Wood tangles with big catfish at Kemper Lake

By By Mike Giles / outdoors writer
Aug. 1, 2003
Tyler Wood recently concluded another successful baseball season and quickly switched gears by heading to the water in search of bass and other big fish. The 12-year-old Martin resident fishes a couple of afternoons a week, and most Saturdays, with his dad Wade.
While fishing at Kemper Lake on a recent Saturday, Tyler and his dad hit the water early in search of bass. After fishing most of the morning and catching a few bass, they were still at it around lunch.
Lunch time lunker
Sometime near lunch the young Wood cast out into deep water near a point. Suddenly a fish struck the bait and took off for parts unknown. As Wood fought the fish it became fairly evident that it was a huge fish, most likely not a bass. After a few minutes of the monster fish stripping out line, Tyler finally got him turned toward the surface and the boat. As it approached the boat, Wade made a swipe and missed the fish and off it went again.
After what seemed like an eternity, Tyler finally got the fish headed toward the boat again. This time his dad didn't miss the massive fish. The large blue cat had hit a 6-inch pumpkinseed Zoom Lizard on a Carolina rig. For added enticement, Wood had dipped the tail in a red dipping dye.
The large cat weighed in at 28 pounds 4 ounces by the lake managers scales. Although this big cat was his biggest to date on a rod and reel, Tyler is no stranger to catching big fish. His biggest bass to date was a nine pound three ounce lunker caught a couple of years ago on a Zoom worm.
More interests
When Wood is not fishing he's attending West Lauderdale School or hunting for deer and turkey. He has already become proficient at harvesting bucks and the last couple of years has taken his limit of gobblers. That's not too bad for a young lad of only 12.
While Tyler prefers catch and release fishing for bass, he's pretty good at landing really big fish, even fish almost as big as himself. If you want to find out how to catch a big catfish then you might give Tyler a call. He might not tell you exactly where to go, but he can sure tell you a thing or two about landing big fish.