Tyler Student Lands Huge Catfish

TYLER – An 8th grader at Tyler’s Hogg Middle School has a big fish tale. And this is about one that did not get away. Michael Cazares landed 40.9 lb blue catfish. It was caught in Lake Palestine using the only shad he had. Leaving Michael on shore with the rod and reel, his brother got in their canoe and pulled the line out a good distance away from shore before dropping it in the water. They planned to stay for a while so they tied a bell to the reel so that it would ring when a fish pulled it. Around 11:00pm, Michael heard a ring. Since it was so late, they tied it up in the water so that it wouldn’t die before morning. When the sun came up, Michael and his brother took the giant fish to Athens to have it weighed and then returned and released it back into Lake Palestine.