From the Gone Fishing Archives: Personal best

This picture documents the most glorious achievement of my fishing career. I believe it occurred in June of 2000.

Tortorello and I were stalking big channel cats in the fast water just below the Ford Dam. A few days earlier, Donovan and I had good luck working a spot next to the powerhouse on the east bank. After losing a few lunkers, I realized I needed stouter tackle, so I finally made myself a proper cat rig.

I caught this horse on a circle hook with a gob of chicken liver, weighed down with a three ounce bell sinker. It was a wild, rod-bending fight. As the fish struggled to stay at the bottom, I knew I had something big. She ran into the current a few times and I thought I was going to lose her. I prayed to the fishing god, 'At least, let me see the thing!"

Tortorello manned the net. Once we horsed the fish into the boat, we sat there and gawked, giddy at the sight.

Being a cat novice at the time, I didn't understand that I had landed a flathead; I just thought it was an unusually homely channel cat.

I didn't weigh the fish, but the measurement--36 inches--suggests something in the 20 to 25 pound range.