Monday, June 8, 2009

Harrell Family Catfishing Tournament

On Saturday, June 6, the Harrell family hosted a super fun catfishing tournament and fish fry.

I really think that C has caught the fishing bug. He was covered in fish guts for the entire day. He had a blast playing with the menhaden that we used for bait. He made frankenfish and happily threw the heads and tails overboard, which actually proved to be good chum.

When we were cleaning the fish on the dock, C insisted that all of the fish cutters cut the stomachs open, and they happily obliged. The results were interesting. Many of the big fish had bellies full of menhaden or other fishes. Most of the medium size fish had bellies full of bivalves (clams and mussels) that weren't even open! Finally, one small catfish had a belly full of seeds that resembled acorns. I should have kept a few of those...

Anyhow, C spend 6 hours on the boat and reveled in the guts for the first 4. For the last two he kept inquiring as to when we would be going home and I just gave him an update of how many hours and minutes we had.

One time C threw his pole in the water while Frans and I both had fish on! I somehow used my pole (with fish on) to scoop C's out of the water as it sank with the current! Frans grabbed it and it was saved!

So, I'm not sure if C was a handicap since he was very noisy, or if he was an asset with all of his chumming.

After the long day C went out like a light, for the night!

What an incredible day!


Okay, so this isn't the catfishing tournament, but just a day in the back yard eeling.
daddy and caleb eeling


Photobucket

Caleb caught this catfish all by himself!
caleb with catfish

Trevor with he and Travis' mess and the 2nd place winner at 12-lbs. The 1st place was only 12-1/4-lbs fish.
trevor with 2nd place

Our team with my 3rd place winner...
3rd place!


pile of fish
mess of catfish

Michael skinning
michael skinning


Travis with the fishing report!
travis thumbs up


...what happens when you refuse to take your nap on the boat!
end of the road