WILSON LAKE- A lot of folks in the Shoals area have been spending time on the water here lately with the Covid-19 Coronavirus. Two big fish were caught over the weekend on Wilson Lake, one by a Russellville man and the other by Tuscumbia Attorney, William Hovater.

Hovater must have been expecting to catch something pretty big while fishing from his pier on Alabama Shores, Sunday night, because he used a rod and reel normally reserved for deep-sea fishing.

“I felt a big one get away an hour or so earlier so I was not gonna miss him a second time,” said Hovater when asked why he used the larger rod and reel.

Hovater’s daughter, Alexia, was close by the pier with her dad, around 7 pm, when the whopper catfish took the bait.

“This old boy put up a big fight and seemed to be determined he wasn’t coming in. So I got her to help me hold the dip net,” said Hovater.

Hovater continued, “He was much larger than I first thought but when he started fighting it so hard, I knew he had to be pretty big,”

I asked Hovater what kind of bait he used to catch the 75-pound blue catfish.

“Oh, it was about a four-pound cricket,” said Hovater jokingly.

Another big catfish was caught over the weekend on Wilson Lake.

A Russellville man, pictured above, reportedly caught this 117.2 lb catfish on Saturday.

Both fish, we were told, were thrown back into the water.

By Jeff Roland

ShoalsInsider.com – Keeping You Informed