Well, been kayak fishing for months now, but I feel like this is my first real "kayak exclusive" type experience. Crankbaiting with a rebel wee craw when I hooked into this monster! I founght it for maybe 8-10 minutes, finally saw its face, then decided it was the perfect opportunity to film my first catch from a kayak. So I turned on my HD cam. Little did I know, I ran out of memory card from filming 22 minutes later and it was blank to start out. Long story short, I wrestled it through brush with the very light line... more with the kayak than with the rod. Biggest fish to date from the yak. It pulled me way down stream, then back up stream past where it started... stopping at 5 or 6 brush piles on the way to tangle.Finally, after I saw that the camera had no more memory, the catfish bulldogged into a hole next to shore in 4.5 foot of water. It would budge for a few minutes, so I decided this would have to be it. I was gonna jump in the water to pull it out by hand.. only it didn't happen as smoothly as I imagined. When I jumped out with my rod in hand, the boat dumped and EVERYTHING except my crate (bungied) was in the river. At that point, I was thinking, "Man, I'm such a dumbass! Did I really just do that?!" With my rod in hand, I put everything back in the boat as much as I could while the water was at my nipples. When most my crap was decent, I felt around with my leg for the cat. Then reached down and yanked it out by its tail and got her in the yak.Then I was like, "Now what?" So I brought the boat closer to shore and just stood in awe No memory left for video, but I guess it still let me take a few pics. Now if I can just get back in with her...
BTW, I just came out to crankbait some bass, but I guess my family's gonna eat good tonight! Praise the Lord for such an experience I won't forget!
Species: Flathead Catfish
Date Caught: 07/06/2011
Kept / Released: Kept
Region of Catch: Region 2
Length: 48"
Weight: 25
Lure / Bait used: Lure | Natural Stream Craw/Olive Green Rebel Wee Craw Crankbait
