6 July 2023
RILEY COUNTY (KSNT) – A little friendly competition between a Topeka mom and daughter may have received some divine intervention during a recent fishing trip.
Anna and Josh Brandt were out on Tuttle Creek Lake on April 8 with their daughter, Aliyah, on a fishing trip with Kurtis Geisler with Geisler Guide Services to spend some time together while casting lines in the water, hoping they would hook something big. The day would prove to be a success for the family as previous personal bests were broken and a lesson on staying humble was learned.
Josh said the family’s fishing trip had taken them to the north end of the lake that day where they were casting in not more than three feet of water. While he had pulled in a few modest fish throughout the day, it would be his daughter who’d end up landing the first big catch of the day.
A photo of Aliyah holding her 44-pound blue catfish. (Photo Courtesy/Josh Brandt)
Anna said her daughter caught a 44-pound blue catfish, defeating her mother’s personal best of a 42-pound catfish and earning bragging rights for the day. Anna said her daughter started making “wisecracks” about who had the biggest fish in the family. The universe must’ve been listening because Anna’s hook was swallowed by another lake giant less than ten minutes later.
“My adrenaline was going so much, it was such a crazy feeling,” Anna said. “It was so heavy. I was out of breath.”
Anna likened her struggle with the catfish to that of larger ocean-bound fish. Her husband offered to give her a hand but she shrugged him off as she wanted to land the catfish with her own strength.
Anna said she remembered little of the effort it took to catch the catfish, only that it leaped out of the water as it got closer to their boat.
“Then when I saw it splash out in front of me, that was when the realization hit that this was going to be a big one,” Anna said.
The massive 62-pound blue catfish was a surprise for Anna, but a welcome one. Not only did it raise the bar for her personal best, but it was also some friendly payback to her daughter.
“My husband said it was karma,” Anna said. “I was kinda like, let’s see who’s got the biggest fish now?”
“I’m a person that has learned the hard way in life to be careful what you say around people because karma has a way of coming back to you,” Josh said. “I’m a firm believer in karma, what goes around comes around.”
Catfish karma it may have been, but it’s all in good fun for the Brandt’s. Josh said fishing trips like these are an excellent way to bring the family together for a good time. If a lesson could be learned from their recent fishing trip, Anna said it would be patience.
“Patience, because fishing is not catching,” Anna said. “You can go out there one day and kill it then catch nothing. Just gotta have patience.”
(Photo Courtesy/Josh Brandt)
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