04-30-2011, 05:47 AM
When I was married 6 years ago it used to be a tradition to go out to Lindon Harbor every Saturday in the eve and stay till we couldn't keep our eyes open or until I had to hand the keys to my wife because I had trouble walking back up the ramp. This was a family tradition for nearly 2 years.This was before they had improved the marina. We regularly caught cat's in the 5 to 10m lb range. Occasionally one pushing 15. One of the last nights that we were allowed to stay there they way we always did the fishing hadnt picked up till around 1 am. Fortunately I hadn't been in the mood to drink much that eve and was enjoying my 2 daughters ages 5 and 6 catch a consistent amount of white bass and mud cats. My 6 year old was fishing for white bass of the off the west side of the ramp near an overhanging tree. just a small piece of worm under a bobber. I was realing in a decent cat as well as my wife when Arianna started complaining that her pole was not working properly. or that she may have had a snag. i began to get short with her as she continued to bug me for help.i got sick of her complaining and secured my pole against my car with the fish still on to help Arianna.I had 14lb test on I wasnt worried about losin him. I take the pole from her and look at the spool and over half the line was gone. About 70 to 80 yards. All she had on was 4lb test.After a few minutes I realized she had a fish on. I was 1 proud proud Dad and told my daughter that i thought it was neat that she was patient enough to keep it on that long. She had had that fish on for nearly 10 min. After a few more minutes she had a big one on.and i really wanted to see her land it.
With a bit of coaching and a ton of patience 30 min later and knee high ion water on the launch ramp I caught my first glimpse of the fish. I had never seen a fish that big in person ever before. I was excited. One would have thought I just won a sweepstakes. The second the fish saw my light it bolted west and stripped 20 yards of the spool nothin flat.5 min later we nursed her back to the ramp. the second her big belly came in contact with the concrete ramp she took off again. This fish did this about 5 more times before I realized i needed the net and i would have to walk out and land it that way. By now the Sherriff, the caretakers of the property and a couple other fisherman were waiting to see this fish out of the water. This was almost 45 min after she realized they was something wrong with her pole. Arianna walked out almost waist deep, pole in hand and I with the net and a camera. Once the fish was in the net I lifted it out of the water and it ripped the net. Igt was a pretty shabby net. We were far enough up the ramp that I helped Arianna get a hold of the cat and I snapped a shot. She was barely able to lift it up with both arms, which were tightly coiled around the girth of the pregnant female channel cat. The Sherriff came down and held it while I fumbled for my scale and tape measure. As i was doing so I dropped my freakin camera in the water. I was pissed. The fish was 30 inches long and weighed 23 1/4 lbs. Her mouth was 10 inches wide. My daughter really wanted to eat this fish but seemed to understand we had to put her back since she is pregnant and that it would be nice to let another have the pleasure of reeling a decent size cat in. Of course We baited up again and cast out and I started to celebrate and made up for lost time. The Sherriff told my wife "Make sure you get his keys" , got our info and split. The following day he calls me and told me that he checked for shits and giggles on some kind of site or company that tracks records for various fishing things. I don't remember what it was called but him being an avid fisherman himself he was curious. He told me that we were just shy of a world line class record with that catch. The record channel cat caught on 4 lb test was just over 24 lbs. Pretty long story for one fis huh? It's my favorite fishing story. Arianna who is now almost 12 yrs old is just as addicted to fishing as I am. It still reigns as one of her highlights of life and i am truly blessed that I can continue fishing with her all the time since my 4 kids live with me. The crappy thing about raising 4 kids on your own is less time fishing. I seldomnly go anymore as there is twice as much on my plate and I always put it off. But thanks to you [rustrob] you reminded me of this story and I am fired up and I don't care what comes up. I am going fishing with my kids this weekend. Experiences like the one I just described are more important in life that most realize. My free time is 99 % non existent with work and raising 4 kids. Not even the ex comes to relieve me of my duties but a handful of times a year. I have become more and more edgy aver the last 3 years and have lost sight of the one thing that that seems to ease the tension and open the door to memorable experiences that my kids soon wont forget. I would rather untangle lines and rig up lines for my kids than get after em for their chores. All work and no play has made Jack a dull boy. Thanks again [rustrob] for unintentionally be my wake up call. I owe you one Bro! Fyi I think this is the longest post I have ever made on here. Shoot me a PM if you ever want some company fishing.
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With a bit of coaching and a ton of patience 30 min later and knee high ion water on the launch ramp I caught my first glimpse of the fish. I had never seen a fish that big in person ever before. I was excited. One would have thought I just won a sweepstakes. The second the fish saw my light it bolted west and stripped 20 yards of the spool nothin flat.5 min later we nursed her back to the ramp. the second her big belly came in contact with the concrete ramp she took off again. This fish did this about 5 more times before I realized i needed the net and i would have to walk out and land it that way. By now the Sherriff, the caretakers of the property and a couple other fisherman were waiting to see this fish out of the water. This was almost 45 min after she realized they was something wrong with her pole. Arianna walked out almost waist deep, pole in hand and I with the net and a camera. Once the fish was in the net I lifted it out of the water and it ripped the net. Igt was a pretty shabby net. We were far enough up the ramp that I helped Arianna get a hold of the cat and I snapped a shot. She was barely able to lift it up with both arms, which were tightly coiled around the girth of the pregnant female channel cat. The Sherriff came down and held it while I fumbled for my scale and tape measure. As i was doing so I dropped my freakin camera in the water. I was pissed. The fish was 30 inches long and weighed 23 1/4 lbs. Her mouth was 10 inches wide. My daughter really wanted to eat this fish but seemed to understand we had to put her back since she is pregnant and that it would be nice to let another have the pleasure of reeling a decent size cat in. Of course We baited up again and cast out and I started to celebrate and made up for lost time. The Sherriff told my wife "Make sure you get his keys" , got our info and split. The following day he calls me and told me that he checked for shits and giggles on some kind of site or company that tracks records for various fishing things. I don't remember what it was called but him being an avid fisherman himself he was curious. He told me that we were just shy of a world line class record with that catch. The record channel cat caught on 4 lb test was just over 24 lbs. Pretty long story for one fis huh? It's my favorite fishing story. Arianna who is now almost 12 yrs old is just as addicted to fishing as I am. It still reigns as one of her highlights of life and i am truly blessed that I can continue fishing with her all the time since my 4 kids live with me. The crappy thing about raising 4 kids on your own is less time fishing. I seldomnly go anymore as there is twice as much on my plate and I always put it off. But thanks to you [rustrob] you reminded me of this story and I am fired up and I don't care what comes up. I am going fishing with my kids this weekend. Experiences like the one I just described are more important in life that most realize. My free time is 99 % non existent with work and raising 4 kids. Not even the ex comes to relieve me of my duties but a handful of times a year. I have become more and more edgy aver the last 3 years and have lost sight of the one thing that that seems to ease the tension and open the door to memorable experiences that my kids soon wont forget. I would rather untangle lines and rig up lines for my kids than get after em for their chores. All work and no play has made Jack a dull boy. Thanks again [rustrob] for unintentionally be my wake up call. I owe you one Bro! Fyi I think this is the longest post I have ever made on here. Shoot me a PM if you ever want some company fishing.
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