ATHENS (KYTX) —The Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center's main stocked fishing pond,
Lake Zebco, covers only about an acre and a half. Walking at a brisk pace, you can circle
it in three or four minutes.
The lake's small size does not give a hint of what monsters lurk beneath its
surface. On the morning of Valentine's Day, Jonathan ("Gonzo") Gonzalez of
Kaufman caught a channel catfish measuring 35.25 inches long and 23 inches in
girth and weighing 18.6 pounds.
Gonzalez, a frequent visitor to TFFC, is a dedicated fly-fisher who
frequently fishes for rainbow trout in TFFC's ponds. As usual, on this occasion
he was targeting rainbows using a five-weight rod and a semi-seal lure in
peacock green.
Gonzalez is a prolific fly-tier who demonstrates his skills at the annual Fly
Fish Texas event at TFFC, scheduled this year for March 9. "A semi-seal fly is
named that because it looks like seal fur," he said. "It's bushy." Gonzalez
first saw the fly in Arizona, where it is used for trout, and now ties the
pattern himself.
"I had seen trout rising on the upper end of the pond near where the
waterfall comes in," Gonzalez revealed. "I cast just past the trout, and the
catfish hit the fly as soon as it hit the water. I suspect he may have been
looking for rainbow trout to eat."
The catfish is his biggest catch on a fly rod, eclipsing the 10.5-pound bass
that was his previous best. How big was it? Well for starters, it is a pending
state fly-rod record for channel catfish as well as a pending state
catch-and-release record. And not surprisingly, it will rank as the Lake Zebco
fly rod and catch-and-release records. It will also garner Gonzalez a Big Fish
Award from Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
"I was pretty lucky," Gonzalez said. "I fish at TFFC a lot, and this was just
icing on the cake."
Jonathan Gonzalez shows off his catch.
