Published: July 23, 2009 10:21 pm         

Clayton gets the 'big one'

Clayton gets the 'big one'

Dalton’s Ben Clayton, a veteran outdoorsman, had been away from fishing for years but at the urging of friends returned to one of his favorite pastimes about three months ago.

Earlier this month, Clayton realized every fisherman’s dream by reeling in the catch of a lifetime.

While fishing with longtime buddies Buddy Marchman and Dale Puryear, who talked him into ending his fishing hiatus, Clayton landed a 49-pound, 10-ounce blue catfish on the Tennessee River just below Chickamauga Dam in Chattanooga.

“The biggest fish I ever caught before this one was about a 4-pounder,” Clayton said Thursday. “I never seen a fish like that one except on television.”

It took Clayton, who was using a rod and reel, bait and standing in a boat provided by Marchman, 18 minutes to land the giant catfish.

“After it hit Dale thought my hook was hung up on the bottom,” Clayton said. “I said, ‘I don’t think so, the line is moving.’ My buddies said somebody hooked one like it up there a week or so before me, but they didn’t get it in the boat. It broke their line.”

Clayton said he was using a 20-pound test line.

“It just shows you that an amateur can catch a fish like that,” the 69-year-old Clayton said. “I just proved it. I was just in the right place at the right time when I dropped that hook because there were guys fishing all around us.”

Clayton’s big haul was far from the Tennessee record for a blue catfish. According to the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency Web site, the biggest fish landed in that species was a 112-pounder caught in the Cumberland River on June 7, 1998.

“I’ve heard for a long time they got some big ones up there,” Clayton said. “Somebody told me that fish I caught had probably been in the river for 30 years.”

Clayton grew up with four brothers, but he was the only one who had an interest in hunting and fishing. He took up hunting when he was 8 but “it was a long time before I took up fishing.”

One of Clayton’s favorite fishing buddies is his 12-year-old granddaughter, Tyler McCollum. In fact, Clayton said the youngster is a better fisherman than him.

“We went up to the lake one day and she caught nine catfish and I got four,” he said.

Clayton’s return to fishing coincided with the closing of a used car lot in which he was a partner with Harold Landers. With the sluggish economy, Clayton said the business was not making money and the two decided to “close it down and do something else.”

While not ready to retire, Clayton said he’s getting back into the carpentry business and has a couple of jobs about to start up in a few days.

So, has he built a special place to hang the big catch on his wall at home?

“I generally turn back fish I catch,” Clayton said. “But a guy from South Georgia wanted to take that big one home with him, and I gave it to him. He packed it in ice and headed home.”

     

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