𝗬𝗘𝗦, 𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗘 𝗔𝗥𝗘 𝗛𝗨𝗚𝗘 𝗙𝗜𝗦𝗛 𝗜𝗡 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗔𝗖𝗔~𝗝𝗨𝗦𝗧 𝗟𝗢𝗢𝗞 𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗝𝗢𝗛𝗡 𝗣𝗘𝗔𝗩𝗘𝗬 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗥𝗢𝗕𝗘𝗥𝗧 𝗗𝗢𝗥𝗥𝗜𝗦 𝗖𝗔𝗨𝗚𝗛𝗧 𝗜𝗡 𝟭𝟵𝟯𝟳!!!

By Rene Torres

According to those that fish the channel waters here—there is never a lack of fish to be caught.

Although, there was an exception in 1937 when two Brownsville High School boys returned from an uneventful two days of fishing.

But a bigger disappointment awaited them when they got home. Their neighbor, 12 year old Gene McNair, told them a story about a huge catfish swimming in a lake close to their backyard in West Brownsville.

“We didn’t believe the boy who told us that he had seen this monster fish in the old lake two blocks north and across the highway from the hospital.”

But being the true fishermen that they were— immediately after unloading their tackle they ran to the lake in record time and it wasn’t long before they saw this mysterious fish swimming in the shallow water of the lake.

And no, the boys didn’t need a special rod, lines or lures, for this was no ordinary fish. So John Peavey with spear in hand delivered a striking blow that caused instant death. The prize was a 26 pound catfish, a record setting catch, which measured 3 feet four inches. The young fisherman explained that the previous largest fish caught in the West Brownsville Lake came in at eight pounds.

“The lake was practically dry two summers ago, and we can’t see where this fish came from, since the lake hasn’t any inlets or outlets so far as we could discover,” Robert Dorris, Herald carrier, who accompanied Peavey on his fishing trips, told a reporter.

When asked how he speared the big fish, Peavey said, “We could see it easily and I just threw my gig at him. It didn’t strike, so I had to wade out in the water about to my knees and then I stabbed him.”

The boys believed that no part of the lake which adjoined their residence was over five and half feet deep. Peavey and Dorris received no special honors for their catch—only that intangible feeling of a “thrill.”

The next time you jump in a boat and go fishing—throw a line in the nearby resaca first.

Photo: Robert Dorris left and John Peavey displaying their prize catfish.