Eight year old Grayson Silver already has the skills of a fisherman many times his age. Not only does he catch giant fish, he knows how to tell a whopper of a fish story.
After landing a 42-inch blue catfish at a five-acre pond in Junction City, Kansas, the young man told reporters, “We brought it home and kept it in our fish tank inside for a few days and fed it, but it started to get lonely, so we returned him to the pond.”
Sounds good…except it wasn’t true, said his uncle, Mike Edmonson, who was fishing with him.
THE FIB
“That’s a kid’s fish story,” Edmonson said. “We took a few pictures, then let the fish go for someone else to have a chance to catch it.
“He went to school the day after he caught that fish (in August) and he was excited, so he just made up a few things. He’s a storyteller.”
One thing he didn’t have to fib about was the size of his unlikely catch. Edmonson, an avid fisherman himself, measured the big blue cat, then let Silver release the fish.
So began a whirlwind of attention that Silver is basking in. “It really is crazy how famous I am,” the youngster told Wired2Fish. “I go to the grocery store with my mom and people say, ‘You’re the kid who caught that big fish.’
“It feels so good to be a fishing celebrity because that’s what I want to do. I want to be a YouTube star when I get a little older.”
FAMILY FISHING ADVENTURES
He’s off to a good start. What started off as a leisurely summer day of fishing with his uncle turned into an experience that captured the attention of many.
Silver and his family live in Germany, where his mom’s husband is stationed at an Army base. He and his mom, Ella Cross, returned to Kansas in August to visit Edmonson and other friends and family.
While there, Edmonson took Silver under his wing, making sure he got outdoors as much as he wanted. The two were already fishing buddies. Silver had tagged along when Edmonson caught big catfish on the waters near Junction City.
The third-grader regularly fishes with his mom when her husband is transferred to different Army bases.
“I was just going to let Grayson and my daughter, who is a first grader, explore, chase bullfrogs and catch a few bluegills,” Edmonson said. “Homer’s Pond is great for that because it’s so small that I can keep an eye on them. There’s a railing by the place where we fish, so I don’t have to worry about them falling in.”
THE FISH
After the kids caught a few bluegills, Edmonson came up with an idea. He went to his car and got his catfish rod, which was already rigged up. He cut a bluegill into chunks, then baited a hook, and let Silver cast it out.
The rod rested in a holder for an hour and a half before the big catfish showed up. “It didn’t just tap or nibble at the bait,” Edmonson said. “The rod just bent and that fish started peeling off line.”
Silver took the rod out of the holder and the fight was on. In a video Edmonson took, Silver said, ”This is no bluegill” as he fought the fish.
Meanwhile, Uncle Mike stood by, giving advice on how to land the fish. “I had 65-pound braid on that reel, but I was still hoping that fish wouldn’t break the line,” Edmonson said. “If it would have gotten away, Grayson wouldn’t ever want to fish again.”
After a short fight, though, Silver was able to land the fish and the celebration began. Now he is waiting to receive his Master Angler Award from the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks.
THE PLOT THICKENS
Fishermen are still speculating about how a fish of that size got in the kids’ pond to begin with. “My guess is that the fish was caught at Milford Reservoir initially and someone released it into Homer’s Pond,” said Brett Miller, district fisheries biologist for the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks.
Whatever the case, it made for a memorable experience for Grayson and his uncle Mike, who manages several social media pages under the title of Kansas Fishing Outdoors.
Mike hopes to become a guide some day, and he hopes to help other youngsters like his nephew catch the fish of a lifetime.
“Our family loves to fish,” he said. “We have a little family trophy for the biggest fish caught each year.”
“Grayson has been trying to win it ever since we started holding our little competition. I think he might do it this year.”
Check out our comprehensive guide on blue catfish for more info on the natural history of these fish.
