Further tales from the King of Catfish

In June, I wrote an article about catfish and how to cook them. I didn’t include information about a young angler, the self-proclaimed King of Catfish. The King of Catfish recently returned to my Lake Campbell dock and produced another remarkable fish catch — here’s the story.

Back in the spring days of cool water and hungry fish, I was catching a lot of catfish from my dock. A neighbor stopped to ask if I would help her 10-year-old grandson catch some fish. I agreed, and the next morning a very enthusiastic novice showed up at 8 AM.

We dug some worms from my garden, which he eagerly picked up, and he knew how to put a worm on the hook. I showed him how to rig a bobber and after some casting lessons, we had bait in the water. I worried a bit when he said “Now what do we do?” Fortunately, I have a minnow trap under the dock for entertainment. We were inspecting some trapped sunfish when out of the corner of my eye I saw his bobber go down.

“Bobber down!” I yelled. It was then I discovered he didn’t know about setting the hook. The bobber returned to the surface – bait stolen. We had some basic hook-setting lessons – quickly raise the rod to hook the fish.

The next time the bobber went down, he set the hook and reeled in a 14-inch channel catfish. I want kids to appreciate the animal, so we admired the silvery scaleless body, the raspy teeth, and the eight fins. I warned him about the three fins with spines that make catfish dangerous to hold, unless you know how. He really wanted to hold the wiggling fish and after some practice he was able to hold it safely – splash, back in the lake.

When we looked for our bobbers, his was gone again! Fish on! He landed another catfish, and after releasing it, the kid looked me in the eye and stated in a direct, matter-of-fact, confident way, “I am the King of Catfish.” And, get this, he said “I’ll let you reel in the next one.” Well, that was in the Springtime when the lake waters were clear and cold, and all around, nature was waking up from a long winter nap.

On a hot August Day, the King of Catfish reappeared in my yard with a thousand-dollar smile and said cheerfully “I’m back, do you want to go fishing.” The Lake Campbell surface water temperature was in the low 80’s and the catfish, and other fish, had generally stopped biting as far as I was concerned. I hadn’t wet a line in weeks, but I said “Okay, be on my dock tomorrow morning at 8 AM.

The next morning Grandma showed up with the King of Catfish and a younger cousin. Two novices can keep any mentor busy untangling lines and casting and checking bait. The fish weren’t biting. The little guy said “Will someone watch my bobber for me?” I said, “The first rule of fishing is to watch your own bobber.” I must have been a bit short, because he looked at Grandma like, “Can he talk to me like that?” Grandma gave a thumbs up and the kid kept an eye on his bobber thereafter. The King of Catfish asked me “Are we fishing or catching” – he remembered me saying when the fish weren’t biting, “That’s why it’s called fishing, not catching.”

The King of Catfish yelled “My bobber is down!” I could see that he had a big fish on. He was keeping the line tight and letting the rod absorb the tugs of the fish. The fish stayed submerged. What had he hooked?

Finally, the fish surfaced near the dock. I was ready with a net. He had caught a 10-inch yellow perch which had been attacked by a 24-inch northern pike. The pike wouldn’t let go of the perch so we had two fish on one hook – great excitement - Grandma was getting in the way trying to film the whole thing. I had heard stories about a big fish gulping a smaller hooked fish, but this was a first for me – Grandma has the pictures to prove it!

We inspected the pike’s toothy mouth and bright red gills covered by bony gill plates, and I ran my hand along the pike-shaped body covered with scales and mucous.

“Some people call them “slime-rockets,” I said. Then I pointed to the three fins at the tail end, which made the pike a rocket in the water. I explained that this fin position was the key advantage of a lie-in-wait predator. One swish of the tail fins propels the pike out of the hiding place with great speed and force. Ichthyology students at SDSU might learn the velocity of a pike strike – acceleration at 3 – 5 Gs (force of gravity) at 2-ft/second.

The King of Catfish, having learned how to safely pick up a catfish without getting spined, now wanted to pick up the pike. I showed him how to turn his hand so the thumb was under one gill cover and his fingers were under the opposite gill cover. “You gotta hold tight,” I said. He did, and Granny got another photo.

Kids can teach themselves computer games, but they need help with outdoors skills like fishing. If you are a parent who fishes, I’ll bet you agree. If you are a parent who doesn’t fish, I recommend visiting the Dakota Nature Park in Brookings.

They rent fishing equipment, and the ponds at the park offer accessible shoreline access and floating fishing piers where the sunfish swim, and there may be a lunker catfish in the deeper water.

About 30% of South Dakotans fish, compared to 17% nationally. Our Department of Game, Fish and Parks offers the Fish SD Curriculum for youth (https://gfp.sd.gov/fishsd/). Part One has great photos and explanations of fishing equipment — how to tie the fisherman’s knot, for example. But remember, information is awful thin stuff without experience. Youth don’t need a fishing license until they are 18-yrs old.

I could see that the King of Catfish was a much more confident kid because he knew a few fishing skills. They say helping youth learn how to fish teaches patience and resilience — and that is just for the teacher.