Check out this monster! Jacob hooked this 9.5 pound catfish on the last cast of our trip. The largest fish of any kind to be caught in this lake (as far as we know). Jacob had been determined to catch a catfish the whole trip and had been coming up empty. As you can see from the photo it was nearly pitch dark and he was still out there fishing (with me by his side).

I had just declared that I had to go inside because I was freezing and Jacob was ready to hang it up as well. Suddenly his bobber rocketed under the surface and his pole got hit hard. He was so stunned he couldn’t speak when I asked him what was going on. He started reeling like crazy but the fish kept on getting further away. I had to help him out a bit to bring it to shore and I honestly thought we would lose it because it was too big for the gear.

But having done a little bit of deep sea fishing on a Mexico trip a number of years ago, I somehow was able to get it to shore. Granddaddy had to pick it up with two hands and carry it ashore.

We thought it might be too big to taste good. But it was delicious! Honestly some of the best catfish I ever tasted. Helps when you eat it within about an hour of catching it!

A great finish to a really fun holiday trip.