Braden West, senior at Apollo High School has an avid love of all things fishing.  A few weeks ago he took the fishing trip of a lifetime and laid the SMACKDOWN on a huge 51lb catfish.

Braden's mom, Cheri, told me they have a pond on their property and its nothing for Braden to catch a ten pound fish.  He loves fishing.  He has been wanting to take a fishing trip for a while now.

I had to opportunity to talk with Joey Kirby, a member of Smackdown Catfishing and here's what he told me about the trip;

 The trip was a year in the making trying to find the right dates for the water and weather to be nice!
Stacey Gaston (from South Alabama) and I planned the trip so we could be there (North Alabama) Lake Wheeler & Lake Wilson a few days prior to Braden's arrival so we could get a productive plan together.
The first two days we had it all figured out and was positive we could get Braden in to fish often and early.
The Day Prior to Braden's arrival we couldn’t find or catch a fish for nothing!
I let Braden's Father know it was gonna be tough but Braden had been looking to meeting Stacey (From South Alabama) for over a year. We told Braden to Pray for a Blessed Day Of Fishing because conditions were rough.
We told Braden to set His alarm for 4:45 am so we could get out there early.  Well we woke up and Braden had already gotten prepared for the day, he said He set His alarm for 4:38am so He’d be out of our way.   He was set on being out on the water for his first Catch of the day, that was at sunrise
We caught a small fish early then we reeled them in to make the 10 mile or so ride up the lake!
After anchoring down for an hour or so it happened!
The back corner rod slammed in the water and started ripping drag!
Braden's Dad jumped around amazed at what was happening that’s when Braden insisted for everyone to get out of the way!  He was ready to lay the SMACKDOWN on it.
After getting the fish in Braden had made mention that He PRAYED for GOD to let him catch a 50
Or 60 pounder and after weighing the fish it weighed 51 1/2 pounds!

Smackdown Catfishing 3
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Smackdown Catfishing 2
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If you ask Braden about fishing and what he thinks he'll tell ya "You can't catch while you're on the couch!"

He was made an official Smackdown Team Member after his big catch.  You're awesome Braden and congrats on the big catch.

Braden became an official SMACKDOWN Team Member
Braden became an official SMACKDOWN Team Member
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Snakes in Kentucky

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