Len Lisenbee's Outdoor World

    Len Lisenbee is the Outdoor Columnist for the Canadaigua Daily Messenger, Shooting Editor of the former New York Sportsman, retired Special Agent with the US Fish and Wildlife Service and book author of "TALES FROM THE MARSH AND OTHER DRIVEL" a unique look with fact and fiction of his years as a federal game warden.
 

The month of June is, at least in my humble opinion, made for fishing. Warn days coupled with cool nights, light breezes, insects touching the water's surface, all make for fun times as long as there is a fishing pole in your hands. But sometimes when people go fishing they come home with a lot more than they bargained for. Surprises at the other end of the fishing line are getting more and more common.

A fourteen year old Mississippi boy, Michael Tilly, found this out. He and two friends went down to the local bayou to fish for catfish. It was pretty routine for Mike to supply dinner for his parents and seven brothers and sisters, most often in the form of a fat catfish or two. But this day he would surpass even his own wildest dreams.

He baited his hook with the usual, a small piece of cow's liver and two or three worms. Then he flipped it out and sat back on the bank to wait for something to happen. It did, and his line began to unspool. He waited the required one minute as his dad had taught him to, then reared back and set the hook.

At first he thought he had hooked an alligator. They were pretty common in that part of his state, and he had hooked several small ones in the past. But this time whatever was attached to the end of his line didn't make a wild dash like a gator would when the hook was set. That made him change his mind about what it was. He figured it had to be either a large snapping turtle or an alligator snapping turtle. Nothing else could pull the way this thing was pulling.

It took him three hours to finally defeat his quarry. The commotion had attracted a small crowd of onlookers. And when he and his two friends waded in to drag out the prize, no one there could believe what they saw flopping on the bank.

It was a catfish, alright. A very big Flathead catfish, to be exact. It weighed just a shade over 102 pounds on the local grocers scales. And I understand that everyone in Mike's neighborhood enjoyed catfish for dinner that night.

The next fish tale takes place a little closer to home. A twelve-year old Canadian boy was fishing for walleye with his dad. Live minnows were used for bait. They were in a small boat, and they had motored to a sheltered bay of Lake Ontario for the day's fun.

They had been fishing for several hours when the lad got a strike. He set the hook as he had been taught, but he couldn't turn the fish. It kept swimming in the direction it wanted to go. The father started the engine and followed the fish while the boy kept his line tight.

Five hours later and the big fish was becoming tired. When it finally was brought up beside the boat neither angler could believe their eyes. They didn't know what kind of fish it was, but they did know it was the largest fish either of them had ever laid eyes on. It was over seven feet long from the tip of its boney, pointed snout to the end of its forked tail.

The father managed to tie the fish to the side of the boat, and then they headed for home. Some other anglers at the dock assisted them in loading it on the roof of their sedan beside the boat because it wouldn't fit in the trunk. A tackle dealer had scales suitable for the task, and the fish was found to weigh 121 pounds. The local newspaper ran a photo of the mystery fish and the boy on the front page of the next day's edition. And the mystery was solved when one of the readers called to identify it. It seems the lad had caught a very big Atlantic sturgeon.

This fish tale has a bittersweet ending. It seems the Atlantic sturgeon is listed as an endangered species in Canada (and in the U.S.), and a game warden showed up to seize it and issue the appropriate citations. But when they showed up in front of the local magistrate he quickly pointed out that Her Majesty was not in the habit of prosecuting twelve year old fishermen, and tossed the case out. The lad lost the fish, but he has some photos and memories that will last the rest of his life.

Another side note to this particular fish story. The boy had recently completed reading the story by Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man And The Sea, as part of his school work. Now he is thinking about writing another story, The Young Boy And The Lake, to see if he can pay part of his way through college.

San Diego, California, is known for many things. Deep sea anglers in that area know that it is the home of the richest fishing derby in the world. For one week fishermen and their boats rule the waves as everyone strives to catch the largest fish in different categories. And the angler who catches the largest fish of any species walks away with a cash prize of $100,000.

Two boys, brothers aged 13 and 15, decided to enter the derby. Their father, who did not particularly care for fishing, agreed to act as captain and be the required adult on board their vessel. And on the third day of the tournament they launched their boat and headed out to sea to try and catch a big fish.

Their game plan was simple enough. They would be going after a shark of some kind because sharks had won the big fish category for the past five years. They had obtained two pails of offal and blood from a local butcher that would serve as both chum and bait. They started their first drift when they were around two miles off shore.

The father had not finished his first can of adult refreshment when they had a strike. Something big had taken their bait, and the fish was now firmly attached to their fishing pole. They had no idea what it was, but they knew it was definitely big.

A little over seven hours later the shark was close enough for them to hit it several times with an aluminum baseball bat. Once it was suitably stunned they lashed it to the side of their boat and headed for the dock. Since all fish entered in the derby had to be officially weighed by no later that 6:00 p.m. on the day it was caught they had to really push the boat to get there on time.

They made it with ten minutes to spare. And when the big shark was winched up onto the scales they knew they had a winner. It was a great white shark, eleven feet six inches in length, and weighing 822 pounds. It would win the biggest fish category by more than three hundred pounds.

One footnote to this story. A charter boat with four customers hooked a larger great white shark the next day. It was 'landed', tied to the boat, and brought to the dock. But another member of the party, not the person who actually hooked and landed the fish, claimed he had hooked and landed it. He was also the only one of the four paying charter customers who had also paid the entrance fee for the fishing tournament. But the charter boat captain, an honorable man, told the truth and produced a video tape to back up his statement. That fish, which weighed 994 pounds, was disqualified.

Len Lisenbee is the Daily Messenger's Outdoor Columnist.