Saying THV 11’s News Anchor Liz Massey enjoys fishing is no tall fish tale at all. The veteran journalist has snagged some pretty big prizes locally and regionally during her career, including a 2012 Emmy. But, some of her fondest memories include fishing trips where she reeled in whoppers of the swimming variety like a 10-pound catfish on Lake Monticello.

As the cover feature of Little Rock Family's July issue, Editor Heather Bennett visited with Liz about her life and how she became one of the Natural State’s most well-known news personalities and female anglers. In Massey's own words, here's some of her "Honey Hole Memories."

I have so many fish tales I don’t even know where to begin. I’ve fished around the world: Japan, Taiwan, Mexico and the United States. I am not a professional by any means though. My all-time favorite is bream fishing. All I need is a rod and reel, a tube of crickets and I’m good. I can sit in the heat all day long and stare at that bobber.

Back in 2006, I started a segment that’s been extremely popular with viewers called, “Fishin’ with Liz.” We had a contest where viewers sent in their fish tales and the winner received a fishing trip with me. A young boy wrote in saying he didn’t have a fish tale because his dad, who was basically raising him alone, worked all the time. It really touched my heart so I secretly got in touch with his father. I then called in some friends including my good buddy, Steve “Wildman” Wilson with Arkansas Game and Fish and we surprised the boy with his very own fishing trip. I’ll never forget when we woke him up around 4 a.m., I asked him if he knew who I was and he said, “You’re Liz Massey.” I told him to get up because we were going fishing. He was ready in less than a minute. He caught the first fish of the day. I was so excited that he now had his very own fish tale.

I love any lake where the fish are biting, but my favorite lake is and will always be Lake Wallace in south Arkansas. It’s the lake where my husband proposed, and you can always catch fish there too.

Read more from Liz Massey and hear her fishing tales in the digital edition of Little Rock Family.