The sun was overhead by now and the battle with the big fish in hole number one had made Jamil a little hungry, so he decided to have a snack. 

When he was done eating he removed his waders and went into the water in front of hole number two.  This time using a no1 bell sinker he tossed his line far into hole number 2.  

Right away he heard a very loud splashy noise and watched as the slack in his line disappeared into the larger hole. But this time he could move the line to the left or right  and turn the fish from outside the hole.

Jamil quickly learned how to turn the fish around and bring him out of the big hole without scraping his line on the sides of the wall and damaging it.

  The first fish was a catfish!

Jamil's grand father had taught him that catfish like the bottom of lakes, ponds and rivers. they stay in the dark cool areas. So to Jamil it made sense that they would be in the back of the runoff,  it channeled water from the highway overhead into the stream here. 

 After the fish would fall over the waterfall, with the water only being three or four feet deep it heated up quickly when the sun was overhead. The catfish and other species would then go into the tunnel to stay cool the way people go in the shade.

After jamil caught the next catfish as fast as the first, he knew there were a lot of them in the hole and a few would come out of the hole in front of the one he on the line.                                         He smiled as he came up with the next Idea!

These were mostly catfish, and a few bass but other fish had to have fallen over too. he knew there must be another area just past this little pool. 

 When jamil tried to walk further down along the side of the stream. 

He came to a point where there was no path. there was no way to continue, the brush was over seven feet high and was full of thorns and stickers.  jamil did however have an inflatable raft that would be perfect to continue his exploration in at home.

For now he decided to take half of the catfish that he would catch and place them in the water downstream where you could not go any further by land. he knew that by the time he would return with his boat in a few years the fish would be big and ready to be caught!

Jamil caught thirty eight catfish and at least seven were over  nine pounds that day. He used a razor to mark sixteen of the fish before releasing them downstream. 

Now of course he could have been content sitting up there above the fall with all the rest of the people..... just watching the birds, the butterflies and not catching any fish. but this was a day to do what grandpa had said  and "Catch-em out of their Element"

coming soon: A few years later...The return to Gropps Lake with the boat.......

THE SECRET SPOT WHERE I CAUGHT OVER 150 POUNDS OF CATFISH  AT NIGHT, (7) SEVEN OF THEM HAD THE MARK I MADE YEARS EARLIER! 

LITTLE ONE'S IF YOU ARE LUCKY ENOUGH TO HAVE A GRANDDAD TAKE YOU FISHING, PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO WHAT HE TELLS YOU..... BECAUSE THERE IS A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE  OUTSIDE OF THEIR ELEMENT!

Moral of the story is: Things are Not always as they Seem, or Don't always accept things as you see them, instead look a little further, try a little harder and in the end you will be rewarded ....even if all you learn is how things work!

End part I for Home page