Two anglers went on a fishing trip to an Alabama River and ended up making the catch of a lifetime. For some people, the appeal of fishing is hard to understand. Sitting by the water and waiting can seem boring and uneventful.
However, what they fail to grasp is that the quiet and peaceful nature of fishing is what makes it so alluring. Most of the time, it’s a relaxing activity with occasional moments of excitement when a fish bites the bait. The two men must have felt this way when they went fishing and got lucky with their catch.
What they ended up catching, however, was the last thing they expected. There are a lot of appealing aspects about fishing, including the opportunity to spend time outdoors in a relatively peaceful atmosphere.
What makes it really exciting, though, is the moment that you actually catch something. That certainly seemed to be the case during the summer of 2015 in Alabama when Jason Frost and his friend Brandon Key went on what seemed to be an ordinary fishing trip. Until something strange happened.
The sun was just rising as the two buddies spent their Saturday morning out on the Black Warrior River. The water was rather still, and the greenery of the riverbanks looked beautiful in its reflection. It was truly a serene experience. But the beautiful tranquility of the moment was soon interrupted by an unusual sound. The water had remained calm until suddenly the men heard a splash. Though that may have come as a surprise to anyone else, the men initially assumed that it was simply a big fish jumping out of the water.
Soon enough, however, they learned that this wasn’t the case at all. As soon as Jason started to realize what was actually happening, he grabbed his camera and began recording. “Y’all are not gonna believe what’s swimming toward our boat,” he said. By that point, viewers were only treated to the faintest glimpse of the object in the water, but there was definitely some sort of light figure moving toward the boat.
The two men almost couldn’t believe it. Jason then carefully positioned himself at the edge of the boat and started coaxing whatever-it-was towards him. Was it an injured fish? River monster? That was when he realized that it was an animal, and not just any animal – it was a kitten. “This isn’t real,” he said in disbelief. Jason’s friend Brandon couldn’t believe his eyes either. “Never in my life,” he said, stunned.
Not long after that initial shock, however, Brandon noticed yet another extraordinary phenomenon. Immediately, he tried to turn Jason’s attention to this newest development. “Oh, there’s more, Jason!” he exclaimed, clearly still quite startled. “I just saw a kitten jump on the ground!” After being pulled onto the boat, the kitten started to dry off by shaking vigorously as Jason assessed the unusual situation. “Do you hear it?” Brandon asked, his gaze fixed on the second critter coming towards them. “I just saw it jump off in the water.”
Despite the fact that the two fishermen could clearly hear the mewing of the cat, they still couldn’t see him. So Jason kept his focus on the first one. “Never in my life have I seen anything like this,” he repeated. Finally, Brandon spotted the second kitten. “Look, it’s coming right out of the weeds right now,” he said excitedly. “See it?” Shocked, Jason turned the camera back at himself. “This is not the craziest thing y’all have ever seen.”
Amazing as it was, there was no getting around the fact that something terrible must have happened to the cats. “We’re out here trying to fish, and there are cats swimming towards the boat because someone probably put them out here,” said Jason. Jason started to piece together what may have happened. There weren’t any homes nearby, which meant that somebody probably abandoned the waterlogged kittens late last night, forcing them to swim towards the boat in desperation.
The kittens were actually quite lucky, though, because Jason and Brandon were happy to take care of them throughout the rest of the day. They even gave them something to drink and played with them. Other fishermen passing by couldn’t help but find it peculiar that the cats were loving on us, and people went by and thought we were these crazy people who took their cats fishing,” Jason said.
The story didn’t end there. The two fishermen met a family who thought the kittens were too cute to ignore. The family’s two young daughters were especially fond of cats, so the men agreed to let them adopt the animals. Whatever the kittens, now appropriately named Warrior and River, had gone through before, their spur-of-the-moment effort seemed to have paid off. Now, they’re living in a loving forever home and on dry land.
For their part, Jason and Brandon certainly deserve some credit for doing the right thing and putting their fishing plans on hold. They kept a good sense of humor about it too. “This puts a new spin on the term catfishing,” Jason joked. There’s nothing better than seeing tiny animals in trouble getting the help they need. Jason and Brandon sure must be proud, even if these kittens weren’t quite the catch they were looking for.
