Fishing can be a rewarding hobby with record catches and time spent enjoying the graces of Mother Nature. Children, however, often lose interest if the activity weakens. It takes a day of catching record numbers or landing a whopper to seal the deal and capture a lifelong love and passion for the sport.
Six-year-old Joel Campo was already hooked on fishing, but after landing a flounder of great size, his love has undoubtedly matured into an obsession he will be forced to feed for the rest of his life.
According to Michael Campo, Joel’s father, the pair decided to travel from French Settlement to Cat Island National Wildlife Refuge in St. Francisville for the Youth Weekend on Oct. 28. Acknowledging that some free time might be available during their hunt, the pair brought dead shrimp in case they wanted to dangle a line. Their love for hunting is matched with the same passion for fishing.
“Joel loves to fish,” Campo said. “He has tied me six to six while bass fishing and using a bait caster.”
A gorgeous flounder
Using a spinning rod setup for catfish fishing, young Joel made several casts and retrieved the dead shrimp that he had outfitted with a heavy weight so it would drag across the bottom. Campo said that every retrieve excited Joel, and with each, he thought he had a fish.
Suddenly, Joel said he had a fish. Expecting it to be a false alarm, Campo soon realized his son had something substantial. When the fish broke the surface of the Mississippi River and was safely landed, the father and son fishing pair were amazed to see what had feasted on young Joel’s dead shrimp.
Campo described it as a “gorgeous flounder.”
“I didn’t have a scale, but I estimate it was somewhere between three and four pounds and at least 22 inches long,” Campo said. “We were absolutely star-struck.”
Campo marveled at catching a saltwater fish so far up the Mississippi River. Cat Island National Wildlife Refuge and the city of St. Francisville reside far from the mouth of the Mississippi River, where saltwater would enter the major freshwater shipping outlet.
Rise in salinity
Campo suggested the flounder made its way so far up the river due to the rise in salinity levels, potentially associated with the saltwater wedge plaguing communities far south and much closer in proximity to the Gulf.
“I was told that the fish should be moving downriver towards the Gulf this time of year,” Campo said. “It seems Joel’s flounder was going the wrong way.”
With such a rare catch, Campo has been attempting to identify if Joel’s flounder broke any records. He has spoken with biologists and the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. So far, no one has been able to tell him if another unsuspecting angler has caught a flounder so far north and of such grand proportions.
“It was a tough release,” Campo said. “We let it go, but this just secured Joel’s love for fishing and hunting. He is just like me.”
