Beautifully Grotesque Fish of the American West by Mark Spitzer

Author:Mark Spitzer [Spitzer, Mark]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: BIO026000 Biography & Autobiography / Personal Memoirs, NAT012000 Nature / Animals / Fish, SPO014000 Sports & Recreation / Fishing
ISBN: 978-1-4962-0004-4
Publisher: Bison Books
Published: 2016-12-21T00:00:00+00:00

Fig. 20. First blue cat. Spitzer on left, Skipper on right. Photo by RJB Photo.

Rob got in position with the camera, and then Skipper said, “Alright, pull it out and hold on.”

The fish came blasting out of the hole and shot straight to the surface, where it erupted all over the place, slapping water ten feet through the air. I held on as it freaked out, then pulled it over and hefted it up. It was a blunt-headed blue, a male that had been guarding the nest, because that’s what they do. From the skin grown over one eye, we figured it had been hooked before. It was pushing twenty pounds.

Hand-fishing for blues had recently been legalized in Oklahoma, and the Okie Noodling Tournament now allowed any species of any fish to be entered, but it was too early in the game to settle for this one. Though the Chamber of Commerce website said that any fish caught after noon on this day was legal to enter, the Okie Noodling website said that a fish had to be caught after six o’clock to be a contender. Whatever the case, I decided to let it go, figuring we’d find more. Skipper put the fish back in its den.

We went about three or four miles across the lake, checking holes and talking about all sorts of stuff. The word on the noodling street was that the prior year’s Okie Noodling champ was not legitimate. The seventy-two-pounder was alleged to have been caught on a trotline, because it had a freshly punctured lip.

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