Note: Jeremy Wade's popular TV series "River Monsters" has introduced millions of viewers around the world to huge, gigantic, killer-size fish. By the way, Jeremy Wade recently recorded a show in Oklahoma with the pastor and members of the Last Chance Baptist Church (Yes, that is the church's name) as they "noodled" (caught bare handed) super size catfish. Some in excess of 75 pounds! Yet, River Monsters existed long, long before the popular TV series.
"Now the Lord had prepared a great fish...." Jonah 1:17
"It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation."
Herman Melville --"Moby Dick"
"Yet it isn't the gold that I'm wanting. So much as just finding the gold." Robert Service---"Spell of the Yukon"
TIGO Frequently Asked Questions:
1. Who or What is TIGO? TIGO is the mystical and legendary fish sought by Tony Frederick (cousin and PCHS underclassman) and me for over one-half of a century. Only our close relatives have been told of this largest of all known fish. Some of them share the passion and wonder of attempting to hook and land this marine monster, this denizen of the deep, this wrecker of tackle and lives, this soul-less creature who delights in tormenting his pursuers.
2. Where has TIGO been sought? We spent countless hours on the fabled Great Graham Creek in this search. We gave names to the spots we primarily fished: The Riffles, The Rocks and The Roots. Even our closest friends and off spring have ever been shown the exact location of these dependable "Honey Holes!"In addition, we fished the famous Scott's Pond, Pete's Pond, Coleman's Pond and a host of lessor known artificially made ponds and lakes.
After graduating from PCHS and leaving home to pursue our dreams didn't stop either of us from pursuing the Leviathan of all fish: TIGO. My search has included crystal clear lakes and mountain streams in So. California; the blue green Pacific Ocean, the warm Mississippi Gulf Coast, the cold rugged reefs of the Bering Sea, the glacier feed streams and lakes of Alaska, the lakes and ponds (called tanks) in Texas, Ohio and Alabama, the fast moving water of the wild Pecos River in New Mexico, the unpredictable tail waters of the White River in Arkansas, picturesque mountain streams in Tennessee and North Carolina, the slow moving clear streams of British Columbia and the Yukon Territory in Canada, the state splitting Colorado River between Arizona and California, over-hyped and under-producing streams in Vermont, the Atlanta Ocean off the coast of Florida and New Jersey, the rivers, lakes and ponds of the Sooner State, AND the lakes on race horse farms near Lexington, lakes such as Cumberland and Herrington, and rivers, especially the Green River in Kentucky.
For it is in the Green River that our grandfather, many uncles and cousins sought TIGO, even though they knew not his name. Tony and I stand upon their shoulders and we are beneficiaries of their trot line and big minnow, early in the morning, cane pole wisdom!
3. Has TIGO ever been caught? NO! Ten Thousand times NO!
4. How can you be so confident TIGO has never been landed?
Please permit me to answer that question with a question.
Do you not believe that the capture of Big Foot, Sasquatch, Yeti or green or grey space aliens would make continuous worldwide news? Ditto TIGO!
5. Have you ever hooked this creature? Many times. Straightened hooks, frayed lines, reels with broken gears, and Ugly Stiks made even more ugly when they are snapped in twain all bear silent testimony to my failed attempts. I take heart in knowing Babe Ruth struck out 1,330 times!
6. Do you think you will ever catch TIGO? As I approach the biblical three score and ten my chances decrease as mortality beckons. I do know that what started as a pleasant pursuit has become an overwhelming passion. Like Sherlock Holmes, I seek my own version of the elusive Professor Moriarty. Tri-focal glasses, dentures, and unexplained aches and pains are all I have achieved in this quest. I have sought answers beyond my own meager understanding. For example:
There are three rivers mentioned in Genesis Chapter 2. Chapters 3 and 4 tell of Adam and Eve being evicted from the beautiful Garden of Eden because of sin and forced to reside in a land East of Eden, where the rivers in Chapter 2 are located. Is it possible TIGO's most distant relatives were contaminated by sin and forced into these rivers? If such is the case,TIGO is a son of Satan! All of this conjecture points to the fact that when I cross chilly Jordon I will no longer have an opportunity to catch this finned villain, because there is no sin in Heaven, and no TIGO!
Many a night as I lay my weary head upon a tear stained pillow, my last conscious thoughts are about catching TIGO. In the morning as I exit the sweat soaked sheets, I immediately start thinking of my ever dwindling opportunities to land earth's most magnificent obsession. Catching this scaled stealthy TIGO is no longer a hobby---it is a terminal, incurable disease! I have often wondered if TIGO has any clue he is so strenuously sought?
7. If you don't catch TIGO, will it ever be landed? I honestly do not know. But I am very sure the angler will be a future relative of the Pecks and Fredericks. Only we who have paid the physical and emotional price are worthy of this catch. This lone angler will briefly admire his catch and gently release it, like Jeremy Wade.His only acknowledgement of victory will be trips to a couple of cemeteries where he will place a golden fish hook upon the tombstones of Glenn & Tony and utter a short prayer of Thanksgiving and ask that we at long last might Rest In Peace!
And if this person ever undergoes a DNA test, I am 100 percent certain that trace amounts of the Green River and the Great Graham Creek will baffle all medical providers!
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