# SS report 11-11-11 You never know



## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

I took out repeat customer Doug and his wife, Dawn, today hoping to get them on some crappie.
We found a few first thing this morning and after a quick 4 or 5 in the cooler, including a nice one that jumped out, things died down completely.
I had another place in mind across the creek and went over and fished there for a bit.
I think we caught a couple of small fish and maybe a keeper crappie when dawn said "I got one!" with real meaning behind the short phrase. She didn't yell out or anything, I could just tell she meant it.
I watched for a bit an said "Well maybe you are hung up?" when the line speed across the creek.

I pulled anchor and tilted the motor up and the big fish towed us around the junction of Rocky and Kickapoo Creeks for about 8 to 10 minuets.
It slugged it out deep and just made figure big 8 after figure 8 in the pool where the creeks meet. 
I worried at one point it would find some crappie structure someone had put out, but it stayed in the deepest part of the pool the whole fight.
It never came up until the very end and Dawn was giving it just the right stuff, leaning on the rod hard, (a 7' spinning rig with 20 pound test/6 # dia, power pro line and a gold 3/0 Aberdeen hook)As the fight wore on I thought the weak link was the hook as the power pro would do the job, so i told her to back off a bit on the drag. That made the fish run a bit, but she gained it back with careful play.

Finally I could tell it was coming up, I don't think it was so much tired as it wanted to see what the deal was.
As soon as we could see it I slipped the little crappie net over it it's head and it flipped it tail right into the net.
I had to lean back hard to pull it out of the water.

It was one toad of a fish! It weighed 81.2 pounds on my new digital luggage scale that goes to 110 pounds.
I could just barley lift it, and Dawn never could lift it all of the way off the floor for a picture. 

I filled the live well up and put it in and we went back to crappie fishing.
Crappie fishing was pretty tough today , but we stayed late to see if it ever got better.
Matt was kind enough to give us a bunch of minnows today and him and Danny O/Pet Spoon were about to call it a day.

We looked all around and did find a good group of crappie.
Soon doug was slining them in the boat and ebentually Dawn got the hang of it and was slapping them in the cooler too.
Action was hot right before dark, and stopped right at dark.
We had 22 nice crappie, I kept a small **** and a drum for bait, and one 81 pound shovelhead.

See you on the water

SS


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## lx22f/c (Jun 19, 2009)

Nice job, that had to be a blast on light tackle.


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## chucktx (Sep 12, 2011)

pretty cool!!!!!!! ya know the fight was on with something that big!!!!!!!


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## Reel Time (Oct 6, 2009)

Very nice cat. That had to be a lot of fun to fight! Nice report.


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## Danny O (Apr 14, 2010)

Grand report Loy! Glad you got on 'em. That's one BIG cat!


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## Gofish2day (May 9, 2006)

81lbs - man a big cat!


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## Reel Time (Oct 6, 2009)

Hey Loy, Ernie says he's jealous!


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## johnmyjohn (Aug 6, 2006)

Catch of a life time on R&R, yellow at that. Record on R&R? Either way you put them on some serious fishing they won't forget Loy.


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

The R&R record on lake Livingston is a whopping 84 pounds, this one was between 66 and 81 pounds, and after holding it up to weigh 4 or 5 times in the boat I was done!
We both gave it few more shots at the bank trying to get a good weight on it, we broke the marina's 50 lb scale, before Doug could lift it out off the ground.
My scale would show 37.6 kilos at best and 34.9 at the least.
I knew it was not a record fish, just an awesome fish to catch!

Dawn handled the big fish as a professional and I had no doubt that if the hook held she would land it.

Doug has suffered mightily already, he sent me a couple of more pictures and told me she had him calling her the "*Cat Fish Master*" before pulling out of Broken Arrow Marina to go home. 
We may have to donate man cards to him so he catch back up to even!


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## FISHROADIE (Apr 2, 2010)

Wow thats incredible she did a good job of landing that big fish, great report and pictures.


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## Mattsfishin (Aug 23, 2009)

Thats a big ol catfish. She will never forget that fishin trip.


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## tbone2374 (Feb 27, 2010)

That's one huge Shovelhead! Congrats! A memory for a lifetime!


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## goodlifer (Feb 11, 2010)

That's a fish of a lifetime for most 

What a blast!!!

Thanks for sharing


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## Big Nauty (May 16, 2007)

First of all, my wife (Dawn) and I would like to say Thank you so much SS for once of the greatest fishing trip we ever had. My wife reminds me every morning of that catfish. LOL! My friends and family were absolutely stunned over the size of that beast. But most of all we really appreciate the time and effort that you put into our trip to make it such a wonderful experience. It was a tough hull all day but with your patience and knowledge, it paid off. All I could say is AWESOME! Here's the video if anyone is interested in seeing the fight. I got the camera out a little late but did catch a lot of the action. Sorry for the heavy breathing and stupid comments. I believe I was more excited then she was. :headknock

BTW, she came home with a bruise on the side of her stomach holding that rod against it. Battle scar is what she calls it. 

Thanks again SS!!


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## Torque (May 22, 2004)

No defects in the line or rod...... lol. I thought it was going to break one time. Grats.


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## Mako-Wish (Jul 10, 2011)

whoa!


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## ronniewelsh (Feb 3, 2011)

Great report ss !


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## Kickapoo Duke (May 15, 2010)

Great video, can't believe that line or rod didn't break!!!


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

Big Nauty did not start filming the fight until about 4 minuets or more into it. 

At first she told us she had one on, and we both said 'Naw, your hung up", then the line started moving off. 
It took a lot of line right off and I realized I needed to pull anchor so it could pull the boat around. It was too strong to try and fight from a fixed spot and run the risk of it just swimming into the anchor line and breaking off.

So I got the anchor up and tilted the big motor out of the water so the fish would have nothing to break the line on.
We seem a little calm about the fight by the time he starts filming it because it has been going on for a while.

The video started after the fish had drug us all around the pool where Kickapoo meets Rocky for three or four trips in a big figure 8.
I worried for a while that it would find an old crappie structure someone had put down there and break off on it, but it stayed in the deep 18 to 20'+ water as much as it could.
The big cat was most likely trying to eat a crappie that was trying to eat the minnow that was on Dawn's gold hook.

It should be one of the best eating flatheads ever, as it has been munching on crappie for sometime in that spot is my guess.

It weighed 64 to 68 pounds after reviewing the facts.
The scale is set for kilos, I just checked it and changed it to pounds. I have been out of town and just got in and saw the video.
Good film job Big Nauty!!

The heavier weight was from the other attempts at weighing it in the boat and under the light pole at Broken Arrow marina, after we broke their scale we tried mine again.
Lifting that big ole fish was getting harder each time Doug and I lifted it up to weigh, especially those times it broke something or flopped off half way to being lifted. 

So the weight bounced to a high weight, one that I also had got in the boat, but did not call out, as I usually just let those weights, the low & high ends, go by while looking for the middle # which was 32 to 34 both times I tried it on my scale set to K. which = 64 to 68 pounds.
It is the biggest cat fish ever caught on my boat!


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## Big Nauty (May 16, 2007)

Yes sir, I didn't start the video until through the first half of the fight. It was an awesome experience overall. You ran it just like it only happened just a few hours earlier. LOL! Got me all excited again. I thought the rod was going to break myself but with SS professional eye, he kept up with the drag until the big ol girl was landed. That's the biggest fish I've ever seen in real life. That was awesome! Now I have to spend the rest of my fishing days trying to catch one bigger then that one to keep my wife quiet. That's going to be a quest for the ages. sad4sm


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## FISHROADIE (Apr 2, 2010)

She did a great job playing that fish, and man what a great job netting that big thing SS.


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