where I need to be is going to be quite a jaunt!
Now the reverse has to happen. I start pushing line off the reel as
I now make my way back down the bank and to the walkway. I keep a
close eye so there is never too much slack. Over the walkway I go, and
to the very other end it’s about 200 feet. I get to
the furthest corner away from where the fish is and I look down and
there is only about 3-5 feet of line left on the spool. One false move
here and I lose the fish. I turn the corner, continue to walk down the
bank, turn another corner, jump over a deck, jump down and around the
tree, go down a straight away, turn another corner, go around another
tree and finally get upwind and now in front of the
big fish.
I position myself on the bank and now I am on the other side of the
fountain. I reel down all the slack and start to pour some
heat on the fish. It’s caught on the fountain . . . As I
crank down on the reel, the fountain starts to move towards me. I can
still feel the fish pulling back. I take my time, more time, I refuse
to get in a hurry and make a mistake. I lighten up the slack, the
fountain moves away and all of a sudden the fish breaks free and
starts to run. Well, now I am in control!!!!
This is where the BIG stick and BIG reel pays off. My BIG stick is
actually a medium heavy salmon rod that is built for big fish. My BIG
reel is that Calais model with ten ball bearings. I now get to use my
tools, the fish is now in the open water - advantage Chuck!
The fish runs 80-100 feet. I get the head turned
and bring the fish back, within a few feet of the shore. The fish runs
again and again. I slow it down and bring it back, again. The fish
wraps up on some other structure and after a few tense minutes,
becomes free and runs out again. The fish makes many major
80-100 foot runs and now the line is starting to make a noise
like sandpaper rubbing together as I am reeling. It is apparent that
the line is becoming stressed and it is now time to land this fish.
I get the fish
close enough to see it and it is obviously a catfish. I get it right
up to the bank and this fish is HUGE. I am not about to try to pull it
up, for sure the line will break. I pull the head of the catfish right
into the side of the shore and reach down to try to lift it up and out
of the water. The fish still has much fight left in it and it
doesn’t like this. It attempts to run out again. I say “no way”
and I jump into the water ( I had just kicked off my
shoes and fanny pack) and place the fish between my legs. From past
experiences with big cats I know not to try the “lip it” technique
(ouch!), so I grab the gills from both sides and lift the cat up on
the shore!
Holy cow . . . the catfish is enormous and first
glance leads me to guess sixty pounds or so. I sat down on the ground
and gave a big ole’ Texas hoot and holler. When I
looked up, I noticed that a few people had now congregated around the
shore line and gave a short round of applause. Others walked up to
take a look at the massive giant of a fish.
After securing
the fish in a huge 100+ quart cooler, I asked one of the witnesses to
help me certify the fish. It measured forty-six inches long, the girth
hit a whopping 30 inches (what a pig!) and on the
certified scale she hit right at forty-nine pounds
even. Not an easy fish to weigh!
I made sure to settle down the fish before releasing it. The fish
was so long I had to bend the tail to make it fit
into my tank. After I got my certification forms filled out and
signed, the fish was released. When I gently laid it
back in the water, it seemed to take a few moments to get its
bearings. Then, just as I thought the fish was going to need some
help, its tail made a big splash in the water and away it went.
After examining
the photos and asking a few experts, the fish was determined to be a
“Blue Catfish.” I have submitted the catch and release to the
State Of Texas Game and Fish for a State Record from private waters.
If certified, it easily tops the existing record of 18.85 pounds
caught from a private lake in Danbury, Texas in 1999.
One other tidbit I’
like to share with you has to do with belief. The
very next day after bangin’ this big catfish, I arrived home and
walked out to the edge of The Lab and saw five young men on the shore,
a couple of them fishin’ and the others watching. I walked up and
asked them how the fishin’ was? One of the bystanders proceeded to
exclaim . . . “Oh, the fishing here is pretty slow and
besides, there are no big fish in here!” Knowing that in my
inside coat pocket I had a photo of that forty-niner that was just
caught in this same body of water twenty-four hours earlier made me
feel a little special. I just smiled and said, yes, you’re right and
walked away. Little does he know about Forty-Niner!
Tale Of The
Tape:
Date of Catch: |
January 21, 2002 |
Time of Catch: |
5:30 p.m. CT |
Fight Time: |
55 minutes |
Weight: |
49 pounds on a certified scale |
Length: |
46 inches |
Girth: |
30 inches |
Location: |
“The Lab” Dallas, Texas |
Bait: |
Bluegill |
Rod: |
G.Loomis HSR 1025C Salmon Rod |
Reel: |
Shimano Calais |
Line: |
Triple Fish 17 pound camo |
Other comments: Fish was entered into North
American Fishing Club’s 2002 Catch & Release Contest and Texas
State Record for private waters was applied for.
About the Author
Chuck Bauer is a noted Big Bass Specialist. Since 1997
he has caught, certified and released 137 Bass over 22 inches in
length. He has been recognized many times by various organizations,
including Bassin' Magazine, Texas Fish
& Game, North American Fisherman Magazine, Outdoor Life, Texas
Hunting and Fishing News, Big Bass Record Club, Bass Pro Shops
and The Dallas Morning News.
Chuck is a Professional Member of the National
Speakers Association, he gives monthly "Big
Fish" seminars at Bass Pro Shops and he
is on Pro Staff for Kick-n-Bass. He is a
featured outdoor writer for Bass Fishing Home Pages,
ProBass.com, BassResources.com, BigFishTackle.com, All Angler.com,
OklahomaBassFishing.com and FishingNotebook.com.
Chuck does FREE fishin' seminars
in and around the Dallas/Ft.Worth Metroplex. You may find out more
information about Chuck at www.chuckbauer.com
or www.worldrecordbass.com.
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Profishin'l Seminars &
Workshops
2810 E. Trinity Mills Rd., #209 • Carrollton, TX 75006
E-Mail: chuck@chuckbauer.com
• Voicemail: 1-888-877-0263
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