I once heard of a woman who spent 27 hours in labor before her baby was born. My first thought was that I wouldn’t want to spend 27 nonstop hours doing something I like.

 And while I’m almost always up for a fishing trip, there are days when the weather is so nasty or my sinuses are so irritated that fishing isn’t the top item on my agenda.

 That’s why I’m so impressed by the story of Keith Miller – he caught a fish every day of the year in 2009.

 The epic quest began as sort of a joke, says Miller, who is assistant athletic director for compliance at Baylor. But it turned into an incredible test of will and skill.

 After fishing the first few days of last January, Miller joked to his wife that he had caught a fish every day that year. By the end of the second week, with his string of successful days still intact, he once again made the remark.

As the third week of the new year rolled in, Miller began to wonder if such a feat would actually be possible. “Given how fickle fish can be, the crazy Texas weather, and my work, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to do it,” he said. “However, I thought I’d give it a shot and see just how much patience, determination and skill I really had.” 

 His pursuit of a daily fish took him to waters all over Texas, and even a short trip to Wisconsin. Some of his favorite and most reliable places locally are Tradinghouse, Lake Belton, Lake Waco and a number of stock ponds across the area.

 “My best day of the year was in late March,” Miller said . “I put on my wading boots and hiked around some local stock ponds and ended up catching 111 fish on one day. I believe I had 5 bass that went over 5 pounds, and one of them tipped the scale at 7 pounds.”

 Miller had some good trips to Tradinghouse early in the spring, catching some nice bass and hard-fighting redfish. And just before Thanksgiving, he took his only guided trip of the year for striped bass.

 “I went striper fishing with Clay Yadon at Lake Whitney,” he said, “and not only did we catch our limit, but we also boated several large fish. My big one for the day was a 17 1/2 – pounder. It was my first time to catch freshwater stripers so I was very happy. Clay is a fantastic guide.”

 But things weren’t all sunshine and full live-wells. “I’ll never forget some of the nights that I spent out fishing at 11:30 p.m. worried about catching a fish for the day,” Miller said.

 “Between the hot weather, high winds, and cold weather, I never knew what to expect from day to day. It was always a challenge to figure out where the fish would be and what they would bite on,” he said. “Besides the weather, the biggest challenge was the time commitment. Some days I could catch one relatively quickly and other days it could take up to six hours.”

 Even when the fish were biting, sometimes they weren’t the most sought-after species, according to Miller.

 “One of the most frustrating moments was at a tournament on Lake Sam Rayburn. I was competing in the Big Bass Splash and within the first hour of the tournament, I had a monster bite. After fighting it for 15 minutes (while thinking the whole time I was in the prize money) I pulled up a 15-pound gar.”

 Through the course of 2009, Miller caught largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, northern pike, bluegill, red ear sunfish, pumpkinseed, various types of catfish, black crappie, white crappie, white bass, striped bass, yellow perch, rainbow trout, walleye, gar, freshwater red drum and warmouth. 99 percent of the fish he caught were on single-hook lures.

 The warmouth stands out in his mind as one of the more unique catches. A member of the sunfish family, these fish look like a cross between a largemouth bass and a perch. “After a hard rain I caught a warmouth – a pretty rare fish to catch,” he said. “The fish was about 10 inches long and in retrospect, I should have taken better photographs as it would have likely been a record of some sort since there are so few on file.”

 Miller reports finishing out the year successfully, catching a largemouth bass on New Year’s Eve. “My wife, parents, and brother joined me for the last catch,” he said. “I’ve been pretty ill the last few days and fishing was very difficult. My wife was a tremendous help and dedicated her time to helping me feel well enough to get out and fish.”

 To top it all off, she made him a cake in the shape of a fish to celebrate afterward.

 Will he continue the streak? Miller will only say that he caught a nice mess of crappie on New Year’s Day.

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