Letters To The Editor: July 2016

Sinclair Has The Blues 

Dear GON,

On June 2, my 11-year-old son, Michael, caught an extraordinary blue cat on Lake Sinclair. We already had a great morning and were getting ready to wrap things up when he hooked on a small bream for bait and made his last cast. When the fish hit and the drag screamed, I knew we had something special. I called, “Fish of the day on!”  

Michael fought the fish for about 15 minutes before he got him to the boat, and we got a look at his size. I netted the fish, which still had plenty of fight left, and the catfish broke the net and the line. I had to lunge out and grab the now handle-less net to pull him in. It was short-term chaos!

We took him to Little River Park to get him weighed, but they advised they didn’t have a scale big enough to handle him, and that we would have to drive/transport the fish to find a certified scale big enough for the job. We were not set up to keep a fish that big alive, so we snapped a few pics and turned him loose. We can’t help but wonder if he would’ve been the new lake record, but he lived to fight another day.

Anyway, I thought I would send you a note about this. Michael would be thrilled for the chance to be in GON with his catch. 

Alan Whitfield, Macon

Two left photos: Michael Whitfield, 11, of Macon, with what could have been the new lake record blue cat for Sinclair. Above: The current lake record was caught on May 2, 2016, a 48-lb., 9-oz. beast caught by Brian Fitts.

GON Social Media

Chip Henry, aka @chiphenry22, tweeted on June 5: “The boys dialing their BB guns in @GONMagazine.”

Grant Gaul caught this 9 1/2-lb. bass in Tifton while using a broken fishing pole. Grant goes by grantgaul on Instagram.