pitbull with a fishing find out! Nighttime chain, begin prowling Jason Mehsikomer with a MONSTER CAT

When I set up the night to fish with Mississippi River catfish guide Chris Tuckner, I somewhat ex­pected to find a huge, burly man with chewing tobacco spit dangling from an unshaven beard and his thumbs hooked in dirty bibs as he sat river­side, feet propped up on a stump and an open case of warm beer sitting at his side. When I envision a big- river catfisherman, this is who I see. Tuck­ner didn't fit into my vision at all. A veteran Mississippi River guide and accomplished walleye tournament fisherman, Tuckner more so fits the mold of the modern walleye angler, with one disparity -- he loves tucking the finesse tackle away, gearing up with rods that could pull a barge up­river and sitting throughout the night hoping to hook into a fish that may leave you wishing you had a bigger boat. I can tell you this: the Mississippi River at night is spooky. As soon as it gets dark, you just cant' shake the creepy feeling you are being watched by something hoping to make a meal out of you. I have no trouble walking in and out of deer stands in the dark, but alone on the river, not this guy. I soon discovered, however, that if you can handle the eerie nature of fish­ing for these fascinating fish, it is like no other kind of fishing you may ever experience. While there may be evenings you can really get into the flatheads, you may spend a good amount of fish­less hours trying to pinpoint a single trophy fish. And as the hours pass, the doubt may begin to grow. Is sit­ting here all this time really worth it? Tuckner and I fished from just before dark until almost 2 a. m. be­fore the fish hit, and let me tell you I have never anticipated a bite more than I did that night. We were fish­ing with five and six inch bullheads hooked right behind the dorsal fin, a mere snack for a big catfish, but Tuckners' bait of choice. As if on cue, each of the bullheads on the four rods we had spread out in the pool began lightly pulling on the lines, moving the clickers on the big bait- casting reels. Something was down there, something I feared was going to reach up and pull me out of the boat. " Now we have some­thing going," said Tuck­ner. " It's only a matter of time." When you're using bait large enough to get the clicker running, and it's actually afraid, you're talk­ing about something big, menacing and confident it's running the show down