Jacob Branham (left) and John Bowling Jr. (right)
There are monsters in Lake Springfield. Just ask John Bowling Jr. of Springfield and Jacob Branham of Chatham. On April 22, they pulled a 21.3-pound catfish out of the lake to win the 6th Annual John Montgomery Memorial Catfish Tournament held by the Downtown Rotary Club of Springfield. Bowling and Branham won the tournament last year, too. The contest provides grants to local literacy programs like Fishes and Loaves or Springfield Public Schools’ Early Learning Center. And lest you worry that all of the good catfish are gone after last week’s tournament, every fish caught was weighed and released back into the lake in hopes that they’ll grow even bigger for next year. Plus, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources rates the “catfishing” in Lake Springfield as excellent. The largest blue catfish ever pulled from the lake was an astonishing 81 pounds, and the largest flathead catfish was 60 pounds, DNR says. Maybe we’ll keep our feet on the dock after all. For more information on the John Montgomery Memorial Catfish Tournament, visit http://rotaryfishing.causevox.com.
This article appears in Aug 27 – Sep 2, 2015.
