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author: Eric Wagoner
date: '1999-11-03T02:34:44'
draft: false
title: Nothing gets the old ticker
---

[_Nothing gets the old ticker pumping like reaching under submerged rocks and into holes in the river bank hoping to feel something -- like a big fish -- snap shut on your hand._](http://www.tennessean.com/sii/99/06/04/fishgrab04.shtml) I used to know people who would do this in the irrigation ditches of New Mexico and Texas, and saw pictures of the huge fish they pulled out. There is a small ranch between Socorro and Truth & Consequences, New Mexico, that has a catfish head atop each fencepost around the ranch house. Catfish heads that were, on average, the same size as mine.