By Trent Rosser

Who, or what, is Meredith Mike? Simple, he is a catfish. But not just any catfish, he is a catfish that has eluded novice and professional fishermen for over 50 years. Meredith Mike has claimed Lake Meredith as his home since the 70s, maybe even the 60s. Legend has it that he was caught in the late 70’s. He was huge and released back into the lake. Another rumor is that he was tattooed with MM on his lips before he was released. Whoever catches him back would receive 1 million dollars. Many people have claimed to have seen Meredith Mike.

With all the tall tales about how much he has grown, he has become a legend in the Texas Panhandle. A diver was said to be close to the dam and Meredith Mike swam up to him. The diver told everyone that he was as big as a Volkswagen (funny how a Volkswagen is compared to fish all around the world). Another has said that he was at least 5 to 6 feet long and must weigh at least 200 pounds. Many people have said that some of the deaths in the lake were a result of Meredith Mike. Pulling people under thinking they are food. But that is very highly unlikely. Catfish have a lifespan of 6 to 60 years, depending on the type of catfish. So could he still be in the lake? The answer is no. Why? Because my friend John Griffin and myself caught him back in 2008.

Now before I go any farther with my story, just remember, this was back in my drinking days!

The summer of 2008 in Amarillo, Texas was just like any other summer. Waking up about 7 or 8 at night, getting ready and going to work for the midnight shift. Coming home in the morning and drinking until I went to sleep around noon. Except for my days off. That is when I went and stayed with friends and partied all the time. One of my good friends is John Griffin, whom I have known since high school. We always have had a lot of fun together.

Unfortunately, in 2008 his mother passed away. He had moved into his mother’s old rent house and took over everything that she had. Since we both worked nights we spent a lot of time there, playing video games, drinking beer and chasing women. Then one day, while at his house, we decided to go fishing. We had no license and not enough gas to go to Lake Meredith, we were determined to have fun. So we went out to his shed and pulled out his kid’s fishing poles — the Snoopy fishing pole and the My Little Pony fishing pole. Then we pulled out our secret weapon: one of his mother’s body pillows. A body pillow is just an oversized pillow, but this one was special. It was about 4 foot long and in the shape and colors of a giant catfish. So we propped the fishing poles against a tree, grabbed some rope and hung the fish from one of the hanging branches. That was not all though, we had to break out our new state of the art flip phone with camera attachment and started taking pictures. We also took pictures of us holding it.

Of course, we bent the pillow up to make it look like it was heavy and had a belly. With plenty of pictures on our phones, we showed everyone that we could. The photos on the phones made it look authentic! One person actually said to us, “Y’all are going to be eating quite a bit of catfish!” For about a month, everyone knew that caught Meredith Mike with a Snoopy fishing pole and a wad of peanut butter! We eventually had to confess that it was just another tall tale of a couple of fishermen that never made it out of the driveway.

Another rumor about Lake Meredith was that there was a plane that crashed and it has never been found. It too was just a rumor, until a few years ago when the drought was so bad that eventually, there was the tail end of a plane sticking out of the water. The plane was found, but not Meredith Mike.

So where is Meredith Mike at now? Is he still alive or has he passed away and is now resting at the bottom of the lake? Has someone caught him or has he actually alluded being caught after all these years?

Meredith Mike is just a legend of Lake Meredith, or is he? No one really knows until he is found again. If a lost plane can resurface after all these years, then maybe Meredith Mike is just waiting for the right time. Then again, he might be like the Loch Ness Monster and maybe he is lost for all of time.

To me though, my friend John and I caught him on that warm summer morning…..with a Snoopy fishing pole and a wad of peanut butter!