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REPRINTED FROM THE KANSAS CITY STAR
BY: LEE HILL KANANAUGH
BRANSON, MISSOURI
LOCK NESS HAS IT'S NESSIE.
TABLE ROCK LAKE, BUBBA.
FOR YEARS, SCUBA DIVERS AND FISHERMEN HAVE HEARD FABLES OF A 6 FOOT, 200 POUND CATFISH AFFECTIONATELY DUBBED "BUBBA" SWISHING IN THE SHADOWS OF THE 25 STORY TABLE ROCK DAMN.
BUBBA SUPPOSEDLY SWAGGERS THROUGH THE LAKE'S SHALLOWER DEPTHS, LIVING NEAR CURRENTS THAT SUCK BAIT FISH DOWN TO THE DAMN'S TURBUNES. FLAPPING THEIR JAWS, THE BIG CATS HANG OUT TO AMBUSH A MEAL, ALMOST LIKE A HOME DELIVERY OF A FISH-MEAL SMORGASBORED.
OR SO THEY SAY.
DIVER, DICK DALAGER, A DIVING INSTRUCTOR AND HARBOR MASTER AT TABLE ROCK LAKE STATE PARK MARINA, SAID HE SAW BUBBA LAST SUMMER.
DALAGER WAS IN 30 FEET OF WATER, ENJOYING THE COMBINATION OF RARE VISIBILITY AND BRIGHT SUNSHINE, WHEN THE WATERS SUDDENLY TURNED DARK.
HE SAID HE LOOKED UP, THINKING THE SUN HAD PASSED BEHIND A CLOUD, EXCEPT IT WASN'T THE SUN. "I WATCHED A FISHES BELLY SLIDE OVERHEAD."
"NO, I DIDN'T TOUCH HIM......HE LOOKED LIKE HE DIDN'T WANT TO BE TOUCHED."
MARC LEONARD, A BRANSON DIVER SINCE 1978, SAID HE MET BUBBA ONCE ON A DIVE IN 1981.
"AND ONCE WAS ENOUGH," HE SAID.
"FOR YEARS I HEARD THE STORIES FROM OTHER DIVERS ABOUT THE FISH BIG ENOUGH TO "SWALLER" A MAN WHOLE", LEONARD SAID. "I LAUGHED, TOO, UNTIL I SAW HIM. THAT FISH HAD A MOUTH THAT WAS A FOOT ACROSS AND WAS AS LONG AS ME FROM HEAD TO FLIPPER. I STAYED REAL STILL AND HE AMBLED ON BY.....YEAH, IT SCARED ME."
MANY PEOPLE CHORTLE WHEN THEY HEAR ABOUT BUBBA.
SKEPTICS POINT OUT THAT THE WATERY WORLD OF DIVERS IS MAGNIFIED 25 PERCENT BECAUSE OF THE AIR BUBBLES IN FRONT OF THE DIVER'S FACE MASK THAT ACTS LIKE A LENS UNDERWATER. AND WHOPPER FISH STORIES HAVE BEEN SPAWNED THROUGHOUT MISSOURI FROM THE LAKE OF THE OZARKS ALL THE WAY TO THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER SINCE THE DAYS OF MARK TWAIN.
AFTER ALL, NO ONE HAS EVER ACTUALLY CAUGHT A 6-FOOT- LONG FRESHWATER CATFISH. THE LARGEST ON RECORD WAS ONLY 5 FEET 3.
RANDY NOYES, EDITOR FOR THE FISHERIES DIVISION OF THE MISSOIRI DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION IN JEFFERSON CITY, SAYS HE'S HEARD THE STORIES.
"I'VE HEARD EVERYTHING FROM THE SIZE OF A VOLKSWAGON TO 6 FEET LONG", HE SAID. "DO I THINK A 6-FOOTER COULD BE SCOOTING THROUGHT HE MUD THERE? SURE."
"BUT WHEN A FISH GETS UP TO 5 FEET, IT SEEMS HUGE, MONSTROUS. I'VE SEEN ONE THAT LARGE. AND IF YOU'RE DRIFTING IN THE WATER ANYWHERE NEAR A FISH THAT BIG, IT WOULD PROBABLY FEEL LIKE IT COULD SWALLOW YOU UP."
ACCORDING TO THE MISSOURI DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION, THE LARGEST CATFISH ON RECORD WEIGHED 117 POUNDS AND MEASURED 5 FOOT 3 INCHES LONG. CAUGHT IN 1964 IN THE OSAGE RIVER, IT WAS A BLUE CATFISH SNAGGED ON A TROTLINS--------A FISHING LINE STRUNG ACROSS A RIVER WITH BAITED HOOKS.
BUT TO SOME FISHERMEN, TROTLINES DON'T COUNT.
"CATFISH ARE A WORTHY FOE", SAID VIRGIL AGEE, OF CHAMOIS, MISSOURI WHO CHASES CATFISH WITH HIS ROD AND REE. "LET'S PUT IT THIS WAY-------YOU DON'T CATCH A CATFISH, IT CATCHES YOU."
AGEE HAS BEEN FISHING FOR 50 YEARS, AND HE HAS LANDED A COUPLE OF RECORDS IN THE NATIONAL FRESHWATER FISHING HALL OF FAME AND THE INTERNATIONAL GAME FISHING ASSOCIATION. HIS RECORD CATFISH PRESSED THE SCALES AT 100 AND 104 POUNDS. AFTER WEIGHING THEM, HE RELEASED THE FISH.
"I'VE HAD CATS ACTUALLY BEAT ME TOTALLLY PHYSICALLY AND MENTALLY EXHAUSTED. THAT'S PART OF THE GAME.IT GETS YOUR BLOOD PUMPING."
FISH STORIES---- TOLD AND RETOLD----OFTEN GROW ALITTLELARGER. AND IN THE FISHING WORLD, THERE ARE ACCOUNTS OF CATFISH WEIGHING UP TO 250 POUNDS CAUGHT AS FAR BACK AS THE CIVIL WAR.
AGEE HEARD ABOUT A CAT WEIGHING BETWEEN 300 AND 325 POUNDS CAUGHT IN 1890 NEAR MORRISON----8 MILES FROM HIS HOME.
"THAT'S WHY I MOVED HERE," HE SAID. "LANDING A FISH OVER 100 POUNDS IS SOMETHING YOU NEVER FORGET," AGEE SAID.
"IT'S AN EERIE, ALMOST MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE," HE SAID. "YOU SEE ALL SORTS OF THINGS BEFORE THE CATFISH COMES UP. YOU SEE HUGE BUBBLES IN STRANGE FORMATIONS. THAT'S THE WATER'S CHURNING."
"WHEN I GOT MY FIRST ONE, IT SEEMED LIKE IT TOOK HOURS. THEN IT WAS ANOTHER 5 OR 10 SECINDS BEFORE I RECOGNIZED IT AS A FISH. YOUR MIND CAN'T COMPREHEND THAT SOMETHING THAT BIG IS REAL. YOU ALMOST THINK YOU'VE CAUGHT A MONSTER, LIKE LOCH NESS."
AGEE HAS HEARD THE STORIES ABOUT CATFISH BIG ENOUGH TO "SWALLER" A MAN WHOLE." THEY COULD INDEED EXIST," HE SAID, "ESPECIALLY SINCE COMMERCIAL FISHING NETTING WAS BANNED, ALLOWING THE LARGER FISH TO MAKE THEIR WAY INTO SMALLER TRIBUTARIES."
"BUT CATFISH DON'T SCHOOL BECAUSE THEY'D BE FIGHTING OVER THE SAME FOOD. THEY EAT JUST ABOUT ANYTHING, CLAMS, TURTLES, FROGS."
"A MAN?"
"WELL, THEY MIGHT," AGEE SAID. "YOU COULD LOSE A FINGER FROM A BIG CAT. THEY'D DEFINITELY TEAR UP YOUR HAND."
AGEE SAYS HE'S A CATFISH CHASER, LOOKING FOR ONE AT LEAST THE SIZE OF BUBBA. HE ALMOST CAUGHT THE CAT A FEW YEARS AGO, ONE HE ESTIMATES AT WEIGHING 150 POUNDS.
BUT THE FISH GOT AWAY.
"I'LL GET HIM, THOUGH," HE SAID. "IT'S MY LIFE'S MISSION."
THE LAST AGEE SAW OF BUBBA WAS A TRAIL OF STRANGE BUBBLES HEADED UP THE OSAGE RIVER.
PERHAPS IN THE DIRECTION OF TABLE ROCK LAKE.
© 1997 One Missouri Country Girl
