Luc Surette caught his big catfish on a giant shad he netted while fishing a private oxbow off the Red River.
“I was bass fishing a private oxbow off the Red River near Shreveport—my first time exploring that stretch. Whenever I scout new water, I always bring a cast net. It’s the quickest way to see if a spot will produce good bait for chasing big catfish later.
Well… this place delivered.
On one throw of the net I felt that unmistakable heavy thump in the mesh. When I hauled it in, I realized I’d caught an absolute tank of a shad. Big enough that I had to grab the scale and do a quick Google search for the Louisiana state record. The thing tipped the scale at over two pounds. Right then I knew exactly what had to happen.
I rigged up the biggest circle hook I had, tied to a 40-lb fluorocarbon leader. That went to a three-way swivel with a drifting sinker—simple, but perfect for bouncing big bait along the bottom. I dropped that behemoth shad down so it could thump along the sediment while the fresh current—still ripping from a week of wild weather—slowly pulled my little jon boat down the river.
In the back of my mind I knew there was only one kind of fish that could eat a bait like that: something bordering on a river monster. All I had to do was keep drifting long enough for our paths to cross.
About 90 minutes into the drift, it happened.
The rod loaded up and suddenly something enormous inhaled the bait. The fish surged so hard it literally started towing me—and all 14 feet of my jon boat—down the river. It pulled with such force that the little 18-inch American flag on the back of my boat snapped and whipped in the wind like I was running 30 mph.
After about a 15-minute battle, I finally worked the fish to the boat and landed her. She was every bit the beast I’d imagined while drifting.
Trying to photograph a giant fish alone in a jon boat is a losing battle, and my attempts didn’t do the fish justice. So I called my wife—four times—until she answered and told her to meet me at the ramp.
We snapped a few proper photos, admired the old girl for a moment, and then I slipped her back into the river so she could swim another day.
Some fish you keep.
Fish like that—you remember.”