THE UGLY TRUTH

WOUNDED WARRIOR...Matt's sensational cat shows scars from a prior battle.

It has been said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. If that is indeed the case, then whatever it is we are beholdin' might just be pretty ugly! Upon closer inspection, things, or fish, may not be as we envision.Take channel catfish, or instance...big, brawny, tough fighters and delicious on the table. In there own weird way, they can be beautiful. Popular in many areas of the country as both a food and sport fish. I love these critters! But many don't...they're ugly...got whiskers...feed on the bottom. Yet the same can be said for many of our politicians.

LIVER SACS...wrap 'em in cheese cloth & hook 'em up!

Lately, we've gotten into the catfish gig and have had fun with some quality fish. You land some and lose some. Cool thing about these fish is that a variety of household, store bought foods can put them on the bank, or in the boat. Simple chicken livers have been a perenial favorite as have been any kind of fresh cut oily fish. We like to wrap our chicken livers in a cheese cloth 'sac' and then run our hooks through the sac and toss 'em out with no weight. The liver stays on the hook, via the mesh of the cheese cloth, and the cats come runnin'.

Head-on shot of the channel catfish. Say...aaahhhh!

Nicer cats have a pretty big mouth, but we like bite-sized baits that they can easily get in their maw and retain a 2/0 or 4/0 circle hook. No weight, 20 pound braid with a 20 pound mono leader to the snelled hook. European bite alarms help, especially at night, as cats can pick a bait up and move around a lot.

TWILIGHT CATTIE...lean and mean at 28 inches.

Most folks think that cats are exclusively nocturnal, but we have done quite well with some mid-day efforts, too. Here are a couple mug shots from a recent catfish line up...

Nice 6.5 pounder hams it up for the camera.

We removed the hook from this 32 incher and let her swim.

Paul with a nice one from last summer.

Clean looking public water catfish.

Matt seems to have a knack for the big girls!

Yes...some think catfish are ugly, but the truth is...they are one of God's creatures and have their very own quality of beauty. Funny how that works, sometimes, where something that is ugly actually is beautiful and some things that appear to be beautiful are very much ugly. In the same way, sin is almost always at least visually appealing and comes across as 'beautiful'. The deceiver, whom we spoke of in the last blog, was the most beautiful of angels, but fell from heaven and continues to fool many who are not aware of the ugly truth.

Bite alarm tells us when to jump.

As sinful humans, we need an indicator of sorts, a guideline, that will show us the difference between true beauty and false beauty...the 'ugly truth'. The Holy Bible and the word of God is the standard by which we can discern what is, and isn't, beautiful. Truth is, many aspects of my life are very ugly...the jealousy, the lust, the self-centeredness...just to name a few. As a broken down, shell of a man who is completely powerless at times, I find the honest, gut-wrenching testimony of the apostle Paul to be comforting...

'What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord!'   Romans 7: 24-25

Yes, it is comforting to know that all my dirt, all my ugliness, will be as far as the east is from the west and my crimson stains will be washed white as snow. Yes, I am ugly, but I have been made whole and beautiful by a loving Savior named Jesus Christ.  That, my friend, is the beautiful truth!

Even the storm clouds can be beautiful!