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Years ago I worked in a factory in Colusa Calif. that was a town situated along the middle of the Sacramento River in the Sutter Buttes Basin . There were canal systems as well as some sloughs and many flood diversion systems for the Sac ( river ) as well . On a good rain year some decent flooding would occur and the canals and sloughs would overflow the banks and flood the rice fields as well as parts of the local highway 20 and dozens of county roads . When this would occur the catfish would leave the confines of the canals and sloughs and come up into the floodwaters to feed on the worms that were working up out of the soil . As a result the storm drains in town would back up and some street flooding would occur also .
It wasnt uncommon to be cruising though some 6 inch deep water on a street at the edge of town and see one or more catfish powering its way accross the road heading toward someones lawn accross the street . About 20% of my fellow coworkers were avid outdoorsmen and would brave the floodwaters for some of the best catfishing to be had anywhere . All of the employees we worked with had seen us show up at work with a nice stringer of cats on many occasions and were aware we caught them while standing on the edge of the flooded rice fields just a mere mile from where we worked . I worked the swingshift .
On one of these fine mornings I had caught a good 1/2 dozen Blues and Channels well before time to begin work . I went into town and bought a nice burger, fries and a shake and was reflecting on the day when this crazy idea jumped into my head ( happens a lot ) and quickly finished my lunch and set off to put my plan into motion .
On the main access road to the factory was an intersection where the water stood abou 14 iches deep for about a half block in all directions where the storm drains were flooding . I parked my truck along the curb setting a few feet out into the water and jumped into the back of my truck . I quickly put my rod together and set up my lawn chair and then procceded to cast just a weight out into the water along the curb . Soon after my coworkers started to filter through and several stopped and were laughing asking me what the Hell I was doing . I would just grin , lift up my stringer of cats and point my finger toward the water in front of us . Lord how I wish they would have had smart phones in those days to take pictures of the guys faces .
I have always went a mile out of my way to pull a good spoof on someone and now in retrospect I wonder if maybe I shouldnt have baited a hook ???
