110 Pound Catfish

110-pound catfish could be state record

By JOE MACALUSO



The Advocate

BATON ROUGE (AP) - Keith Day Sr. has been fishing the Mississippi River for as long as he can remember.

''When I was a kid my dad took me there to fish,'' the 49-year-old Zachary resident said.

Day was tired: His eyes said that much.

He filled out the rest of the story with a rambling account of a Friday night spent along the banks of the Mighty Mississippi near St. Francisville, a tale that bears repeating when it comes to talking about giant fish from one of the world's giant rivers.

Not in the 40 some-odd years Day's fished the big water has he had such an experience.

''I love fishing the river,'' he said. ''It's always been good to me. Caught lotsa fish, catfish mostly, and I give them away to lots of people I know.''

It wasn't a night like he had a week ago Tuesday when he said he caught 37 catfish, so many that he hauled the catch to his nephew to skin and dress out.

This recent Friday night was slow by those standards.

All his son, Keith Day Jr. could do was nod.

''He knows when to go and when not to go,'' Day, Jr. said of his father. ''He takes vacation around a couple of months in the spring and in October and November when he knows the fish are going to be there.''

''But, I never had a time like last night,'' Day Sr. said.

He rolled his specially rigged truck up to his favorite fishing spot, then staked out the spot just right for the five rods and reels he usually takes to the river. He made a point to stock up on the Canadian nightcrawlers he said catfish can't resist. He bought four boxes, enough to carry him through a night's fishing.

About 10 p.m. he had only two fish. The river was rising and not the best time to catch a big mess. One of the small bells he had on the Penn reel and nine-foot-tall rod began to ring. It's a rig more common on offshore boats, maybe to catch red or mangrove snapper or other small saltwater reef fish.

''You can tell by the sound the bell makes if it's a big fish,'' Day Sr. said. ''Small fish make it jingle a lot, but big fish make it ring a couple of times then stop, then ring again.''

From the sound, he knew it was a big fish.

An hour and a half later, he found out how big.

And, by the following afternoon, the Days were ringing telephones all over town. They had a big catfish and wanted to know how to register it in the State Top 10 Fish Records.

How big?

''At least 110 pounds, maybe more,'' Day Jr. said. ''We weighed it earlier and it was 117 pounds, but we can't find a (state-certified) scale.''

Tony's Seafood in Baton Rouge obliged, and the scale that more often weighs out hefty sacks of crawfish and other seafood, was big enough to weigh a potential state record.

''110 point 3 pounds,'' Day Sr. said after uncovering the behemoth lying in the bed of is son's pickup. Just seeing the fish touched off the last chapters of his 18-hour odyssey, made even more sensational when Day Sr. told about using the nightcrawlers - ''because they last a long time in the current in the river'' - and how he threads them on a 4/0 Kahle hook, a hook that should go into some fishermen's hall of fame somewhere for standing up to the potential state-record cat.

''Yes, the river's cold this time of year,'' Day Sr. said. ''But I had my shoes off and was wading into the river to get the big fish, when I saw what it was. I catch sturgeon out there sometimes, not big ones, but you have to release them as soon as you catch them.

''When I saw it was a catfish, I couldn't believe it. I knew it was a catfish by the way it was fighting, but never had seen one that size.''

And, because the existing state record is 105 pounds taken by Joe Wiggins from the Mississippi River, not many people have ever seen a catfish that big either.

''After fighting the fish for that long, I was worried he'd pull off the hook, or something, 'cause I've had some big fish do that before,'' Day Sr. said.

''When I got out there to that fish, he flared his gills and I stuck my right hand in there, then stuck my left hand in his mouth and locked my hands. That was the only way I could get him to the bank.''

That's when he called Day Jr., who was working the night shift at Big Cajun Electric on the west bank of the river. The younger Day was several hours away from shift end, then had to catch the St. Francisville Ferry to get to his dad.

That was just to lift the fish in the truck.

''You can tell how excited he is,'' Day Jr. said. ''Look at him. He's got to be tired, but this has him pumped up.''

And, from the photo of the soon-to-be state record, so will a lot of other folks.

''I've spent a lifetime looking for a fish like this,'' Day Sr. said. ''My dreams have come true.'