Every angler dreams of teaching their children how to fish. But one father-daughter outing led one angler to capture a state record-breaking fish, and he did so on his daughter's pink $10 reel.
The fisherman caught his record haul in Wayne County, West Virginia. He hooked a channel catfish while fishing on a pond on his father's farm in South Charleston. John Tyler Rutherford had cast on his daughter's rod to help her out. She's still very much in that beginning phase of learning how to fish. That ended up hooking a 43.51-inch-long, 46.70-pound channel catfish. It's a real teaching moment for his daughter.
The angler hauled in the fish on July 21. He explained that he used worms as bait. He had just cast it out and was sitting with his daughter in his lap. "I got my daughter a little $9.99 pink rod... she's 3 and she can reel them in, but she can't cast it out. So I cast it out for her and I was holding the rod and she was sitting on my lap," he told West Virginia Outdoors.
Angler Pulls Record Fish
"This remarkable achievement highlights the superior quality of West Virginia's fisheries and the dedication of our team in maintaining and enhancing these aquatic resources," McMillion said in the release.
Let's just say that it's a moment that the angler will never forget. It's the perfect capper to a day of fishing between daughter and father. Isn't that pretty special?
