First fish of 2022

By David Graham: 1-19-2022

Last weekend I should have been in Virginia chasing one of North America's largest freshwater fish - the blue catfish, but mother nature had other ideas...

The Richmond area was forecasting a 100% chance of rain and snow, and wind gusts up to 30mph, and sustained winds not much less than that. If I am to secure time and money for this kind of trip, I want to maximize my odds of success... reluctantly that trip was shelved, and I should be heading that way in February.

I spent the hours I should've been in an airplane alongside a creek not far from where my daughters go to school. I decided to kill some hours with chunks of mayan cichlid on bottom hoping for a big bowfin. This creek has never produced a lot of fish for me, and ive had plenty of skunk sessions there, but the bowfin that DO live there are always big and healthy. I managed to pull 4 bowfin and miss several others. Two short stalky males, and two nice females including an absolute brute that was just over 12 pounds

A tank of a bowfin