Er gebeuren rare dingen in dit land... lees en geniet!
By: Leah Friedman, Staff Writer
David Hayes has been fishing since he could walk, and his weapon of choice is an open-face spinning reel with a 6-foot rod.
But Hayes, 56, is a doting grandfather. And that's how he ended up reeling in a 21-pound state record channel catfish with a hot pink 2 1/2-foot Barbie doll rod and reel.
Hayes' 3-year-old granddaughter, Alyssa, leaves her Barbie doll fishing rod and a pink tackle box on his porch so they're handy. She's always asking him to take her fishing, Hayes said.
And so it was on the evening of Aug. 5 in Hayes' backyard in Wilkes County in northwestern North Carolina.
Hayes and Alyssa caught crickets for bait and walked to the dock of his private pond with the plastic rig that her daddy got her for Christmas. They hooked the crickets and quickly reeled in two or three small bluegills, Hayes said. But standing over all that water does something to a girl.
"Papa, I have to go potty," Hayes recalled her saying. She handed over her rod and ran.
"The catfish bit just as soon as she got in the house," Hayes said.
As the water started to bubble, he knew he had a biggie.
"Shucks, ain't no way I can hold this," Hayes thought.
The fish made a few runs, taking the line 30 to 40 yards out and then coming back to the dock. Hayes hung on as Alyssa returned to the pond.
"Papa, you're going to break my fishing rod," Hayes said she yelled.
'Small and big'
It took 25 minutes before the catfish gave up the fight. Hayes ran to the edge of the dock with a net and scooped it up. At 32 inches, the fish was almost as tall as his granddaughter. It was 2 inches longer than the pink pole.
"That's small and big," Alyssa said in a phone interview when asked about the fish.
Hayes took his fish to the scales at Thurmond Grocery in Thurmond. It weighed 21 pounds, 1 ounce. A fisheries biologist with the Wildlife Resources Commission certified the record.
Hayes plans to have the catfish mounted, along with the pink rod. Lauren Dougherty, a spokeswoman for Mattel, said she's sending Alyssa a new Barbie rod and reel. Dougherty said she also has a set of Barbie golf clubs for Hayes if he wants them.
The previous record for channel catfish was an 18-pound, 5-ounce specimen caught in August 2007 by Wesley Trucks, a Marine from New Bern, who used a Tsunami rod, Shimano 6500 Bait Runner reel and cut eel as bait, according to the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission. He was using deep-sea gear, including 100-pound test line.
"If you use smaller gear, you'll never get a big catfish to the boat," Trucks said in a 2007 news release announcing his record-breaking catch.
Apparently you can, Mr. Trucks.
Let vooral op de man op de achtergrond :)
De chocoladefabriek... het cafe
Veronica geniet van de chocola!
Ik en mijn kamergenoot Veronica in de chocoladehemel!
