6-18-23 River City Catfishing Guide Service Hour 1

Jim and Scott talk with Captain Ben Goebel, owner of River City Catfishing Guide Service on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. Ben covers big river catfishing from A to Z.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
News Radio eight forty whas welcomes youto Jim Straighter Outdoors, the area's leading
authority on hunting and fishing. JimStraighter Outdoors is brought to you by Mossy
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(00:21):
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(00:41):
the water and no time to joinin on the conversation, call us at
five seven one eighty four eighty fourinside Louisville and one eight hundred four four
four eighty four eighty four outside theMetro. Now sit back and relax and
enjoy the next two hours of JimStraighter Outdoors on News Radio eighty w A
T S. We came from theWest Virginia coal Mines and the Rocky mountains

(01:10):
and the West trooeshine, I gota shot gun, a rifle in a
full wheel drive and a country board. Can to sup and we can skin
a buck and run a trot lineand a country board. Cant to sup,
country books, cantu fine country podcan suvid hundry bocks can Good evening

(01:51):
everyone. Jim Straighter here by cohost got throwning. Welcome to the prog
tonight. Inn't that his father's day. I'm gonna hope that the program was
a tribute to my father, whichmay entert some use. There's a lot
of these folks probably are not awarethat my father is in the international game

(02:15):
fishing Paul of fame. So I'llbe talking about that here in a little
bit. But I want to rollout who's going to be our guests tonight
a little later in the program.Whose name is Captain Ben Gable, and
Ben is a pro cat fishing guyon the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Very

(02:37):
interesting guy, extremely knowledgeable about howto catch big catfish, and he's got
quite a resume. He's been aprofessional guy on those rivers for over eight
years. He's been featured in inFisherman magazine, Midwest Outdoors magazine and a
lot of you probably have seen himon Kentucky Field TV show with my buddy

(02:59):
Chad Miles. So we're gonna talkat length with Ben about all the different
techniques he used as the Catchle's giantcatfish out of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers,
and I mean these are monster cats, to say the least. You
can check him out at river CityCatfishing dot Com, which of course is

(03:21):
his website on Facebook, He's atRiver City Catfishing Guide Service. So he'll
be with us again a little laterin the program. As I mentioned,
Scott and I are going to dotributes to our dads. Unfortunately, Scott
recently lost his father. I knowit's gonna be a very heartfelt situation for

(03:43):
him. I'll let him gather histhoughts. I'll talk a little bit about
my dad. My dad started mehunting and fishing in a very very early
age. I shot my first squirreland rabbit before the age of four.
I was fishing by that time andthey have continued ever since. Caught a
lot of bass and bluegill as achild and just kind of proceeded up the

(04:08):
ranks there. If you will andit was quite an adventure. But rather
than going at length about Dad,I thought it would be appropriate tonight.
Have you listened to the International GameFish Association's description of Dad and his accomplishment
saw I'll play that for you now. Captain Jim Straighter was a backcountry guide,

(04:33):
offshore charter captain, and commercial fisherman, but he is probably best known
as a pioneer in the design andmanufacture of sound emitting lures. Straighter's extensive
research and experiments led to the developmentof the noise producing diamond rattler in the
late nineteen sixties. This lure revolutionizedthe tackle industry. For every modern topwater

(04:56):
plug, crank bait, or plasticworm accessory now incorporates a sound chamber.
The Straighter Tackle Company went on tomanufacture the Diamond Rattle sub rattleworm heads,
the School Teacher, and the RattleTrap. In all, Jim Straighter held
six US patents and seven federal trademarkson his designs. Captain Jim was also

(05:17):
an enthusiastic teacher who spent much ofhis time sharing his skills, his love
of the outdoors, and his conservationethic with anglers of all ages. Because
he passionately enjoyed the sport and contributedso much to fishing and the fishing industry.
Jim Straighter personifies the consummate fisherman,and obviously I'm very proud of that

(05:44):
dead as far as Ana's only Kentuckianin the International Game Fish Association Hall of
Fame, and I was chosen todo his induction speech. Was quite an
emotional situation, as you can imagine, but I thought that that would be
a fitting tribute to my father hereon Father's Day. Scott, you want

(06:08):
to speak a bit about your dad, Yeah, I appreciate the honor to
do so, being a father andmyself, and I'm sure a lot of
the listeners either or a father,have a father that they can relate to.
As I've aged and had that blessingof becoming a dad and being a

(06:30):
father, you you realize just howmany times your father put down their favorite
rifle or shotgown or fishing pole inorder to take you out hunting or fishing
or camping. And when you lookat outdoor recreation, especially hunting and fishing,

(06:54):
I'd say all of us have beenfortunate enough, whether it's been at
a farm, pond, or acreek at a hunting camp to be mentored
by men, you know. Andand these are anglers that are both male
and female and gender. But thereare so many men that have the title

(07:14):
and the honor of being a fatherU not just to have taken their own
genetics and bloodline, but but otheryouth and other individuals out to understand how
important the great outdoors is to tosomeone who gets to carry the title as
a father. And my dad neverone time prioritized his friends and others over

(07:39):
his family, and and that tome, that's that's what being a father
and a dad is all about.Well, and you're very fortunate like I
was. My mother and my fatherloved to hunting fish and your mother and
father shared that. And I thinkit went into a lot of what's made
you the outdoors when you are today, Scott, Yeah, no doubt about

(08:03):
it. It um you know itas you know a young person growing up
and having that structure of a familyaround me. My mother and my father
both had a major influence and mylove and my experience in the outdoors.
And and would be happy, youknow tonight even if someone wanted to call

(08:26):
in Jim, if they just wantedto publicly thank their father, you know,
whoever it was. You know,maybe it was a grandfather that served
more as a father's grow to ato a listener, I'd be boy than
honored to give him the time tosay thank you. Okay, buddy,
Well, as I mentioned, we'vegot Captain Ben Gabe along with us here

(08:50):
tonight, and I think pols aregoing to be really interested in this.
He's gonna talk a lot about catfishbehavior, catfish ball, the role current
plays in catching catfish, the typeof baits he utilizes, and he's going
to describe a lot of different techniquescontrol suspending, drifting, anchor fishing,

(09:13):
bumping and walking baits, dragging,and his favorite is the bumping of baits.
And he's also going to talk alot about fishing at dams, which
I'll know how the Mississippi River orobviously part of the ecosystem and something that

(09:33):
really attractions fishing certain times of theyear. So we'll be talking about that
more here after the break. Thisbreak is presented by SMI Marine. They're
located at eleven four hundred Westport Road, just north of the Snyder. Go
see him. They'll take great careof your boat. They've got all kinds
of boats for sale, starcrab pontoonsand deck boats, falcon bass boats,

(09:58):
and then the area's new deal forthe low a little bit of boats which
I ride at least one of theboats that Captain Gable started in. So
go see him. They'll take greatcare of you. And remember you'll never
get soaked by my friends at SMIEdward back on Jim Straighter Outdoors and we're

(10:20):
gonna be talking with Captain then GabelePro cat Fishing gad on the Ohio and
Mississippi rivers again the name of hisoutfit, his River City cat Fishing.
And before we talked to Ben,we got Evan Nabert on the phone and
wanted to talk a little bit abouthis dad, Ebon. Can you hear
me? Yes, sir? Allright, buddis floor is yours. Yeah,

(10:50):
I'm going to get a little bitemotional, Jim and you and I
have been fresh for a long time, and I lost my dad last night.
And my dad was never a catfishman, but he targeted a largest trout
in the world called the golden grato, and he took them in Argentina and

(11:15):
other countries South America, he targetedthe golden dorato, like I said,
the largest drop of the world.But ultimately m they would catch catfish called
the Ta sua be. I hopeI'm getting that over it over the ears

(11:35):
catfish, which I've got a greatpicture and I'll upload it to your page.
Of my uncle and my dad,and they died six months apart harvesting
a hundred and sixty two hundred andseventy pounds Ta sua be catfish in pursuit
of the world's largest trout. Andmy dad taught me almost everything I know

(12:05):
about wildlife management, and he paidattention to that. In my first recollection
of deer hunting was we were ina group kind of like the cub Scouts,

(12:26):
but they were the y ending guyssponsored through the YMCA. And I
remember I was probably eight years oldand this we had a big group cook
out camping on the Cumberland River downin Williamsburg, and I remember my dad

(12:50):
and his brothers waking up early andabsolutely concentrating. They've never seen anything like
what they were looking at. Andwhen I squeezed my way into it,
it was a deer print. Andthat's how many years ago it was that
our conservation efforts have been fruitful.They were absolutely enamored by the fact that

(13:22):
there was a little bitty do printthere on the side of that river,
and that's where my conservation efforts startedand where they end. My father died
last year and May my uncle diedin January before that, and we lost

(13:46):
a bastion of conservation truth with thosetwo gentlemen leaving. I have picked up
the wing, so to speak.I think that everybody who pursues any kind
of game in the outdoors deserves tohave their voice heard, regardless of my

(14:13):
feelings about it, you were thingsabout it, or anybody else's. And
I hope that we can get thiscommission to look further than what we've discussed
about our cat fish regulations, becausedissolving the four over forty in the lower

(14:35):
Poolsley, Ohio, will that'll begood. The one thing that has not
been addressed in these regulation talks ishow many fisher we're gonna allow commercial cat
fishermen or fishermen altogether to put inevery day, because there is no regulation

(14:58):
on fish between thirty five and fortyinches for commercial catfisher and there's only a
couple of bad actors in that genre, and if we just do a little
bit, it'll get them out ofour waterways and we don't have to worry

(15:20):
about it anymore. Um. ButI think we really need to address not
only the four fish over forty,but regulate how many fish between thirty five
and forty inches can we keep orallow our commercial fishermen to keep? Yes
or well, that's been a bigproblem, as you know, and we
all know that have studied this becauseof the influencer pay lake situations, most

(15:48):
of them out of state where they'reshipping these very very old, mature fish
to pay lake where that's right,and they're making money off of our resource.
So absolutely, but can we canwe reiterate how long it takes a
catfish born in the wild from youknow that fingeringaut size fry up to thirty

(16:14):
five inches? How many years doesthat take that catfish to grow? Decades?
Absolutely, thirty thirty five, fortyyears. And if we allow our
resources to be raped part of myFrench But that's what's happening, you know,

(16:34):
the four over forty for commercial fishermen, you know that makes them a
little bit of money, but whatmakes them a lot of money is the
fact that we have no regulation betweenthe thirty five and forty inch fish,
and they can load their boat withthem, and they on my Facebook page,

(16:56):
I've shared it on yours, thewads of money that they make off
of these fish. Let me giveus a different analogy. If if you
and I and you've been on myfarm, if I were able to dark
bucks on my farm and sell themto offense operations, do you think that

(17:21):
would wash anywhere? I don't know. I'd be raised the hell about it,
you damn right? So, AndI don't mean to get off subject.
You know, I wanted to givemy father, who's been gone since
my second of last year, thekudos to instill in me to want to

(17:51):
do right by our resources always andforever. Yes, sir, well,
I appreciate that. Everyone. Allright, folks, we've got to move
on here again. We're gonna betalked tonight with Captain Ben Gable. He
is a pro catfishing guy on theOhio and Mississippi rivers. He's a big

(18:14):
proponent of catching release to Eblan's pointthere, and he's got some fascinating information
about the migration patterns in these fishthey're feeding habits. He's going to discuss
all kinds of aspects fishing for thesebig catfish. Again. He's gonna cover

(18:36):
control, suspend, drifting, anchorfishing, bumping and walking with her his
favorite techniques, and dragging and fishingat the dam. So he's got more
than eight years experience as a professionalguide. Again. He's been featured the
Fisherman magazine, Midwest Outdoors and he'sbeen on the Kentucky Field f Show sometimes,

(18:57):
so he's probably got anger and watchingyou and Ben will be with us
here right after the break. Thisbreak is presented by my friends at Mossy
Old Property Heart Realty. Paul Thomasis a broker there. All kind of
vacation homes, lakefront homes, cabinsin the woods, recreational property, you

(19:19):
name it, he got it.Check him out at mlp akrt Realty dot
com. And we're back on JimStraighter Outdoors again. We're gonna talking tonight

(19:41):
with Captain Ben Gable, pro catfishingguy on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers,
which are, as we all know, sprawling rivers here in the central part
of the United States, very demandingplaces to fish and many regards. Ben
can you hear me? Okay,Yes, I can. Okay, brother,

(20:06):
Well, welcome to the program.I've enjoyed talking to you here the
last couple of days and delighted tohave you on the broadcast. I want
to let folks go a little bitabout you, Ben and kind of what
your life's lightened, and we'll talkabout what you got got you into fishing.
I was impressed that you're bringing upyour boys in the outdoors. They

(20:27):
love the squirrel hunt, deer huntfish with you. You want to talk
a little bit about that. Butthat's been like sure. First of all,
thanks for having me on your show, and the happy Father's Day to
everybody out there. We're joining anice day here and just having a kind
of a quiet day and just relaxingand just join the summertime. And what

(20:51):
this is the time of year whenthe catfish are biting, biting really good
this time of year. And youand your boys just had a trip on
the Mississippi. I understand, yes, yes we did. But this weekend
we spent to Friday and Friday andSaturday out. I didn't have any trips
to run over Father's Day weekend,just took some time off with the family

(21:15):
and the next couple of weekends we'rekind of just when when I'm not fishing
or guiding, I'm we're always outlooking for fish. And my boys are
getting old enough now to help medo that. And we've spent the last
couple of days on the lower partof the Ohio River and on the Mississippi
River, and fish are briding prettypretty solid. It's not on fire just

(21:38):
yet, but I think in thecoming weeks when the least fish are or
in the middle. We're in themiddle of the spawn right now, and
i'd say here in the next weekto twelve fifteen days they'll be finishing up
with that or the majority of them. Well, I don't think they all
go on spawn at the same time. There's not a whole lot of research

(22:02):
that's been done on the catfish spawn, but only that's a fish. A
lot kind of have a general ideaon it. But you know, typically
by forty to lie there, mostof them are pretty much done, Yes,
sir, Yeah, we uh.Scott and I just had a trip
down to Kentucky Lake and Berkeley Lakeand we fished for channel cat down there

(22:26):
when they were kind of winding theirspawn down. They were still up,
but they weren't, you know,really rolling the way they had been.
And the blues started to show up, the smaller blues that is that aren't
the spawners, but we can seethat the blues were right around the corner.
And now, as you mentioned,they're they're in the middle of kind

(22:48):
of finishing up. Ben, youshared with me here from Saint Philip,
Indiana near Evansville, UM and reallygot into catfishing when you were about at
tell that story. I think it'spretty cool you deer hunted since you were
fifteen. Yeah, I got in, so I got you know, Uh,
I didn't get into the outdoor boarduntil kind of late. Uh.

(23:12):
A couple of guys that I wasworking at a place down here and and
they asked me to go squirrel huntingwith him one summer. I was actually
I was actually leading into getting readyto start school. I actually I think
I I think I skipped school togo squirrel hunting for the first time.
And uh, it was I wasthe first time going, which I'm Sheryldon.

(23:37):
You know a lot of us outdoorswhen we can we can relate to
that, especially when especially when you'rein high school and you get your license,
and uh, you know, youmight just happen to have to be
late to go you get out inthe woods or go deer hunting. But
I was introduced to squirrel hunting first, you know, probably when I was
about probably fifteen or sixteen in thatin that time frame, and just really

(24:00):
ever have looked back. I fellin love with twelve hunting, got in
deer hunting a little bit after that, and bow hunting and still bow hunting
this day, and and didn't getin I really didn't fish until after about
after about out of high school.I was I was taking my deer heads
and stuff to the tax dermy andgot to be friends with a local taxidermist

(24:23):
here where I live at and hisname was Bill Drow and he had a
taxiderm service, and he was justa he was just a cool guy that
been in outdoors, had a lotof stories. He was a retarge chriff
from Vanderberg County here near Evansville andactually actually was a cheff to Imposey County
and served our country for us andwas just a just a neat individual to

(24:48):
be around with and had a lotof knowledge with a lot of different things
and we became friends, and thenhe asked me to go catfishing one time.
And like I said, I hadvery little experience on fishing, just
pond fishing for channel cats, youknow, and that's that was about it,
and never done anything else. Andand we started going fishing in and
probably I think it was either aseventeen or eighteen foot low roughneck with a

(25:10):
forty horst Johnson, just you know, a typical river boat. And uh
we fished on the Wabash River andwe fished for uh, for eaters,
you know, fiddlers, fiddler sizefish up to you know, five or
six pounds if that was a bitthat was considered then for me a big
fish. And we used to nightcrawlersand and and uh we primarily anchor fished,

(25:33):
uh throwing out the back of theboat, and uh using spinning tackle
and pretty pretty light tackle, youknow, probably twenty pound line on on
spinning tackle. That's that's how Igot it. That's how I got into
Kent fishing. And I know youuh told me you all fished with Carolina
riggs with eggs stinchers, which isa great techne for folks that perhaps I

(25:56):
want to fish some of the fall, smaller rivers and streams around the state.
Can you kind of cluement on whatwas working real well for you on
that regard channels? Sure? Sure, I mean a Carolina rig I mean
is depending on what your application is, is one of the best rigs there
is to catch a catfish, whetheryou're fishing in a small river or even

(26:18):
a big river like the Ohio oreven um Mississippi River. Maybe not as
much on the Mississippi as as whatyou would on on the Ohio, but
basically just a you got an eggsinker or some people use a null roll
sink or two. On the Ohio, we were using egg sinkers and you
put the egg sinker right above youryour swivel and you put a bead there

(26:38):
to help protect it not and youusually tie anywhere from a you know,
twelve to twenty inch leader. Andat that time we was using kil hooks,
not circle hooks. Now we usepretty much just about anybody, unless
maybe you're fishing from a bank,use circle hooks. But you know,
the kale hooks, you gotta workon them and set to hook and uh

(27:02):
so that's that's that was our methodwe used, and it was nightcrawlers,
and and we just throw out theback of the boat look for current breaks.
You know. We didn't have nofancy fish finders like I got now
and uh, we just basically Billknew how to read the river and knew
his spots where to go. Uhyou know a lot of times, Uh
he would look for, which Ialways thought was interesting. He would look

(27:25):
for on the Wabash, he wouldlook to where the guard we're feeding at
on top of the water. Andhis theory was wherever the guard we're feeding,
the catfish would be close because iftheir feet on top, they're letting
debris, and the leftover debris thecatfish would eat it down on the bottom.
And a lot of times we caughtfish like that, um, you
know, and uh yeah, andyou know, and we fished a lot

(27:51):
a lot of sandbars, you know, on the on the Wallbat Wallbash very
even now. It's more so now, especially at the mouth of the Wallbash
near the confluence where the mouth ofthe Wabash meat. Uh, the Ohia
River, which is a little bitsouth of Union Uniontown, Kentucky, near
Morganfield and Sturgis down in that areawhere more sore and south of Uniontown and

(28:18):
above Shawneetown, Illinois, right therein a corner right there, and uh,
you know it's very shallow river.It's it's even shallower nowadays than it
was back then. Went the bigflood we had back in two thousand eleven.
Really uh it actually cut a islandthat was that was called mackew Ben
down the area, and it actuallycut that island in half. The river

(28:41):
is so strong it just cut achannel right through the old island and then
just silted all that in down tothere where we used to fish at.
So now you know you used tobe there, used to be there,
used to be fifteen seventeen foot ofwater down there. Now now there's no
channel or nothing. It's just it'sjust all craziness in the Asian car for
really bad in here because it's shallow. So I can't really fish it anymore,

(29:03):
really that that lower section anyways,but you can. Uh you shared
with me that pay on occasions,your all poles would get demolished by the
bigger catfishing. That's kind of whatpropelled you forward into it. Interested let

(29:23):
me do, let me do it, Ben, let me do a quick
break and coming back we can talkabout that and you're step up to the
bigger catfish if you will. Allright, folks, we had to go
to break here. This break ispresented by SMBI Marine. They're eleven four
hundred Westport Roads. Go see them. They'll take great care of you.
Remember you never get soaked by myfriends at SMI. And we're back with

(29:51):
Captain Ben Gabel, Professional Fishing DadCoast Guard License captain on the Ohio and
Mississippi Rivers, River City cat Fishingand ben Ford Break. You were talking
a little bit about the top ofworms and nightcrawlers and had a couple of
thoughts and in that regard, wouldyou share some key spots people can fish

(30:14):
for channels and what having some ofthese smaller streams. Yeah, I mean
some of these, uh you know, smaller streams. I mean, you
know, I mean the but thatwas a smaller river. You know,
you can't beat you know, asmall like Carolina rig with this time of
year right now, it may bea little bit late, but catafi worms

(30:36):
we use them a lot and hada lot of success. I know nowadays
it's getting harder and harder to find. It is, at least down here
I don't mean I don't use themtoo much anymore, but I'm run into
people from time to time and Idon't know what it is, but it's
getting harder and hard to find theCatafa worms for whatever reason. But you
know, anything small like that andsmall streams, we we've had a lot

(31:00):
of success and with live you know, going to your local bait shopping using
uh jumble shiners. We caught alot of fish on them Walbash River with
jumble shiners at certain times of theyear and did really well. And then
you always have the depbate option too. If if you're looking going for eaters
and going for table fare, thosefour options, it's going to have a

(31:25):
pretty good success for getting fish outof the out of the water catching fish.
Yes, sir, One thing Ido want to mention why we're on
the subjects of the channels and thesmaller booze. I love to use small
blue gill because they stay alive sowell. Green sunfish are good. Any
of those little small sunfish well,the track cat fish extremely well. Somebody

(31:48):
doesn't want to fool with the shiners. You can keep them alive really easy
and they do a good job.Go ahead, though, I know you
want to get into to how youstepped up to begin to catch bigger fish.
Yeah, so so we started onthe wallbash and um, you know,
um, we'd always have some ofour gear back in that would get

(32:10):
demolished or ripped up, and weyou know, like I said, we's
using light tackle, and we decidedto start trying to go after a bigger
fish. And we started, youknow, back in we was using bigger
spinning reels and pretty stiff poles,and we I know, we bumped it.
I think we bumped it up tolike forty pound. That green Trilene

(32:31):
Berkeley I think is what we alwaysused. And h we started catching,
you know that the fish that we'reripping our twenty pounds stuff up, we're
those ten to fifteen and occasionally wecatch some of them eighteen twenty pounds blues.
That was you know, you know, we was using like less probably
smaller than a one out up backback then to catch the smaller fish.

(32:54):
And you know, and when westarted beefing up and we start catching the
fish, and that's what really gotme interested in catfishing. After that,
uh, you know, from thereon this so this would have been you
know, probably two thousand one iswhen this was all going down. And
uh ever since then, I haven'tmissed a summer of catfishing. Since then,

(33:15):
I've never I've never missed a summerand and just stuck with it.
And that's what got me going.And uh we we we started catching bigger
fish. I think I've barely caughtmy first fifty pound fish in the Wabash
River, uh on on a chadbecause we started doing using different baits instead
of nightcrawlers. We bumped up to, like I said, the shiners,

(33:37):
and we bumped up to some bluegilland uh and chad and uh that once
I caught that fish and and foughtthat fish and just you know, it
was just such an awesome experience.I was like, this is this is
what I'm gonna go after. Thisis what I'm gonna do. And uh
then started moving out to the OhioRiver, bought mombow bactually about several boats.

(34:00):
My wife got killed me in thewhole process because I think I went
to three boats in one year.I think to find the right the right
one at the time that uh andthen and then uh you know it,
uh it just it just it justescalated for me. I mean the people
that, especially my wife can cansay it's a it's a good and bad

(34:22):
trait to have. I have realbad tunnel vision, and it's like I
won't stop until I figure it outor or do whatever it does to figure
it, to figure something out.And uh, it just became a passion.
And you know, I'm I'll beforty one in October and and still

(34:42):
love it as much as I didn't, you know, back in and now
I get to experience it with otherpeople. And my boys are really getting
you know, I got two boys. My oldest is Eli, he's twelve.
The youngest one it just turned ten, so they're getting at the prime
age. Be I want to dothis because it's this catfishing is uh,

(35:02):
you know, it's depending on especiallyon the big river stuff. It's it's
pretty demanding. I mean as faras physical, uh, working the rods
and how we fish and just beingout there in the summer days and the
heat and whatnot. I mean whenespecially on on my end, on the
tournament side or on the guidance side, when you when you tell people we
have catfishing's work, you know,you're kind of get to laugh out of

(35:24):
them. But you know, itreally is between chasing bait and preparing your
boat and having all the right tackleand hooks and the right sinkers in the
boat, and and you know itdoes take some effort to to to to
go up there and put fish inthe boat then dinner. Tremendous amount of

(35:46):
improvements with equipment, but in boatsin general, Uh, catfishing's got a
little bit more competitive, and andI'm glad to see that growth here recently.
Yes, it has. You know, back when when I first started,
you know, I mean we reallydidn't have a lot of companies produce

(36:07):
and uh much tackled all you reallyhad to go on the saltwater side to
to to get any decent tackle.Uh. You know, now there's a
lot of there's a lot of rodcompanies uh that are that you know,
people have found a way to marketcertain rods. I'm fortunate to represent a
rod company out of North Carolina calledCatch the Fever of multiple different types of

(36:30):
catfishing rods. Uh. You know, it's really uh to see where it
was when I first started, andto see where it is now, it's
pretty remarkable. I mean, you'reyou're having tournaments now that are approaching you
know, twenty to forty to fiftygrand for first place to win it.
And back then, if you wouldhave told me that, I thought,

(36:52):
there's no way, you know that, I just wouldn't have ever thought that.
And we still have a long wayto go. Like you had to
call her the beginning of the showtalking about conservation, I'm a big you
know component of that. You know, I meant, you know, there's
only so many, you know,so much stuff on the retail side to

(37:13):
sell. Like our big thing unlikesome of the other fish out there,
Like our big thing is you know, it's the family and people getting in
it. But it's also like likewhat people really think of catfish are the
big blue cats or flaids that yousee. And uh, you know it's
very important that we were you know, we we take care of the bigger

(37:35):
fish and keep fighting for more regulationson on these big fish. Absolutely bed.
Coming back from this news break,I want to talk to you about
your tournament fishing and how that reallycatapultic forward gotting O there some keep people
involved in that that folks will probablyrecognize. So we'll get back to that

(37:57):
right after this break. This breakwas there about all hell properties Art Realty.
Paul Thomas is a broker. Checkthem out an mp H A r
T realty dot com