The Catfish of a Lifetime? Guess Again

A sample of big Santee Cooper catfish.

Here's the tale of a fishing guide who had a party of anglers in his boat, heading down the Diversion Canal that joins the two Santee Cooper lakes together (Lakes Marion and Moultrie). Their destination was Black's Fish Camp.

It was nothing unusual to see many people bank fishing for catfish in this deep canal, with its swift-running water, and this particular morning was no exception. A man and some friends indeed were catfishing off the canal bank.

“As we reached the cut that leads to Black’s," said the guide, "I noticed the man had an ocean type heavy surf rod and reel, and the rod was bent double. I told my guide party we needed to stop and watch this man catch a monster catfish.

“As we turned up current, the man’s rod got pulled way down, and the drag screamed. He pumped the rod and gained a few inches of line before the 'fish' and strong current pulled several more feet of line. Five minutes passed, and the fight still was on. The same was true at 10 minutes, but by this time, there were about 10 boats stopped and watching the battle.

“You could tell this 'fish' was making the man tired. After 15 minutes, he was nearly exhausted, but we noticed that the fight seemed to finally be coming to an end. At long last, he raised his rod, and there on the surface, before our very eyes, was…no, not the catfish of a lifetime, but instead, an open lounge chair.

“I was a guide who was supposed to know his stuff, but at this moment, I just felt foolish. I tucked my tail and got out of there as fast as I could go, laughing like crazy all the while.”

This tale reminds me of the time I hooked a giant snapping turtle on the North Landing, and before it all was over, a bunch of boats had gathered in the distance to watch. As was true here, they weren't long in departing once they saw what my "prize" was.