Michael Cuppett was fishing in a bass tournament with his father on Lake Sinclair in Georgia recently when he hooked into a huge fish that he fought for 20 minutes, a classic sign it was not a bass but a catfish.
“Every time we got it close to the boat, it would pull line back out and it would start once again,” John Cuppett told WMAZ.
Sure enough, it was a flathead catfish, caught on a plastic lizard tossed near a tree.
Once they got it into the boat, they attempted to weigh it, but the fish’s weight broke the scale. It was far too big for the livewell. So they took photos, tossed the catfish back into the lake and continued bass fishing.
Back on shore, Michael showed off his photos of the flathead catfish.
“My friends said that may be the biggest flathead caught at Sinclair, and one pulled it up on their phone and said the record was 36 pounds,” Michael told WMAZ.
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The record is 36 pounds, 11 ounces. Michael’s catfish was estimated to weigh between 35 and 40 pounds, so it might have broken the lake’s decade-old record.
Michael, whose brother passed away from COVID-19 last summer at the age of 35, said Jonathan was looking down on him. He thanked him for the experience.
“He didn’t help us win a tournament, but he definitely threw a curveball at us,” Michael said.
Added John, “I imagine he was laughing, ‘You want a big fish? Well, here you go.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQsEJqZecAU
Photo courtesy of Michael Cuppett.
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