This was a team effort, my wife came out with me when I was using the cast net and we threw a couple of lines out with some large shiners I caught. This fish pulled the rod right out of her hands and into the water, thankfully this time we both had boots and she chased into the water after it...she caught the pole and fought the fish for a minute before shock set in and she didn't know what to do. She handed me the pole and I tried to hand it back, but she threatened to drop it #-o so I fought the fish for a couple of minutes and tried to convince her to finish the fight. Ultimately, she didn't have any interest and this kitty was landed. It was a pretty fun time catching this fish on 12 lb test and a medium action rod. I'm kind of thinking I might get stupid and buy a 6' light action rod and switch to 6 or 8# to catch these cats.