The Monster Cats

We had been living in Nibley for one year now, and have struggled getting to know everyone in the neighborhood, because there is always someone new moving in. I had just briefly met one of our neighbors that had been around for a couple years, Kirk Earl. He seemed to always be riding his bike or talking to someone about fishing or some other outdoor adventure. As I got to know him a bit more I mentioned that if he ever needed a fishing buddy that he should call me. It took a few more times of this type of self invitation, but one night I was just finishing up work at about 8:30 Pm and I got a call from Kirk telling me that "we are going fishing tonight". I said "alright, who is we"? There was a pause for a minute and Kirk on the other end of the phone says, "ME... and you", which made me laugh, here it is mostly dark already and this dude wants to go fishing.

Once I figured out that he was dead serious I actually got excited. It was one of those spur of the moment things that most folks say you shouldn't do, but that's part of what made it exciting. So I stopped at the store bought a fishing license and went cat fishing in the middle of the night for the first time.

This trip I found out was also Kirks first attempt at this type of fishing. He had heard from a source that catfish like hot dogs and so he brought along these spicy, Mexican flavored sausages... I don't think there were any Latino fish in the river that night, because we didn't catch a thing. However that same week he calls me up with some new ideas and wants to head out again soon. Our next attempt I went to the store and bought some actual catfish bait and we went again that weekend. That night I caught some really big catfish, and Kirk,... not so much. We were both stoked to catch some fish and were ready to come back soon.

Since that time Kirk and I have been fishing at least twice a week and killing ourselves with sleep or major lack thereof. We have used all kinds of bait options and still cant seem to find the magic wand that will always catch fish. We have been able to catch a couple big ones now and again and we are always getting better. It seems as though now we cant keep the little mud cats off of our hooks and struggle catching the much larger channel cats, but we are both hooked. The long hours sitting in the camp chair with no other company but each other, a million mosquito's, and other night animals has been good for conversation and has lead to other great ideas.