Monster Catfish Chronicles

Day broke on March 08, 2008 to a chilly 25 degrees on beautiful Lake Tawakoni in East Texas. The morning started out slow as the rendezvous point for the tournament was changed at the last minute by our guides to spend less time traveling on the water.

When we got to the staging area, you could feel the excitement in the frozen air as complimentary caps and t-shirts were passed around. We were supposed to be on the water at 7am sharp but one of our catfish guides was detained by Quinlan’s finest, making it closer to an 8 o’clock start. No one seemed to mind too much as the temperature crept up slowly into the upper 20’s.

 

Catfish King Contender “Anglin" Alberto Juarez who recently moved from Utah to Texas said, “Utah is cold, but this Texas lake is a different type of bone-chilling cold this morning!” He was told, “just wait a little, it will change.” Sure enough, by the end of the tourney, it was a gorgeous 60 degrees on ole Lake Tawakoni. 

Many of the contestants did very well as others suffered crushing humiliation dealt out by the old lake. On Team One, up and coming Catfish King Contender “the Rookie” Fernando Posada was unstoppable as “Dark Horse” Freddy Perez struggled to keep pace by adding a nice 14 pound "feeder" to the tank in the process. On this day, however, “the Rookie” would not hold back as he took no prisoners and landed a record 6 total catches winning the “Individual-Most Caught Award.” 

With “the Rookie” at 6 catches, the “Dark Horse” at 5 and “Catfish Junkie" Jimmy Scott adding 5 more, Team One rung-up a total of 25 catches with the help of other team members allowing them to win the coveted “Team-Most Caught Award” for 2008. Catfish veteran “Bait’n Hook Scott Brown” from Team Five landed 4 catches with a nice twenty pound "teenager" which motivated his team throughout the day.  Team Two, led by “Hawg-Man” AJ Rodriguez did not catch many; in fact they only caught one, but it was a nice "reel-burner!" 

Team Two’s “Little-Giant” Francisco Gonzalez hooked the runner up this year for “Biggest Catch” by reeling in a 32 pound "drag-peeler!" Suffice it to say that at the end of the day the “Little-Giant” was seen rubbing down his arms, "watch out now Francisco, you still gotta get on that roof come Monday morning."

This year’s Catfish King Award goes to “Salty Dawg” Pat Hickey from Team Four with a massive 42 pound "drag-peeler." The story goes that team member Sam Sadler was so busy catching fish that he invited “Salty Dawg” to pick up one of his poles not knowing the big mammoth cat was on the other end! Oh well, thanks for playing Sammy, there’s always next year.

For the contestants that did not catch anything at least they got to hang out with their buddies. As for Team Three, who unfortunately caught a big goose egg, they have earned the first ever “Wayward Angler Award.”

For those who were part of Team Three, there is no reason to fret, despair or fall into depression for rookie sensation Fernando Posada has set-up free training classes for Wayward Anglers. Out of the goodness of his heart “the Rookie” will teach advanced classes in finding, baiting and catching catfish.

Summing it all up, 49 catfish were caught and those over 15 pounds were released back into the lake. The tournament was a big success and most contestants were already talking about getting another tourney going for next year. 

Special thanks go out to “Kitty Hunter” Jackie Murphy, “Rusty Hook” Ruben Amesquita and the Castro Roofing owners for the time and effort they took in making this tournament a reality.