Catfish
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Tom Zacchini 
Curtis Roberts "Quicsilver", Ft. Collins |
Perhaps one of the best eating warm water fish is the catfish. This ugly but often large fish can be a lot of fun to catch, and can often catch you by surprise as did the 13.3 pounder fishing buddy Tom Zacchini caught at Aurora Reservoir on Saturday August 10,2002. We were trolling bottom bouncers and worm harnesses in 50 foot of water when the big Mr. Wiskers hit. At first Tom thought he’d hooked something on the bottom but I knew there wasn’t any structure to speak of in Aurora, not in the middle, out from Lone Tree Cove. We didn’t know if he had a large walleye, a wiper or what. I admiringly refer to the fish as a “we” fish. That’s what you call all of the fish caught on a day your buddy catches a 13 ½ pound catfish, a 3 ½ pound largemouth, a 17 ¾ inch walleye, and a 15 ½ in trout, they all become “we” fish. We caught a 13 ½ pound channel cat, etc. Be careful getting the hook out of a big cat. If they stick you with their back spine it can really hurt. Nice going Tom. "We" did good. One of the best places for catfish in the state is North Sterling Reservoir. Fish in the upper ends of the lake arms. Curtis Roberts of Ft. Collins sent me a picture of a 12.5 pound catfish he caught through the ice on a farm pond near LaPorte in January 2007. |
