Met up with nosehookrook last night to charge LMV. We got to the lake at around 6:30 or 7. We were both throwing the 9" slammer the entire night. Not too long into the evening I got a 4lber on the slammer. Felt good to actually catch something for a change. So we work down the shoreline a little ways and i'm standing in an area where there's lights from inside this house shining on the water so i can sort of see in the water. It was one of those weird 6th sense deals where I dragged my plug about 3 feet along the water after the retrieve was done, just for no apparent reason, and right behind my plug is about an 8-9lber. Hard to tell in the dark, but it was a big one so I'm saying bigger than 3 smaller than 12, somewhere in that range... We went for a dry spell for awhile until history was made. I throw my slammer up into this little corner of the wall and just let the ripples clear out. Before I could start cranking it got slurped. I set the hook and the rod bends to the handle. Definitely a solid fish. I get it in close and get a look at it and it's definitely over 13. Dane exclaims how big it is as I can't really get a good look since I'm standing back from the water a little bit. He asks if I want him to lip it and I tell him to, so he reaches down, but it has WHISKERS. I almost died right then and there. Now, the new problem is that this 15lb catfish has my favorite slammer in his mouth and there's a wall that's about a 3ft ledge down to the water. I couldn't bounce a 15lb kitty 3ft up, especially risking my slammer, so I was forced to go in after it. Dane took my rod and I got on my stomach, and with some coaching from Dane, the catfish landing expert, I was able to grab it's tail with one hand and slide my left hand under it's belly. The first attempt didn't work too well as it slammed my hand into the side of the wall and busted my knuckles up, but the second attempt I managed to throw it up onto the ground. So, we've got this catfish with like 4 or 5 hookpoints in his head and no pliers on us, when the lake patrol decides to make their rounds. We were out of the 'designated fishing area' so technically he could've busted us I guess. We didn't take a chance and Dane grabbed my rod, I grabbed the catfish (still attached to the slammer) and we ran into the bushes. As we were hiding there, I used a stick to dislodge one of the stubborn hooks and we got that thing back in the water to harrass another bass fisherman someday. Unfortunately we blew it and weren't able to get a picture because of the fact that we were hiding in the bushes, but also because my bag was way far away. So after utilizing some breathing techniques and putting myself in my happy place, we continued on. Not much else happening and we ended up turning around and calling it a night shortly thereafter. Perhaps the funniest part of the whole thing was that as we were driving to the lake I was mentioning how I'd never caught a catfish on the slammer... lkafhorhoaho oh well, so close.
-Brian