Jerry
From Jerry's Catfish Guide Days
Drift Fishing Lake Lavon with Jerry Hancock
Monday and Tuesday, my son Justin and I got to spend the day with a really great fisherman and all around good person, Jerry Hancock, from McKinney Texas. We stayed in the luxurious estates at Super 8 motel (cheapest) and met Jerry at 8am Monday morning at Branch convenience store, where we followed him to Clear Lake park to start fishing. A few minutes later, we were on our way to the place where we would start our drift. Jerry quickly had several shad cut into halves and had 7 rods out, all the while providing instructions on the how's and why's of what he was doing. The weather was cold, near 40 degrees with about a 7mph wind that would taper off a couple hours into the drift. Rain was forecasted but we would be rather lucky to only get a small amount. It couldn't have been 20 minutes into the drift when the first rod went down. Jerry and Justin were sitting on a Wally Marshall Crappie twin seat on the front deck and I was sitting on the back deck in a swivel chair. Justin was watching 3 rods and I had 4. The rod that went down was one of mine. I set the hook and quickly had a nice 5-pound blue cat in the boat. I boated 4 fish before Justin ever got a strike. He missed several hook sets, as Jerry was attempting to show him the proper way to set the hook on a drift with about 50 yards of line out. Justin was having a hard time with getting it right. Suddenly while we were discussing one of the many topics we discussed that day, I noticed one of the rods Justin was watching start to bend towards the water, but only slightly. It didn't twitch, like a smaller fish bite, and I honestly thought it was hung on something. I pointed it out. Justin picked up the rod and Jerry commented right away that it was a big fish, not hung. It took a few seconds for me to realize it though, as the bend just remained constant. Suddenly the rod was bending more and more, in places I have never seen a rod of that weight bend. I realized, when it rolled about 15 feet out, that it was the biggest catfish I have ever seen in person. Justin had hooked up with a real monster catfish. We told him it was huge, but he was busy trying to keep the rod tip up and following the incoming instructions Jerry and I were telling him. He was doing a good job, and didn't seem to be nearly as excited about it as we were. Finally, Jerry netted the fish and I assisted him getting it over the gunwales into the boat.
I stared nervously at the fish, in disbelief of it's size. It looked to me like just a close up view of the 5 pounder I had caught earlier. I hurried to snap a couple of pictures of it in the floor of the boat, before Jerry unhooked it and hoisted it up. I actually yelled "YEAH!" to Justin and we slapped high 5's and I gave him a big hug. He still hadn't actually seen it yet. I always call a decent fish "huge" when he hooks it, so he was expecting a 5 pounder or something like that. When he actually saw it, the look on his face was priceless. His grin went away and he just sat in awe. He said "whoa". That said it all for all of us. Jerry weighed it, and it bottomed out his 50lb scale. It measured 49 inches. A real trophy in anyone's book.
We photographed it a few times, with Jerry then me holding it, as Justin wasn't really up to holding a 50lb fish with knife like fins. Justin was in the picture with both of us. Then, as fast as it was landed, we set her free to resume her trek to her spawning area and hopefully provide someone else with such a rare experience at a later time.
Jerry Hancock treated Justin and I with respect and taught us in a corrective, suggestive manner, not a cocky, pompous one. I will not hesitate to recommend Jerry to anyone who dreams of hooking up with a monster catfish. Jerry can put you on them, but you have to catch them yourself.
Thanks again Jerry, for the hospitality and the instructions.
We also had the privilege to meet Mike Covington, Guy Skinner and Mugz. It was the best fishing trip we have had as a father/son team.
Donnie
02/11/004
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