Just got back from a great trip with my buddy and son. Had something happen that I’ve never had before. After only about a half hour in a spot, and one small cat, I hooked into a 40 pounder and fought it in – terrific fight in some good current. While I was fighting it, it went over my son’s line and I ended up having him take that rod out of it’s holder to let me get under it to fight it the rest of the way in. So far so good. But when the brute was near the boat, his rod was still getting pulled around. It wasn’t until I landed the fish that I knew for sure he had a hit.
Well, I told him to grab that one while my buddy took some pics of mine and we got it weighed. 40 pounds, as I said. Was pretty pleased with the spot at that point with a brute in the boat and my 12 year old son fighting one that was suddenly starting to act like a big one too. Once he was under the boat, he was not coming up at all.
I held my fish in the water because my buddy (and I) wanted a shot with both fish, and waited for my son to bring his up from the depths. When he finally did, I got a hand in its mouth and held both cats side by side briefly before hauling them into the boat – they looked like twins.
Turns out my son’s fish – his new personal best by 18 pounds, was also a 40 pounder.
Heckuva thing getting a double on 40s!
Coolest part is that he got to catch it completely on his own. If I hadn’t had my hands full, I’d have probably been helping and all over him, but he got to do it himself from the hookset on. Pretty big fish for a 12 year old, but he fought it like a champ.
