Catfish Whopper!

Vicksburg resident Kenny Warner caught this 93-pound, 4 1/2-foot long catfish while jug fishing in the Mississippi River on October 8th.  This fish is almost as tall as he is....what a whopper!

...and while we are on the subject of fishing, my Facebook friend, Elaine, sent me this story that she had saved for many years from the Bassmaster magazine of an unfortunate angler....called, "Shot With a Plastic Worm".

The plastic worm and slip sinker rig has gained fame as a "deadly" bass lure.

You may not realize just how DEADLY. An angler was "shot with a plastic worm rig."

The bass fisherman is embarrassed about his carelessness and doesn't relish publicity but the incident is a lesson worth repeating.

The unfortunate BASSer was fishing at the reservoir in the Piedmont section of North Carolina and doing well with the large mouth bass congregated over a sunken brush pile at the end of the pier. In the excitement, the angler misjudged a cast. He hung the plastic worm and bullet-shaped sinker on the pier.

With the fish hitting, the angler did not want to disturb the hot spot. He jerked, even yanked at the lure. But tug as he might it was snagged tight.

In desperation to break off the lure, he pointed the rod at the pier, turned on the 24- volt trolling motor and backed away. The line didn't break. The lure came loose, flying at him like a missile.

The bullet-shaped sinker hit the angler's thumb with the impact of a slug. It entered the fleshy part of the thumb, plowed toward the wrist and stopped four inches into the fisherman's forearm.

In effect, he was, "shot" with a plastic worm. Surgery took four hours to remove the bullet-shaped weight.

~W. Horace Carter