am sure you all
have heard the stories of the “one that got away.” Where someone had
to fight in odds that sounded like they were in a hurricane and yet
there’s no proof. Well, here’s a story that you are sure to believe
and there is a picture to prove it.
It had rained lightly the night before Doug, his dad
Richard and their friend Larry went fishing out on the Missouri River
near Kansas City. Doug and Richard were in a 16 ft. Jon Boat near a
mud bank in about 13 to 14 feet of water, Larry was downriver fishing
his favorite spot. They started to notice the water rising and there
was a large amount of trees and log debris that was starting to float
down the river. It was getting very hard to keep their lines from
getting caught and breaking. Richard, realizing that it may have
rained harder up north in Nebraska, knew they should have left earlier
but at that time the fog hadn’t lifted so it hadn’t been safe to
leave. He was now hoping the water would clear soon because they were
fast losing equipment to debris.
Around 11:00 pm that night, all three of them were
feeling extremely tired when Doug got a bite! He set the hook. The
fish took off for the middle of the river and Doug began the battle he
thought was for his life. As he got the fish close to the boat,
Richard would get ready with the dip net, but just before they had it
landed, Richard touched the fish on its side with the net and it took
off back towards the center of the river. Doug gave his dad a look
that said he had better not do that again. The second time the fish
was near the boat Richard went to net it and he missed again! By this
time Doug was beyond exhausted and gave him a look that said “one more
time and you are going overboard!“ Doug also told him not to miss. The
third time must be the charm, because 45 minutes after the hook was
set and covered in sweat, Doug finally got the 55 lb Blue Cat close
enough so Richard could net it and get it into the boat.
By this time the trees and debris in the water was
awful. They tried to warn Larry about the drift pile that broke loose
from a wing dike. The drift pile was about 5 feet tall and about 50
feet across. Larry was finally able to make his way over to us and
anchor while Doug hung over the front of the boat pushing and pulling
debris from the drift pile out of the way as the current was carrying
it right into the boats. Larry thought Doug’s luck couldn’t get any
better but Larry’s did. He was able to catch a couple of fish himself,
weighing 18 and 20 lbs.
The next morning, after the fog was completely gone,
and the debris let up, they headed down river to show off their catch
to a few of their friends. After a couple of pictures and a recap of
the experience they let the Blue Cat go and decided they ‘d had enough
fun and headed for home.
Doug , Larry and Richard’s favorite equipment for
river fishing:
30# big game line
310 Penn Reel
10.0 Gamakatsu hooks
Hole or cut shad for bait
