FRACKVILLE - For hours on Sunday morning, Brayden Lutz, 7, of Shenandoah Heights, stared into the green-tinged waters of Whippoorwill Dam in West Mahanoy Township, watching a catfish swim around and around a baited hook.
"C'mon, catty. Come get it," Lutz said with a breath of frustration just after noon.
Lutz's father, Robert Lutz Jr., 32, was using a concoction that included a bit of chicken liver.
But it seemed the freshwater fish wasn't too interested.
Lutz wasn't the only one feeling a bit of dismay at the South End Field & Stream's Catfish Derby, which began 6 a.m. Saturday and wrapped up at 1 p.m. Sunday.
Carol Eyster, 44, of Frackville, started fishing at 6 a.m. Saturday, went home at 3 a.m. Sunday, then returned at 9:30 a.m. Sunday, determined to catch one of the 10 catfish tagged for cash prizes.
But, she didn't.
Two were tagged for $50 prizes and eight were tagged for $25 prizes, according to Joe Conapinski, president of the South End Field & Stream. According to Conapinski, during the 30-hour event, only one fisherman caught one of those, Brian Mantz, Ashland, who caught one of the catfish tagged for $25.
"The $25 tags were put on fish that were about 16 or 18 inches long. The fish tagged for the $50 prizes were bigger ones, 20-some inches," Conapinski said.
The Whippoorwill Dam, which opened in 1928, is located just off Morea Road in West Mahanoy Township, a half-mile outside of Frackville. Owned by the Borough of Frackville, it's managed by the nonprofit South End Field & Stream Association.
This is the second year South End Field & Stream held the catfish derby, Conapinski said, though it's not an annual event. The first was held in 2012.
The price of admission was $25 per rod or $40 for two rods. A total of 41 people participated in the weekend event. The money benefits the South End Field & Stream, Conapinski said.
Carol Eyster's husband, George, caught a few catfish over the weekend, but none that were tagged for prizes.
"She's usually the one who catches them. But nobody knows when fish are going to bite anyway," Conapinski said.
He gave them to campers on the other side of the dam, Ceasar Saunders, 38, of Shenandoah, Shannon Trautman, 37, of Ashland, and Serenity Mallick, 13, of Ashland.
"He said he had a freezer stocked with them and didn't feel like cleaning them," Saunders said.
Two were "big," Saunders said. There was a 30-inch-long catfish that weighed nine pounds and a 27-inch catfish that weighed eight pounds.
