Josh Morris makes fishing accessible to all through The Abyss Catfishing
With a huge smile on his face, John Randall rolls his wheelchair onto the boat dock at the Truman State Park Marina with some help from his friend and neighbor Dustin Russell. Waiting for him is Josh Morris, whose 21-foot Lund Pro V boat is tightly moored to the marina dock with its supercharged 200 horsepower Mercury outboard gently idling.
After handshakes all around, Josh and Dustin hoist John, chair and all, into the deep well of the boat. That’s about the only accommodation Josh has to make for John, who was paralyzed from the waist down after an operation on his back went wrong. Soon Josh has the boat on plane, heading for a spot where he knows the lunkers lurk.
Most Truman Lake fishing guides will point you to the lake’s famous bass or crappie fishing. Not Josh. His quarry is catfish. Make that big catfish. And he hopes to make the lake accessible to people like John, who believed his fishing days were over.
“I thought I would never be out in a boat again,” says John, who is the right-of-way coordinator for Central Missouri Electric Cooperative, Sedalia. “And Josh says, ‘Come on down. I’ll take you fishing. There’s no reason why you can’t get in my boat.’ Once I got in there, I felt safe. And everything was. He had everything set up just right.”
Josh lives just a long cast from Truman State Park in Warsaw, and he has spent much of his life fishing the big lake. He’s fished tournaments and caught his share of lunker bass. But these days it’s catfish that get him excited.
“I do fish for other fish, but I’m head and shoulders into catfish. There’s no doubt about it,” Josh says. “I’m more of a big fish guide, that’s my thing. Don’t get me wrong, we catch a lot of eaters sometimes just trying to catch a big fish. But I’m chasing fish between 20 pounds and infinity.”
Josh started his guide service after losing his job selling boats. It was something he had always wanted to do, but never could when he was working full time. “People would say, ‘Hey, man, I’d like to go fishing sometime.’ People always say that, and then they don’t get called. But I’m the one that’ll call and say, ‘Hey, didn’t you want to go fishing? Well, let’s go tomorrow.’ I used to do it all the time.”
His focus on catfish comes from his desire to see someone else land a huge fish. Catfish offer the most likely chance to do just that. By comparison, the world record for a largemouth bass is 22 pounds, 4 ounces.
“My personal best catfish would eat that thing like a chicken nugget,” Josh says of the 71-pound catfish he pulled from the Missouri River. His largest catfish from Truman Lake is 67 pounds. The Missouri record for a blue catfish is 130 pounds.
“I’ve always just been fascinated by the size they reach,” Josh says. “The fact that a 5-pounder is good to eat, and then somebody will see a 15-pounder and say, ‘Wow, that’s massive.’ What they don’t realize is they get 10 times that size. And it’s just something about putting bait out in mysterious places that you can’t see. The water is usually dark. You can’t see to the bottom. It’s addicting to me.”
Catfishing is a patient and more thoughtful process than fishing for other species where you are constantly casting and retrieving lures. Josh has his boat rigged with stout rod holders. He will bait up to six lines with shad or other live bait, cast the lines and let them sink. Then the wait is on. This allows ample time to ponder life’s mysteries or relive past adventures on the water.
That’s what Josh, John and Dustin were doing when suddenly one of the rods bent. Josh set the hook, passed the rod to John and the fight was on. Just as it looked like John would land what was obviously a big fish, the fish would decide otherwise and line would rush out with a whine of the reel’s drag. Dustin and Josh rushed to clear the other lines from the water as the fish broke the surface, then dove deep in an all-out struggle.
Eventually John brought the fish to the boat and Josh heaved it out of the water with a net. He didn’t weigh it but estimated the blue cat would easily top 30 pounds. After a quick photo, Josh released it to fight again, careful to avoid the painful stings from its fins.
What’s it like to hook a big catfish? Josh says there’s nothing like it.
“It feels like you hooked up to a bus, because it pulls drag and it doesn’t stop,” he says. “It’s shocking how fast the big fish are.”
Adds John: “That’s the biggest darn fish I’ve ever caught, I’m telling you. I didn’t know the big ones fought like that. All that weight, and they are nothing but muscle. It took a lot to get him in the boat. He got me almost out of my wheelchair.”
Josh’s goal is to help others, including people who thought their fishing days were over, experience the adrenaline rush of landing a whopper. He will guide all through the winter unless the lake freezes. His boat has heaters and is enclosed on three sides, making it comfortable in all but the coldest weather. He guides exclusively on Truman Lake now, but plans to add Pomme de Terre Lake and the Missouri River to the list in the future.
“I don’t want to leave this earth without passing my knowledge on to some people,” Josh says. “I enjoy seeing the looks on people’s faces when they start bringing fish in. It’s just a beautiful thing.”
That means a lot to clients like John: “It’s neat that there’s people out there who are willing to take people like me in wheelchairs, or unable to do things like that on their own or don’t have the money to buy a boat. To go out and do things like that with somebody who has the knowledge to take you out and have a good time like that. I had a blast.”
Josh charges $125 per person for five hours of fishing, tackle and bait included. For more information call 660-723-2364 or look for The Abyss Catfishing on Facebook.
