dreamcatcher
05-26-2006, 02:49 PM
Everybody likes a good fish story right? I know I love to be on the water in the middle of the night listening to the old timers talk about all the fish that got away, but every blue moon you run across somebody that has actually caught some of the fish in their stories. I call these men of yore the "local legends" that make the mystery of big catting what it is today. The story I'm about to tell you is about such a person.
My local legend makes his home on Belleville Lake in the summer months.
Belleville Lake is located in the city of Belleville right off of Interstate 94. Personally, I have been fishing there for the last two years for catfish, and I have been blessed to catch my fair share of eating size cats. During the times that I have graced the shoreline I have always been entertained by people telling me stories of the "man" that fishes for the big cats. Now being a cat conneisseur myself, I find myself gripped by these tall tales of catfish breaking off line, pulling rigs in the water, and so forth. I willingly go on the ride, because it's entertaining, albeit in my mind a little over exaggerated. Every time the stories are told they all funnel back to this "guy" that I've never met. It had gotten to the point to where I just sort of wrote it off in my mind, because the odds of me running into this person was as good as sharing a campfire with a Yeti.
Well, last night I was sitting here watching another rigged NBA basketball game thinking about what it would be like to sit on the lake. The storm front had moved through the area about an hour earlier, and the outside temperature was pleasant with a light breeze. I was figuring that a fresh supply of oxygen might be just the thing for some prime catting. At this juncture it was about 10:30 p.m., so I started thinking if I'm going to do any worthwhile fishing I better head out right now. As you night catmen know it's never too late to do some catfishing.
I arrived at the lake some 15 minutes later, and was a little surprised to see someone there. As I pulled up, I was thinking. "Somebody must of been thinking the same thing." The entire bank was lit up from a Coleman lantern that was strung up on a tree, but I didn't see a fisherman in sight. However, what I did see stopped me dead in my tracks. Off to my left were two rigs that were, for lack of a better term, HEAVY DUTY. These were 12 foot spinning rods that were high sticked in PVC piping on each side of a small pier. Also, there was what appeared to be an Army red chemlight attached to each pole about 12 inches from each tip. There were two sets of bells on each rod, one at the tip, and one about a third of the way down. The thought that flashed through my mind at that very instant was that somebody was serious about their fishing, and they weren't fishing for bluegills. LOL. My second thought was, am I prepared for what could happen tonight?:0a13:
Seeing that gear made me feel like a kid again fishing with my Zebco 202...and that's saying something, because I thought I fished heavy.
I opened up my chair about thirty or so feet to the right of the rigs, and settled down to enjoy the night sky, but I couldn't help looking at those rods. LOL. Then I thought, "how big are the fish in here?" At that time I heard one of the bells jingle, (not mine; I don't use bells) and suddenly I see this guy come out of seemingly nowhere rushing up to this monster rig. That's when I put it all together that this was the "man."
For me the sight was surreal, because the guy was no bigger than five foot tall if you gave him an inch of generosity. To see him run up and grab this pole that was nearly three times his size was a Kodak moment that I will forever kick myself for not getting. I had this feeling that I might have to go over and help him get control of this thing, but he managed quite well. He brought in a little eater size channel, rebaited his hook, and put the rig back in the PVC pipe.
As he stood there in the glow of the Coleman lantern, I couldn't help feeling like a little kid again, so I decided to make my presence known. Here was a guy that was foor foot and some change, in his mid seventies, and he had an aura about him that smelled of the old school catmen from yesteryear. This guy would of been at home on any major river system in the United States, and it felt to me like he had fished them all. After we exchanged the normal pleasantries of "hello", "nice night isn't it" I asked him a question that was more reaction than anything else. "Sir, are you the one...the one that catches all the big cats?" He replied, "Yes sir, that'd be me. Hyde's my name...John Hyde, glad to meet you."
What transpired next is nothing less than surreal. I asked him what is the largest catfish that he's ever caught out of the lake? Without hesitation he replied, "Fifty pounds." "Fifty pounds?!?!" I asked. "Yeah, I caught one that was 41 back in 1971, and caught a 25 pounder last year." "Wait a minute, you said that you caught a fifty pounder out of this lake?" "Sure. Man they got seventy pound catfish in this lake. They got some in here that you can't do anything with." At that moment it felt like I had found an oasis in the middle of some desert plain. Then before I could even form the thought that he was pulling my chain he said, "If you don't believe me, I got a paper in the car I can show you." He goes to his car and pulls out this old, folded up Belleville Observer, and sure enough there is an article with a picture of him, and a write up about a 50 pound catfish that he caught in 2003. There wasn't a picture of the fish, but he didn't write the article, so someone had to make the verification I thought. I then asked him did he know that he had broken the state record two times over, once in '71 and with this fish in 2003 He said, " I registered the fish, but the state record is 62 pounds." For the first time, I felt empathy for him because he told me that he went to great lengths to get recognized for the fish, but all of you know the record is 40 pounds, so his efforts were wasted. He isn't the type of guy that would probably contact the DNR, or fill out a Master Angler form. I really wish he could have gotten recognized for those achievements.
I was up for grabs for the rest of the night. I asked him the right questions, and he was more than willing to share his stories of his catfishing exploits. He was telling me about the catfish that he couldn't "turn" even with those Sal Palombo specials of his(you know the one Sal). He also informed me that there were sturgeon in the lake too! His favorite bait? Shrimp. He uses 35 and 40 pound test mono on spinning reels. I sat out there with him for three hours, but I had an early wake-up today so I had to leave, but what a momentous occasion for me. A great guy. I wished him well, and told him that I hoped to see him again tonight, rain or shine. Needless to say, I am excited about fishing Belleville Lake again, and hopefully sometime soon I can catch my own trophy cat, but that's why they call it fishing. The only thing I know today is my fishing experiences are that much richer after meeting "the man."
Thanks for listening,
Vic
My local legend makes his home on Belleville Lake in the summer months.
Belleville Lake is located in the city of Belleville right off of Interstate 94. Personally, I have been fishing there for the last two years for catfish, and I have been blessed to catch my fair share of eating size cats. During the times that I have graced the shoreline I have always been entertained by people telling me stories of the "man" that fishes for the big cats. Now being a cat conneisseur myself, I find myself gripped by these tall tales of catfish breaking off line, pulling rigs in the water, and so forth. I willingly go on the ride, because it's entertaining, albeit in my mind a little over exaggerated. Every time the stories are told they all funnel back to this "guy" that I've never met. It had gotten to the point to where I just sort of wrote it off in my mind, because the odds of me running into this person was as good as sharing a campfire with a Yeti.
Well, last night I was sitting here watching another rigged NBA basketball game thinking about what it would be like to sit on the lake. The storm front had moved through the area about an hour earlier, and the outside temperature was pleasant with a light breeze. I was figuring that a fresh supply of oxygen might be just the thing for some prime catting. At this juncture it was about 10:30 p.m., so I started thinking if I'm going to do any worthwhile fishing I better head out right now. As you night catmen know it's never too late to do some catfishing.
I arrived at the lake some 15 minutes later, and was a little surprised to see someone there. As I pulled up, I was thinking. "Somebody must of been thinking the same thing." The entire bank was lit up from a Coleman lantern that was strung up on a tree, but I didn't see a fisherman in sight. However, what I did see stopped me dead in my tracks. Off to my left were two rigs that were, for lack of a better term, HEAVY DUTY. These were 12 foot spinning rods that were high sticked in PVC piping on each side of a small pier. Also, there was what appeared to be an Army red chemlight attached to each pole about 12 inches from each tip. There were two sets of bells on each rod, one at the tip, and one about a third of the way down. The thought that flashed through my mind at that very instant was that somebody was serious about their fishing, and they weren't fishing for bluegills. LOL. My second thought was, am I prepared for what could happen tonight?:0a13:
Seeing that gear made me feel like a kid again fishing with my Zebco 202...and that's saying something, because I thought I fished heavy.
I opened up my chair about thirty or so feet to the right of the rigs, and settled down to enjoy the night sky, but I couldn't help looking at those rods. LOL. Then I thought, "how big are the fish in here?" At that time I heard one of the bells jingle, (not mine; I don't use bells) and suddenly I see this guy come out of seemingly nowhere rushing up to this monster rig. That's when I put it all together that this was the "man."
For me the sight was surreal, because the guy was no bigger than five foot tall if you gave him an inch of generosity. To see him run up and grab this pole that was nearly three times his size was a Kodak moment that I will forever kick myself for not getting. I had this feeling that I might have to go over and help him get control of this thing, but he managed quite well. He brought in a little eater size channel, rebaited his hook, and put the rig back in the PVC pipe.
As he stood there in the glow of the Coleman lantern, I couldn't help feeling like a little kid again, so I decided to make my presence known. Here was a guy that was foor foot and some change, in his mid seventies, and he had an aura about him that smelled of the old school catmen from yesteryear. This guy would of been at home on any major river system in the United States, and it felt to me like he had fished them all. After we exchanged the normal pleasantries of "hello", "nice night isn't it" I asked him a question that was more reaction than anything else. "Sir, are you the one...the one that catches all the big cats?" He replied, "Yes sir, that'd be me. Hyde's my name...John Hyde, glad to meet you."
What transpired next is nothing less than surreal. I asked him what is the largest catfish that he's ever caught out of the lake? Without hesitation he replied, "Fifty pounds." "Fifty pounds?!?!" I asked. "Yeah, I caught one that was 41 back in 1971, and caught a 25 pounder last year." "Wait a minute, you said that you caught a fifty pounder out of this lake?" "Sure. Man they got seventy pound catfish in this lake. They got some in here that you can't do anything with." At that moment it felt like I had found an oasis in the middle of some desert plain. Then before I could even form the thought that he was pulling my chain he said, "If you don't believe me, I got a paper in the car I can show you." He goes to his car and pulls out this old, folded up Belleville Observer, and sure enough there is an article with a picture of him, and a write up about a 50 pound catfish that he caught in 2003. There wasn't a picture of the fish, but he didn't write the article, so someone had to make the verification I thought. I then asked him did he know that he had broken the state record two times over, once in '71 and with this fish in 2003 He said, " I registered the fish, but the state record is 62 pounds." For the first time, I felt empathy for him because he told me that he went to great lengths to get recognized for the fish, but all of you know the record is 40 pounds, so his efforts were wasted. He isn't the type of guy that would probably contact the DNR, or fill out a Master Angler form. I really wish he could have gotten recognized for those achievements.
I was up for grabs for the rest of the night. I asked him the right questions, and he was more than willing to share his stories of his catfishing exploits. He was telling me about the catfish that he couldn't "turn" even with those Sal Palombo specials of his(you know the one Sal). He also informed me that there were sturgeon in the lake too! His favorite bait? Shrimp. He uses 35 and 40 pound test mono on spinning reels. I sat out there with him for three hours, but I had an early wake-up today so I had to leave, but what a momentous occasion for me. A great guy. I wished him well, and told him that I hoped to see him again tonight, rain or shine. Needless to say, I am excited about fishing Belleville Lake again, and hopefully sometime soon I can catch my own trophy cat, but that's why they call it fishing. The only thing I know today is my fishing experiences are that much richer after meeting "the man."
Thanks for listening,
Vic