YOUR REGION IN FOCUS
World-Record
Wrestling Match
CAPTION: This article appeared in the February, 1999,
issue of Outdoor Life magazine. The article below,
"World-Record Wrestling Match," was part of "Your Region in
Focus," and appeared on page 95.
World-record stories seem to grow greater with each telling.
Eventually, the conqueror reaches a sublime level of courage and
sagacity that is matched only by comic book heroes.
But here's a first-person tale told by the vanquisher himself
that defies all hyperbole. In his own words, Chuck Bauer describes
how he battled, dragged, and wrestled a possible world-record
channel catfish from a farm pond north of Dallas:
"I was fishing with a friend and his three young boys when we
decided to try to catch some big bass. We started catching
bluegills to use as bait, and after 30 minutes of fishing with the
bluegills we had caught, we towed in some three- to five-pound
bass. But the little boys started begging for even bigger fish. So
after some thought, I said, 'We need some lucky music.' I then
changed the music to a singer I've always found lucky, David Ball.
"I cast out again, and suddenly the line flew off my reel with
tremendous power and speed. Knowing the underwater structure like
the back of my hand, I knew I had to stop the fish fast, because
it was approaching some submerged trees. So I set the hook and the
pole nearly jumped out of my hands. The rod bent and the
12-pound-test was ready to break, so I ran toward the bank pushing
the pole toward the runaway fish. But the line tension was still
high, so I hit the free-spool button and watched the line rip off
the spool.
"The fish continued to steam away like a freight train and I
got nervous because I was down to my last 50 feet, so I jerked the
rod back and set the hook again. That slowed him down and turned
the battle into a tug-of-war -- he would pull the pole down and I
would ease it back up. After several minutes of this, the fish
appeared to be stuck, and all I could think about was a monster
bass that I'd lost in just such a scenario the year before. I
handed the pole to my friend and announced, 'I'm going in after
him.'
"So off went my clothes -- right down to my boxers -- and I
began to swim, following the line. I swam over the logs, out 75
feet to where I was right over him. Then I dove to where I
whatever awaited me 10 feet down. It scared me, it was so big. It
was down there wrapped in some weeds. After several dives I freed
it. Big mistake. Now it began to run again with me holding on. It
dragged me a full 10 feet farther from shore before the line again
went taut. When it stopped, I put my hand in its mouth to get a
better hold -- man, that was stupid. It clamped down hard. It
hurt.
"Then we began to wrestle -- he wanted to go farther out and I
wanted to go in. Finally, I realized that it was a losing battle
because the line was caught. So I yelled for my friend to cut it.
That made all the difference. The big cat, now exhausted, gave up
his struggle and I pulled him in like a lifeguard."
That channel catfish weighed 33 pounds and has been submitted
to the National Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame for possible
certification as a world record on 12-pound-test line. | 
