106-Pound Flathead Catfish in East Texas Noodling
Jul 25, 2021 09:45:05 #
greenfrog
Loc: Central NJ
“Fish Of a Lifetime.” Noodler Grabs 106-Pound Flathead Catfish in East Texas
Levi Bennet wrestled this monster flathead from an East Texas lake; it's one of the biggest ever caught by any fisherman
BY STEVEN HILL | UPDATED JUL 23, 2021 2:00 PM
Hand-fishing in a culvert that runs under an old roadbed submerged in 7 feet of water at the bottom of an East Texas lake, the experienced tournament noodler from Seminole, Oklahoma, was halfway through the 35-foot-long pipe when he encountered a catfish.
“I felt it and got my hand on it, and it was an absolute giant,” he says. “But plain and simple that fish whooped my ass. Just wore me out.”
The catfish escaped out the same end of the culvert that Bennett entered. He followed it out and surfaced. His wife, Kodi Bennett, a three-time winner of the women’s division at the Okie Noodling Tournament, was blocking the opposite end of the pipe with fellow noodler Jimmy Millsap.
“Kodi and Jimmy were both looking at me like I’m an idiot,” Levi Bennett recalls. “I said, ‘He’s gone.’ I was mad.”
“No, he’s right here,” Kodi told her husband. “He just bumped my foot. Get back in there.”
Second Chance Produces 5-Foot-Long Catfish
Turns out the 3-foot-diameter culvert, or “tinhorn” in local parlance, was sheltering two big catfish that July day, and losing the first may have been the best thing that could have happened to Levi Bennett. He dove again, swam toward the far end of the culvert, where a second fish was trying to break through the blockade thrown up by his partners. “My one thought was Don’t screw it up this time,” he says.
Bennett once had an escaping fish smash his face and loosen some teeth, so now when he swims into tight squeezes under boat ramps or inside culverts, he goes in backwards, scuttling like a crawfish, in order to take the shock of any collision with his feet, not his face.
“Out of habit I started in backwards, but I realized that if I was going to catch this fish, I’d better turn around. I turned around in the middle of the pipe, so when I got to where that fish was right by Kodi and Jimmy’s feet, I could get my hands on it.”
Grabbing the fish’s bottom lip with his left hand and the gill plate with his right, he emerged with his biggest catch ever—a 58-inch-long flathead that topped 100 pounds.
“As soon as it broke the surface of the water I knew it was the fish of a lifetime,” says Kodi, whose personal best is a 74-pound. tournament-winner. “I was in amazement. I’ve never seen a fish that big.”
“For some reason she did not want to turn around and fight me and didn’t try to blow out my end of the pipe,” says Bennett, who was using a scuba tank and regulator. “She was bound and determined to get out Kodi and Jimmy’s end. She thrashed a couple of times, but once I got my hands on her it was about over.”
Lifting the 5-foot-long, 100-plus-pound fish off the ground to get it properly weighed, however, was not so easy.
The Flathead Weighed At Least 106 Pounds, Maybe More
“The scale went to 94, then 95, and when it hit 97 I just about dropped it, I was so stinking excited,” Bennett recalls. He knew then that he’d topped a family record of 96 pounds, set by an uncle back in the 1960s, that he’d been told time and again was unbreakable. “At that point, Jimmy says to me, ‘You ain’t even got her off the ground yet,’” Bennett recalls. “I looked down and probably a foot of her tail was still on the ground.”
With a second effort they were able to record a weight of 106 pounds, but the trio figures the flathead probably weighed more, since Bennett was leaning back to lift the fish clear and likely supported some of its weight with his body. They declined to prolong the fish’s stress by searching for an official scale, electing instead to snap a few quick photos before releasing it unharmed.
“You just don’t see fish like that very often,” says Bennett. “To me, it’s not worth killing a fish that big and that old just to have some record.”
“I think we get more thrill out of the experience of it than a record,” Kodi adds. “I don’t know if there’s anybody else out there who’s caught a big fish like that noodling. Just being there for the experience and getting to see a fish like that is all that matters.”
Link: https://www.fieldandstream.com/fishing/record-catfish-noodling-east-texas/
Levi Bennet wrestled this monster flathead from an East Texas lake; it's one of the biggest ever caught by any fisherman
BY STEVEN HILL | UPDATED JUL 23, 2021 2:00 PM
Hand-fishing in a culvert that runs under an old roadbed submerged in 7 feet of water at the bottom of an East Texas lake, the experienced tournament noodler from Seminole, Oklahoma, was halfway through the 35-foot-long pipe when he encountered a catfish.
“I felt it and got my hand on it, and it was an absolute giant,” he says. “But plain and simple that fish whooped my ass. Just wore me out.”
The catfish escaped out the same end of the culvert that Bennett entered. He followed it out and surfaced. His wife, Kodi Bennett, a three-time winner of the women’s division at the Okie Noodling Tournament, was blocking the opposite end of the pipe with fellow noodler Jimmy Millsap.
“Kodi and Jimmy were both looking at me like I’m an idiot,” Levi Bennett recalls. “I said, ‘He’s gone.’ I was mad.”
“No, he’s right here,” Kodi told her husband. “He just bumped my foot. Get back in there.”
Second Chance Produces 5-Foot-Long Catfish
Turns out the 3-foot-diameter culvert, or “tinhorn” in local parlance, was sheltering two big catfish that July day, and losing the first may have been the best thing that could have happened to Levi Bennett. He dove again, swam toward the far end of the culvert, where a second fish was trying to break through the blockade thrown up by his partners. “My one thought was Don’t screw it up this time,” he says.
Bennett once had an escaping fish smash his face and loosen some teeth, so now when he swims into tight squeezes under boat ramps or inside culverts, he goes in backwards, scuttling like a crawfish, in order to take the shock of any collision with his feet, not his face.
“Out of habit I started in backwards, but I realized that if I was going to catch this fish, I’d better turn around. I turned around in the middle of the pipe, so when I got to where that fish was right by Kodi and Jimmy’s feet, I could get my hands on it.”
Grabbing the fish’s bottom lip with his left hand and the gill plate with his right, he emerged with his biggest catch ever—a 58-inch-long flathead that topped 100 pounds.
“As soon as it broke the surface of the water I knew it was the fish of a lifetime,” says Kodi, whose personal best is a 74-pound. tournament-winner. “I was in amazement. I’ve never seen a fish that big.”
“For some reason she did not want to turn around and fight me and didn’t try to blow out my end of the pipe,” says Bennett, who was using a scuba tank and regulator. “She was bound and determined to get out Kodi and Jimmy’s end. She thrashed a couple of times, but once I got my hands on her it was about over.”
Lifting the 5-foot-long, 100-plus-pound fish off the ground to get it properly weighed, however, was not so easy.
The Flathead Weighed At Least 106 Pounds, Maybe More
“The scale went to 94, then 95, and when it hit 97 I just about dropped it, I was so stinking excited,” Bennett recalls. He knew then that he’d topped a family record of 96 pounds, set by an uncle back in the 1960s, that he’d been told time and again was unbreakable. “At that point, Jimmy says to me, ‘You ain’t even got her off the ground yet,’” Bennett recalls. “I looked down and probably a foot of her tail was still on the ground.”
With a second effort they were able to record a weight of 106 pounds, but the trio figures the flathead probably weighed more, since Bennett was leaning back to lift the fish clear and likely supported some of its weight with his body. They declined to prolong the fish’s stress by searching for an official scale, electing instead to snap a few quick photos before releasing it unharmed.
“You just don’t see fish like that very often,” says Bennett. “To me, it’s not worth killing a fish that big and that old just to have some record.”
“I think we get more thrill out of the experience of it than a record,” Kodi adds. “I don’t know if there’s anybody else out there who’s caught a big fish like that noodling. Just being there for the experience and getting to see a fish like that is all that matters.”
Link: https://www.fieldandstream.com/fishing/record-catfish-noodling-east-texas/
Noodler Levi Bennett nabs this emormous 106-pound flathead from an East Texas lake. Levi Bennett
Bennett’s wife, Kodi, a champion tournament noodler, hoists the giant fish. Levi Bennett
Jul 25, 2021 14:25:58 #
Well, A Texas fish and an Okie for noodling experience, what a combo! Just Sayin...RJS
Jul 25, 2021 18:22:36 #
greenfrog wrote:
b “Fish Of a Lifetime.” Noodler Grabs 106-Pound F... (show quote)
True, that is one hell of a 'cat',
but I'll stick to rod and reel, thank
you ! Three reasons (especially in the Deep South) for NOT noodling -
1/'Gators
2/BIG snapping turtles
3/cottonmouths/rattlers
Jul 26, 2021 13:43:13 #
Jul 26, 2021 15:04:50 #
Yes, all those three and also beavers! I already know I cannot noodle, grabble, or whatever, I cannot stand to dive down in muddy water and event touch a catfish, whether 1 lb. or 100 lbs. Just Sayin...RJS
Jul 26, 2021 15:58:51 #
Wow that's one monster fish. That's awesome! Way to go Levi Bennett. Thanks for sharing green frog. 👍👍👍👏👏👏
Jul 26, 2021 18:55:06 #
Big A... that is no Texas whopper story about the snapping turtles. Used to swim in the in-laws pond. Snakes bothered me a little but when I saw one of those turtles I was done!
Jul 27, 2021 01:04:42 #
NoCal Steve wrote:
Big A... that is no Texas whopper story about the snapping turtles. Used to swim in the in-laws pond. Snakes bothered me a little but when I saw one of those turtles I was done!
I've seen enough photos of
snapping 🐢 turtles (especially
alligator snapping turtles) to know
they can snap a hardwood branch
the size of my wrist or ankle !
After watching the TV movie 'Lonesome Dove' where a kid
fell off his horse into a nest of cottonmouths, I won't swim in
any water where they might
be found !
If you want to reply, then register here. Registration is free and your account is created instantly, so you can post right away.