Barbie Rod Hooks Record-Breaking Catfish

Raleigh News and Observer ^ | August 20, 2008

[Cecily]

A Wilkes County fisherman caught a record channel catfish -- with his granddaughter's hot pink Barbie doll rod and reel.

David Hayes landed the fish, which weighed 21 pounds, one ounce, on Aug. 5 in a private pond in the northwestern North Carolina county. He was fishing with his granddaughter Alyssa, 3, the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission said.

The fish was 2 inches longer than Alyssa's rod and reel, which measured 2 and a half feet.

Hayes and his granddaughter were using black crickets as bait and fishing for bluegill when nature called for Alyssa.

"After catching two or three bluegill, Alyssa turns to me and says 'Papa, I've got to go to the bathroom. Hold my fishing rod,'" Hayes recalled, according to a news release issued by the Wildlife Resources Commission. "A few minutes later, the float went under and I saw the water start boiling up. I knew right then that I had my hands full with that fishing rod."

It took Hayes 25 minutes to land the fish.

[GOYAKLA]

May I join ya?

[Texas Mulerider]

Looked at your homepage. Excellent! Are you using live bream? Where were those caught? Toledo Bend? Sabine River?

[The KG9 Kid]

Catfish have to be the biggest in Louisiana, but that catfish isn't even very big by California standards.

We caught two 34 and 39 pound cats in Lake Perris (giant mudhole lake in SoCal) back in the late '80s within five minutes of each other using chicken livers. The big one had a whole bunch of rusty hooks in it's lip.

[MHGinTN]

Don’t foget the collard greens with pepper sauce!

[The_Victor]

Maybe Barbie's onto something here.

http://swimatyourownrisk.com/2008/01/05/4-year-old-snags-whopper-with-barbie-fishing-pole/

[Teacher317]

LOL... you KNOW he had a few moments of wondering whether he could tell anyone about this. Gotta brag about the catch, but can’t admit that he’s using a Barbie rod, LOL.

[eastforker]

Lake Houston. Live bream and whole shad, the big shad that run about 6-8 inches long. Also, when I catch a small catfish 8-10 inches long I just forget to take him off the line.

[absolootezer0]

ping for a “just, DAY-um” moment.

[Jersey Republican Biker Chick]

I saw that....

[txhurl]

What you do in this situation is not use the rod. Wrap some cloth around your hand and then wrap the line around the cloth and back up, pulling the fish out of the water.

Yes, been there with a barbie rod.

[weegee]

[Shaun_MD]

In Soviet Russia, Catfishy catches YOU!

[IamConservative]

My wife caught a 28lb cat on an ultra light spinner w/ 6 lb test line on it. We were on a pontoon boat, there was no wind blowing. I set the drag pretty loose and we just let the fish drag us around the lake for about 30 minutes or so. It can be done in ideal circumstances. In this case, I would guess the reel had enough line to reach the deepest part of the pond.

Gotta love seeing gramps take the young one fishing. About every 50th time you read about a fatherless ghetto rat shooting a woman for her grocery money, you read something like this and get a renewed hope.

[txhurl]

My God.

[weegee]

I was going to say that you need a bigger mousetrap to catch some walking catfish.

But then I found this picture and think if it came on shore, you'd do best just to stay out of its way.

[Shaun_MD]

You beat me darn it lol

[Slings and Arrows]

[Texas Mulerider]

Also, when I catch a small catfish 8-10 inches long I just forget to take him off the line.

The best bait of all!

When I was a kid in the late 50s I'd go with my dad to run his lines every day at Lake Cherokee after he got off work. Every so often he'd have a largemouth bass on his line, which he considered a trash fish. He'd knock it in the head so it wouldn't be around to steal any more bait. You should see the reaction when I tell that story to bass fishermen.

[MHGinTN]

A few years ago during a televised presser with the county Sheriff over a man missing in a Boone Lake drowning, the Sheriff opined that they had better snag the body within the first two weeks of ‘gone missing’ or the catfish will eat it and the body will not be recovered. We have carp cruising under the boat docks that are as big as a man and fed crackers from baby bottles and they swallow the bottle occasionally, so I can just imagine how big the mouth on some of the catfish down there must be. The dockmaster swears he has hauled up carp by merely putting his fist in the water and opening his hand in their mouth to grab their gills from the inside. And don't get me started on the catfishing with broom handles that happens in the culverts down in Louisiana.

[txhurl]

LOFL