CLEOPATRA II, QUEEN OF THE RED RIVER
Mar 27, 2020 00:52:38 #
The three brothers, triplets in fact, were sitting around the long table in the wrecker company office. Billy Bob, Jim Bob, and Joe Bob. They were all sipping on their favorite brew which they kept well stocked in a large refrigerator in their company office. Their father, named Robert, had been particularly fond of the name Bob and intended to bestow it on his first-born son. However, at the first son's birth, there were two more who arrived almost simultaneously, he could lnto decide which should wear this chosen name so he gave it to all three!
Occasionally, the three men's conversation would be interrupted by the voice on the police radio scanner with the need of some wrecker service along I-35, the interstate that ran through their town. In fact, it ran all the way from Laredo, Texas, up to the Canadian border. In their town of Thackerville, Oklahoma, there was always a lot of business since they were just over the state line in OK.
This morning their conversation was all about a recent boating accident that had happened a few days ago on Lake Texoma which was just a few miles east of them on Red River that divided Oklahoma and Texas. What caught their attention was one boater had not been found and was still missing. What was more puzzling was a diver had been called to search for the missing boater and had been asked to search the deepest part of Lake Texoma in the lake above the dam, which was more than 100 feet deep at its deepest part. The diver had gone down and came back to the surface and refused to make any more dives.
The diver, who was known to both competent and a no-nonsense individual said he had encountered the largest catfish he had ever seen down at the bottom of the lake. One, in fact, had approached him, and after looking him over, had in by flaring its gills and opening its huge mouth, had swallowed him up to his waist in the maw of this giant catfish. He said he was absolutely panicked but then just as suddenly, the fish spit him out. He didn't know whether it was the metal tanks on his back or the sudden expulsion of air bubbles from his mask that caused the catfish to release him. But regardless, he was not going back down there.
It was the diver's opinion that these catfish were the largest he had ever seen and they looked like large tree trunks of small submarines, longer than a man's body. He estimated the largest was at least 10 to 12 feet long and weighed as much as 1,000 pounds! The one that has tried to swallow him wasn't even the largest of those he saw. He suggested that if the lost boater's body did not resurface on its own accord, one of the monster catfish had probably swallowed it.
Now all three brothers had matriculated from the eighth grade and Billy Bob had even gone a year or two to high school, so they considered themselves educated. Billy Bob flipped open his laptop and Googled information about the largest catfish ever captured and found that it was a flat head catfish taken from the Mekong Delta, Viet Nam and it weighed 648 pounds! So they reasoned that it was that larger catfish could exist under the right conditions of both the food and environment at the bottom of Lake Texoma. But whether they got as big as large trees or submarines remained to be determined.
Now they weren't satisfied just talking about large catfish since they already had considerable experience with "noodling" or "grappling" catfish in both Red River and other streams and lakes in their area. As teenagers, they had regularly enjoyed the sport of slowly drifting along with the current, seeking any large hole under a pile of drift wood a large catfish would choose for its den. There were also places where concrete rip-rap had been dumped to stop bank erosion that also provided excellent nesting dens. These catfish would be between 25 to 40 pounds in size and would offer a challenging fight to anyone trying to grab them with bare hands and bring them to the surface. The boys would often proudly display the scars and scratches on their arms and hand from the result of wrestling a large cat! It was a local badge of honor. This type of fishing was legal in Oklahoma, but not in Texas. In fact there were many things "not illegal" in OK, that were in Texas even to the extent that around Thackerville, "you didn't get caught, its not illegal! i
Since they had just received delivery of a huge wrecker truck, intended to be used to help disabled tractor-trailor rigs on the Interstate, they decided to rig it to capture one of those monster catfish. Instead of normal gear, they installed a reel that was filled with 1,000 feet of 1/2 inch wire rope, or cable with a tensile strength of 20,000 pounds. In addition, Joe Bob got busy in designing a special device to replace the need for a large hook. He also coined the name Cleopatra II, for the catfish. Since Cleopatra was queen of the Nile, Cleopatra II would be queen of the Red River.
What Joe Bob planned was to use a device with two hydraulic jacks that would be fitted on either end of a metal bar and electrically actuated. All this would be placed in the body of a large hog carcass, since these were readily obainable and should make a satisfactory meal. The idea was once inside the mouth of the Queen these hydraulic jacks would be activated, causing the jaws of the fish to be forced down, making the fish become paralyzed and easier to capture.
Since the dam that impounded the lake at Texoma had a service road leading down to the intake area on the Oklahoma side, that is where they decided to park their special wrecker rig to begin angling for the Queen Cleopatra II. However, to be sure the three Bob's were really attempting to catch a truly huge catfish, they contacted Joe, who was not only a technology buff, but had a large runabout boat that had every conceivable electronic device. It had radar, sonar, side-scan sonar that could record videos of actual images of any large fish at the bottom of the lake.They commissioned Joe's help to determine for sure there were really large catfish in Lake Texoma.
This Joe was able to do, and he verified some very large catfish were at the bottom of Lake Texoma. So, after rigging everything, and having killed a hog several days before, allowing it to age for about a week, they were ready. Hidden inside the carcass were the jacks, Joe took the the entire assembly and slowly motored out with the cable slowly spooling out from the wrecker on shore. Once over the target area and watching to be sure Cleopatra II was presented with her exclusive dinner, Joe lowered the hog on the cable down into the depths, she was served with one of a kind banquet, never before seen by any of these lake catfish.
At the same time, as extra insurance, Joe also lowered some electric devices, similar to the old 1940's crank telephones, that when actuated, would sen out electric shocks to the fish, so he could keep other fish away from Cleopatra II, and encourage her, or if necessary stun her making her less able to resist being captured by the wire rope and immobilizing device in her jaws. Upon being presented with the porcine banquet, Cleopatra II inspected the offering for a minute or two before gulping down in a single swallow. Upon his signal, Jim Bob immediately actuated the jacks to paralyze Cleopatra's jaws. This proved to be only partially successful,since it did not completely paralzye her jaws as intended. Then to their surprise, Cleopatra's battling being captured so fiercely, the wrecking truck's front end was raised off the gound due to her strong resistance. Fortunately, the three Bobs' had a contingency plan. Jim Bob brought another wrecker and quickly hitched it to the front of the first truck to anchor both firmly to the road.
It was fortunate that Joe had provided the electric paddles that sent an electric shock charge near Cleopatra II, so she was momentarily incapacitated by the current and was quickly and safely hoisted from the bottom of the lake to the surface to the delight of both the fishermen and the assembled crowd when Cleopatra was lifted from the water.
Now news of this magnitude cannot be hidden for long. T.V. crews from local stations, and one as far away as Dallas were on hand to record the possible finding of the lost boater. All this activity also drew the interest of the Texas Game and Fish Commission, whose agents quickly began writing a number of tickets for various infractions of the law. Some of these were fishing without a license, using illegal electric shocking devices, the Mann Act, ( transporting females across state lines for illegal or immoral purposes)and others not specified. Most of these were dropped when the three Bob's agreed to donate Cleopatra II to either the Texas A. & M. Marine center in Galveston, or the University of Texas Marine Lab in Corpus Christi, Texas. And all this because th boys had decided to give Cleopatra II a breather by lowering her slowly into the shallow water on the Texas side.
Texas A.& M. won the contest since they already had a truck in the area to collect three large male catfish and take them to Galveston. Be a stroke of good fortune, they had a rig that would haul all these fish in a large fresh water tank, equipped with an aeration system to continually add oxygen enriched water to the tank during their transport. The three new males obviously had to be named when added to Cleopatra II's court. So she bequeathed the 25 pound channel cat as S, the 40 pound yellow catfish as B, and the 65 pound Blue Catfish as D!
The news of Cleopatra II's capture was an exceptional news event. Not only would she be able to produce many thousands, even millions, of baby catfish, but also be a tremendous draw for tourists anxious to come and such a huge fish. The largest catfish ever to be captured and kept alive and on exhibition. People were calling already to find out when she would be on exhibit, anxious to visit. After all, things are bigger in Texas!
The trip by truck transport was uneventful, and upon arrival all three male catfish were hoisted out of the truck into a separate pool by means of a large crane and canvas sling. However, for Cleopatra II, due to her enormous size, they decided to be more careful because the canvas sling might not be adequate. To ease her into her own pond, they decided the proper method would be to simply raise the front of the truck, allow the back to open and all the water and Cleopatra II to slowly flow into her new home.
Unfortunately, simple plans can lead to unforeseen and complicated failures. Unexpectedly, due to the unanticipated hydraulic overload as the water began to pour over into the holding pond, the rush of water, along with Cleopatra II, suddenly lunged forward and broke the retaining wall of her holding pond. Now she, the load of water being unloaded,and pond water all flood down the slope of the island into Galveston Bay. It took a few minutes for Cleopatra II to get her bearings, but while she was a fresh water catfish, suddenly finding herself in the bay with salt water, but fortunately, there had been a lot of spring rains and the fresh water entering the bay their confluence had not mixed. There was several feet of salt water and above it was several feet of fresh water. Now as a matte of routine procedure, one of her Aggie attendants had affixed a transponder to her dorsal fin before her being loaded at Texoma, for the purpose of monitoring her vital signs, they were able track her progress in Galveston Bay.
It was commonly expected she would swim directly to the flood of fresh water coming down from the Trinity River, but that was not what she chose. Instead, she chose to swim Eastward in the Inter Coastal Canal and then northward in the Sabine River, headed upstream. That was the last time they any idea of what and where Cleopatra II was going, because about this time the transponder battery's failed. This cascading of events puzzled everyone. How did she know, how could she possibly know that the Trinity River had dams that would have blocked her progress? Was there some trace taste in the water? How could she possibly know? I was a mystery!
However, it was all a fun adventure for Cleopatra II, to be free of the confines of the truck then into the open waters of Galveston Bay. She had some small regret at the loss of her male companions that she had immediately accepted as her queenly right. She missed them, not only because they kept her company, and would on occasion nuzzle up against her and give her a feeling of importance and assurance of her regal status. However, in catfish language which is much more telepathic and intuitive than verbal, she recalled their she had lovingly bestowed: Simple names, like S stood for Snack, B which stood for Brunch, and D which stood for Dinner! But being free was much more important, She was sure she could find another meal! Just Sayin...RJS
Occasionally, the three men's conversation would be interrupted by the voice on the police radio scanner with the need of some wrecker service along I-35, the interstate that ran through their town. In fact, it ran all the way from Laredo, Texas, up to the Canadian border. In their town of Thackerville, Oklahoma, there was always a lot of business since they were just over the state line in OK.
This morning their conversation was all about a recent boating accident that had happened a few days ago on Lake Texoma which was just a few miles east of them on Red River that divided Oklahoma and Texas. What caught their attention was one boater had not been found and was still missing. What was more puzzling was a diver had been called to search for the missing boater and had been asked to search the deepest part of Lake Texoma in the lake above the dam, which was more than 100 feet deep at its deepest part. The diver had gone down and came back to the surface and refused to make any more dives.
The diver, who was known to both competent and a no-nonsense individual said he had encountered the largest catfish he had ever seen down at the bottom of the lake. One, in fact, had approached him, and after looking him over, had in by flaring its gills and opening its huge mouth, had swallowed him up to his waist in the maw of this giant catfish. He said he was absolutely panicked but then just as suddenly, the fish spit him out. He didn't know whether it was the metal tanks on his back or the sudden expulsion of air bubbles from his mask that caused the catfish to release him. But regardless, he was not going back down there.
It was the diver's opinion that these catfish were the largest he had ever seen and they looked like large tree trunks of small submarines, longer than a man's body. He estimated the largest was at least 10 to 12 feet long and weighed as much as 1,000 pounds! The one that has tried to swallow him wasn't even the largest of those he saw. He suggested that if the lost boater's body did not resurface on its own accord, one of the monster catfish had probably swallowed it.
Now all three brothers had matriculated from the eighth grade and Billy Bob had even gone a year or two to high school, so they considered themselves educated. Billy Bob flipped open his laptop and Googled information about the largest catfish ever captured and found that it was a flat head catfish taken from the Mekong Delta, Viet Nam and it weighed 648 pounds! So they reasoned that it was that larger catfish could exist under the right conditions of both the food and environment at the bottom of Lake Texoma. But whether they got as big as large trees or submarines remained to be determined.
Now they weren't satisfied just talking about large catfish since they already had considerable experience with "noodling" or "grappling" catfish in both Red River and other streams and lakes in their area. As teenagers, they had regularly enjoyed the sport of slowly drifting along with the current, seeking any large hole under a pile of drift wood a large catfish would choose for its den. There were also places where concrete rip-rap had been dumped to stop bank erosion that also provided excellent nesting dens. These catfish would be between 25 to 40 pounds in size and would offer a challenging fight to anyone trying to grab them with bare hands and bring them to the surface. The boys would often proudly display the scars and scratches on their arms and hand from the result of wrestling a large cat! It was a local badge of honor. This type of fishing was legal in Oklahoma, but not in Texas. In fact there were many things "not illegal" in OK, that were in Texas even to the extent that around Thackerville, "you didn't get caught, its not illegal! i
Since they had just received delivery of a huge wrecker truck, intended to be used to help disabled tractor-trailor rigs on the Interstate, they decided to rig it to capture one of those monster catfish. Instead of normal gear, they installed a reel that was filled with 1,000 feet of 1/2 inch wire rope, or cable with a tensile strength of 20,000 pounds. In addition, Joe Bob got busy in designing a special device to replace the need for a large hook. He also coined the name Cleopatra II, for the catfish. Since Cleopatra was queen of the Nile, Cleopatra II would be queen of the Red River.
What Joe Bob planned was to use a device with two hydraulic jacks that would be fitted on either end of a metal bar and electrically actuated. All this would be placed in the body of a large hog carcass, since these were readily obainable and should make a satisfactory meal. The idea was once inside the mouth of the Queen these hydraulic jacks would be activated, causing the jaws of the fish to be forced down, making the fish become paralyzed and easier to capture.
Since the dam that impounded the lake at Texoma had a service road leading down to the intake area on the Oklahoma side, that is where they decided to park their special wrecker rig to begin angling for the Queen Cleopatra II. However, to be sure the three Bob's were really attempting to catch a truly huge catfish, they contacted Joe, who was not only a technology buff, but had a large runabout boat that had every conceivable electronic device. It had radar, sonar, side-scan sonar that could record videos of actual images of any large fish at the bottom of the lake.They commissioned Joe's help to determine for sure there were really large catfish in Lake Texoma.
This Joe was able to do, and he verified some very large catfish were at the bottom of Lake Texoma. So, after rigging everything, and having killed a hog several days before, allowing it to age for about a week, they were ready. Hidden inside the carcass were the jacks, Joe took the the entire assembly and slowly motored out with the cable slowly spooling out from the wrecker on shore. Once over the target area and watching to be sure Cleopatra II was presented with her exclusive dinner, Joe lowered the hog on the cable down into the depths, she was served with one of a kind banquet, never before seen by any of these lake catfish.
At the same time, as extra insurance, Joe also lowered some electric devices, similar to the old 1940's crank telephones, that when actuated, would sen out electric shocks to the fish, so he could keep other fish away from Cleopatra II, and encourage her, or if necessary stun her making her less able to resist being captured by the wire rope and immobilizing device in her jaws. Upon being presented with the porcine banquet, Cleopatra II inspected the offering for a minute or two before gulping down in a single swallow. Upon his signal, Jim Bob immediately actuated the jacks to paralyze Cleopatra's jaws. This proved to be only partially successful,since it did not completely paralzye her jaws as intended. Then to their surprise, Cleopatra's battling being captured so fiercely, the wrecking truck's front end was raised off the gound due to her strong resistance. Fortunately, the three Bobs' had a contingency plan. Jim Bob brought another wrecker and quickly hitched it to the front of the first truck to anchor both firmly to the road.
It was fortunate that Joe had provided the electric paddles that sent an electric shock charge near Cleopatra II, so she was momentarily incapacitated by the current and was quickly and safely hoisted from the bottom of the lake to the surface to the delight of both the fishermen and the assembled crowd when Cleopatra was lifted from the water.
Now news of this magnitude cannot be hidden for long. T.V. crews from local stations, and one as far away as Dallas were on hand to record the possible finding of the lost boater. All this activity also drew the interest of the Texas Game and Fish Commission, whose agents quickly began writing a number of tickets for various infractions of the law. Some of these were fishing without a license, using illegal electric shocking devices, the Mann Act, ( transporting females across state lines for illegal or immoral purposes)and others not specified. Most of these were dropped when the three Bob's agreed to donate Cleopatra II to either the Texas A. & M. Marine center in Galveston, or the University of Texas Marine Lab in Corpus Christi, Texas. And all this because th boys had decided to give Cleopatra II a breather by lowering her slowly into the shallow water on the Texas side.
Texas A.& M. won the contest since they already had a truck in the area to collect three large male catfish and take them to Galveston. Be a stroke of good fortune, they had a rig that would haul all these fish in a large fresh water tank, equipped with an aeration system to continually add oxygen enriched water to the tank during their transport. The three new males obviously had to be named when added to Cleopatra II's court. So she bequeathed the 25 pound channel cat as S, the 40 pound yellow catfish as B, and the 65 pound Blue Catfish as D!
The news of Cleopatra II's capture was an exceptional news event. Not only would she be able to produce many thousands, even millions, of baby catfish, but also be a tremendous draw for tourists anxious to come and such a huge fish. The largest catfish ever to be captured and kept alive and on exhibition. People were calling already to find out when she would be on exhibit, anxious to visit. After all, things are bigger in Texas!
The trip by truck transport was uneventful, and upon arrival all three male catfish were hoisted out of the truck into a separate pool by means of a large crane and canvas sling. However, for Cleopatra II, due to her enormous size, they decided to be more careful because the canvas sling might not be adequate. To ease her into her own pond, they decided the proper method would be to simply raise the front of the truck, allow the back to open and all the water and Cleopatra II to slowly flow into her new home.
Unfortunately, simple plans can lead to unforeseen and complicated failures. Unexpectedly, due to the unanticipated hydraulic overload as the water began to pour over into the holding pond, the rush of water, along with Cleopatra II, suddenly lunged forward and broke the retaining wall of her holding pond. Now she, the load of water being unloaded,and pond water all flood down the slope of the island into Galveston Bay. It took a few minutes for Cleopatra II to get her bearings, but while she was a fresh water catfish, suddenly finding herself in the bay with salt water, but fortunately, there had been a lot of spring rains and the fresh water entering the bay their confluence had not mixed. There was several feet of salt water and above it was several feet of fresh water. Now as a matte of routine procedure, one of her Aggie attendants had affixed a transponder to her dorsal fin before her being loaded at Texoma, for the purpose of monitoring her vital signs, they were able track her progress in Galveston Bay.
It was commonly expected she would swim directly to the flood of fresh water coming down from the Trinity River, but that was not what she chose. Instead, she chose to swim Eastward in the Inter Coastal Canal and then northward in the Sabine River, headed upstream. That was the last time they any idea of what and where Cleopatra II was going, because about this time the transponder battery's failed. This cascading of events puzzled everyone. How did she know, how could she possibly know that the Trinity River had dams that would have blocked her progress? Was there some trace taste in the water? How could she possibly know? I was a mystery!
However, it was all a fun adventure for Cleopatra II, to be free of the confines of the truck then into the open waters of Galveston Bay. She had some small regret at the loss of her male companions that she had immediately accepted as her queenly right. She missed them, not only because they kept her company, and would on occasion nuzzle up against her and give her a feeling of importance and assurance of her regal status. However, in catfish language which is much more telepathic and intuitive than verbal, she recalled their she had lovingly bestowed: Simple names, like S stood for Snack, B which stood for Brunch, and D which stood for Dinner! But being free was much more important, She was sure she could find another meal! Just Sayin...RJS
Mar 27, 2020 22:43:31 #
Sorry to have insulted everyone by submitting such a long article. Heck! After all we, at least most, are in semi-quarantine and social distancing, I would have thought someone would have at least made a comment about my 'Big fish' story. My apologies! Just Saying...RJS
Mar 28, 2020 09:24:18 #
Waterdoglured
Loc: DFW Metro, Lake Grapevine
Hey RJS, I read and enjoyed the story. Keep em coming! đź‘Ťđź‘Ť
Mar 28, 2020 10:16:58 #
Mar 28, 2020 13:20:37 #
Mar 28, 2020 14:02:23 #
Wow! Thank you! For a while there I thought I’d twisted off everyone due to the length. But considering we are all shut ins, or nearly so. Why not! I never mentioned I am also a tail twister! Just sayin...RJS
Mar 28, 2020 14:21:39 #
Mar 28, 2020 14:59:38 #
Robert J Samples wrote:
OH yeah RJS.... Keep em comin' Great story, Thanks......Sorry to have insulted everyone by submitting such a long article. Heck! After all we, at least most, are in semi-quarantine and social distancing, I would have thought someone would have at least made a comment about my 'Big fish' story. My apologies! Just Saying...RJS
Mar 28, 2020 15:11:28 #
Hey, Waterdog! Are you familiar with the Old Bomber waterdog? When that lure was in its testing stage Ike Walker a partner Bomber and I were trolling some prototypes to see if the new larger aluminum bill would wear excessively, and while doing so I caught a bass! It weighed maybe 3 lbs or so but hit so hard the reel turned so fast unspooling it created a callus on my thumb that lasted for years! Just sayin...RJS
Mar 28, 2020 16:01:27 #
Waterdoglured
Loc: DFW Metro, Lake Grapevine
Yes sir. That’s where I came up with the user name. It was supposed to be “ Waterdoglures” but I hit the “d” by accident and ended up with Waterdoglured”. Liked it even better so I just kept it. Been reading the forum pretty much daily since October. You guys are great! I’m located up in BadBobby territory. 🙂
Mar 28, 2020 16:24:04 #
Waterdoglured: you chose a good handle. Those tests of the Waterdog were in June 1957 just after I’d graduated from college and waiting for orders to go into the USAF! I was Ike’s son in law.
Mar 28, 2020 17:04:44 #
Waterdoglured
Loc: DFW Metro, Lake Grapevine
I still fish one or two occasionally. I collect them when I find one. Gainesville is just up I35 from here.
Mar 28, 2020 17:37:31 #
Mar 28, 2020 19:54:45 #
Waterdoglured: Well, I was born in Cooke County, at Bulcher. That was an oilfield right on the very edge of Cooke, and next to Montague County. We got our mail from Muenster and were bussed into Saint Jo for High School. I still have some waterdogs, and also a presentation set in a glass display case. Haven't given any thought about selling them, but would not take them out to fish with, tho.
The current company that owns Bomber, also bought Whopper Stopper and is located in Arkansas, I think. They no longer manufacture any of the original Bomber models made of wood. I have noticed that these old antique lures on Amazon bring a premium price. Just sayin...RJS
The current company that owns Bomber, also bought Whopper Stopper and is located in Arkansas, I think. They no longer manufacture any of the original Bomber models made of wood. I have noticed that these old antique lures on Amazon bring a premium price. Just sayin...RJS
Mar 28, 2020 20:28:36 #
Was waiting to see if that catfish pulled the truck in or the boat when it surfaced. Good story
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