How Did We Come About?
A couple of years ago, 2002, I had some friends contact me to ask if they could park their boat behind my house on the river bank. They said they were "hand fishing" and invited me to join in on the fun. I gave them my blessing of leaving their boats for a few days behind my house, but declined their offer to participate. As a couple of days grew into a couple of weeks, I would occasionally make the boat ride with them and watch as the group caught a huge catfish with their bare hands. One very hot, late June day that summer, I decided to swim in the river with them and actually "checked" a box that I knew was empty--just to get "the feel" for what they did.
The very next trip they took, I was there and the water was shallow enough for them to "block" the boxes, and they found a rather large (by my standards at the time) 38 pound flathead catfish. I was well coached on the proper ways to "grab" the fish, and a few breaths later, I boated my first ever fish NOT using a hook and line. From that instant on, I suppose one could say I was HOOKED on hand fishing!
I actually caught a few fish that summer, and helped build several of the boxes that were put out. The following year, I was ready to get more involved. We developed a box building factory of sorts at my house, as it is situated right on the river bank, and I was a full fledged hand grabber or "noodler" as they say in some parts of the country. Sometime that season, introduce Dr. Brad Baugh into the equation, who hand grabbed in his younger years. Dr. Baugh and I became good friends and he made several of the trips that summer. When I would call him to announce a trip, Dr. Baugh would answer his phone, "Hello? Tallahatchie Catfish Production Company." Little did either one of us know at the time, he had just created a monster!
The initial group of guys that introduced me to the sport of hand fishing decided it was time to move to more uncharted waters. That left myself and Dr. Baugh to fish "our" section of the river. Dr. Baugh learned the proper way to construct the wooden boxes that we use and perfected them to be much better than the crude boxes of the early days...one much easier to place and move around in the river. We recruited a couple of friends to help place the new boxes, and the official Tallahatchie Catfish Production Company, TCPC for short, was born.
Because I live on the river and have developed the access point and boat landing, I became President and CEO of TCPC, and due to Dr. Baughs master box building skills and prior knowledge of the river we fish in, he evolved to be Vice President and COO of our newly formed company. Our first board members were the Honorable J. Bubba Steadman and Rev. Jeremy Sims, neither of which is a judge or preacher, but jokingly references were made to such when these fine gentlemen worked so diligently as we situated about 50 boxes in the river.
Tallahatchie Catfish Production Company was further developed when I met master sign maker Mr. Bob Todd, who designed and fabricated a beautiful cedar sign that was installed on the bank of the river reading Tallahatchie Catfish Production Company," with a smaller sign hanging under the main focus proclaiming Redneck Landing," as the boat ramp has been affectionately referred to. Not to be outdone, Dr. Baughs professional circles brought him in contact with a top shelf quality screen printer and he arranged to have TCPC t-shirts made to distribute to our guests who actually catch fish from our boxes.
A few weeks later a couple of additions were made to our Board of Directors and Tallahatchie Catfish Production Company began to grow to new heights. Mr. Brian Montgomery, Esq. moved into a house very close to the TCPC grounds and graciously offered the use of his boat and his geo-spatial knowledge, thus recording the exact location of each and every box and developed a computer based program to track the success of each box that we check. Mrs. Susan Morgan learned of what we were doing, and had been exposed to the sport some years earlier watching her father hand fish on the Mississippi River. Mrs. Morgan petitioned the board to consider her to be added in the position of Secretary / Treasurer for TCPC. After a long and detailed search of the many applicants, she won the title over some very hefty competition, and further proved herself worthy of the position by catching a 22 ½ pound blue cat on her first attempt. Mrs. Morgan took to the challenge of her newly elected position with a vengeance and designed and produced wallet size membership cards for all board members.
Through other relationships of our group, we were contacted about the possibility of having a television camera accompany us on one of our outings. The show is under development now, and our sport will be documented and aired via this media very soon. We seize every opportunity to promote our love of hand fishing and encourage others who wish to participate to do it in a lawful and ethical manner. We dont use SCUBA gear or ropes to tie the fish, just hold our breath, swim to the bottom of the river, and grab the colossal fish with our bare hands. Through these methods, the fish has the highest possibility of escape and the sport is performed in the ultimate of fair chase scenarios. After filming each catch and the subsequent capturing of the moment through still pictures, most of the fish we catch are immediately released back into the river with hopes of catching them again one day.
As often times happens, one thing leads to another and the idea for a website was born. I was asked to write a history of how our company evolved. The ride has been fun, but the innovation and great ideas have all come from a great group of friends with a mutual appreciation for the sport of hand grabbing. TCPC centers around the art of hand fishing, but when you look a little deeper you find that the real catalyst is the bonding of buddies and the closeness of friends sharing experiences and making memories. We hope you and your buddies have as much fun as we have had through the development of Tallahatchie Catfish Production Company.
Chip Davis
President / Chief Executive Officer
Tallahatchie Catfish Production Company
written 2004
I have been asked to update the information about our "company". We have had a lot of changes since our first web site back in 2004. In 2005, we lost two of our members. Brian Montgomery took a job that limited his time on the water, and he graciously gave up his position in the company. His boat, the S.S. Mudcat was retired, after having spent two different episodes on the bottom of the Tallahatchie river. It was sold and is no longer in the company fleet.
Along with the Mudcat, Grabber I and Grabber II, the boats from 2004, were retired after the 2004 season, in favor of two "new" boats with a lot of river experience. These two vessels, now named the No Jinx and the Blue Texan, are very sturdy, 18 foot river boats, equiped with 50 horsepower Tahatsu motors. These vessels served on the Mississippi river before coming over to join the TCPC floatilla. These two boats can carry all of the needed equipment, people, and electronic equipment necessary to keep the operation going.
In late 2004, we lost the Rev. Jeremy Simms. He was called up into service as a member of the National Guard, and served a tour in Iraq, fighting terrorism on the front line. We hated to see Jeremy leave, but were proud to have one of our own serving in the war. Jeremy is now back in the states, is married, and even has a child. He is living in another state at this time, but still remains in contact with our company. We hope to have him visit for a fishing trip this year, and he will be welcomed with open arms.
In 2005, we launched another failed web site. We were all very excited about this venture, but nevertheless, it was out of our hands and never made it up to TCPC standards. Because we love our company, and our sport, we are launching yet another web site in 2006. We hope to keep it updated after each trip with fishing reports, highlights, and as always, pictures in the photo gallery.
Bradley R. Baugh
Vice President/Chief Operations Officer
Master Box Builder
Tallahatchie Catfish Production Company
written 2006