Catfish – Page 3 – Syndication Server

Teen angler’s giant blue catfish was a potential record breaker

A 13-year-old Mew Mexico angler landed a 55-pound blue catfish recently at Elephant Butte Lake, and the fish was a potential record breaker.

A 13-year-old Mew Mexico angler reeled up a 55-pound blue catfish recently at Elephant Butte Lake, and the fish was a potential record breaker.

But Alonso Ordaz and his father chose to release the behemoth after obtaining a weight on a hand-held scale rather than try to locate certified scale.

The state record stands at 54 pounds, 4 ounces.

https://www.facebook.com/nmdgf/posts/10160762346399148

Alonso caught the fish using cut shad and a Muddy River Demon Dragon float, according to the New Mexico Department of Game & Fish, which announced the Feb. 22 catch on March 4.

For the sake of comparison, the all-tackle world record for blue catfish stands at 143 pounds. That fish was caught at Virginia’s Kerr Lake in June 2011.

–Image showing Alonso Ordaz with his massive blue catfish is courtesy of the New Mexico Department of Game & Fish

Angler breaks 50-year-old catfish record; catch stirs controversy

A North Carolina angler has broken a state channel catfish record that had stood for 50 years, beating the mark by a mere ounce.

John Stone, an at-large state Wildlife Commissioner, caught the 23-pound, 5-ounce channel catfish last September at a private pond in Moore County.

The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission recently approved Stone’s application and announced the record Sunday on Facebook, drawing criticism in the comments section.

“A record from a private pond. Wow,” reads one comment. “Now if it were public I would say have at it. But when a record comes from private places then they should not be a record.”

Another comment reads: “Well I think the idea that records should only come from public facilities has a resounding following on this post and I have to say that I agree.”

Yet another: “Cheating.”

But the state does recognize record catches from private waters, as long as rules are followed, and some comments were supportive.

“All these complaining because they didn’t catch it,” reads one such remark. “So what if it caught in a private pond, it’s a state record.”

The Wildlife Resources Commission added that Stone was the third angler to set a state catfish record in 2020.

On July 5, Joey Baird landed a record 121-pound, 9-ounce blue catfish at Lake Gaston. On July 20, Tyler Barnes caught a record 78-pound, 14-ounce flathead catfish on the Neuse River.

Stone, of Pinehurst, was using cut bait when the big channel catfish struck. His catch broke a record held by E.J. Bowen since 1970.

Bowen, of Rocky Mount, set the record while fishing at City Lake with his 5-year-old son.

–Image showing John Stone’s record channel catfish is courtesy of the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission

That was no snag; angler lands record flathead catfish

A Maryland angler has become the state’s first record holder for flathead catfish.

Joshua Dixon of Elkton had set out to catch walleye on the Susquehanna River on Dec. 27, but the only takers were flathead catfish.

When the record flathead struck, Dixon thought he had become snagged initially, because there was no movement.

“It was really weird because I thought I snagged a tree,” Dixon stated in a news release issued Wednesday by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. “It didn’t feel like a fish, but after a while it was going crazy.”

The fish measured 50 inches and weighed 57 pounds, qualifying for a vacant record in the state’s invasive species category. The MDNR had set 40 pounds as a minimum mark to qualify for a record.

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Dixon, 34, told For The Win Outdoors that he and a friend were casting swimbaits from shore and had caught more than 30 smaller flathead catfish before the giant fish attacked his lure.

He was using a light spinning outfit in swift river conditions, so landing the flathead was a challenge.

“I barely got it in,” he said. “I thought I was going to break the rod, plus I only had 15-pound-test braid [line] and a 12-pound-test fluorocarbon [leader], and the river was in crazy spill conditions.”

On Dec. 30, before the record was approved, Dixon stated on Facebook: “What a way to cap off my personal goal of 300 days of fishing this year. Pending new MD state record. 57#”

The angler donated fillets from his catch to neighborhood friends.

–Images courtesy of Joshua Dixon

Catfish anglers are shattering records in Georgia

Catfish anglers in Georgia are enjoying a remarkable season as three records have fallen during the past month.

Most notable was the Oct. 17 catch of a 110-pound, 6-ounce blue catfish on the Chattahoochee River, by a visiting angler from Florida.

Tim Trone’s catch – his goal had been merely to land his first 50-pound catfish – shattered the state record by more than 17 pounds.

Tim Trone with Georgia state-record blue catfish

“The tail comes out the water and all I thought was, ‘Man, I got my 50-pound fish. I’ve got the 50-pounder,’ ” Trone told Fox 8 News.

On Oct. 27, Aaron Churchwell, a veteran catfish angler from Rome, Ga., landed a 52-pound, 1-ounce blue catfish on Allatoona Lake in northwestern Georgia.

That smashed a lake record (44 pounds) set on Oct. 10.

Aaron Churchwell with Allatoona Lake-record blue catfish

Churchwell was targeting flathead catfish with live shad, but that wasn’t working so he caught a small channel catfish and used a hunk of its flesh to entice the giant blue catfish.

“I’ve fished Allatoona for about four years now, and there’s one little area on the lake that holds big fish, but they are not easy to catch,” Churchwell told Gon.com. “We mark them there all the time, but you just can’t get them to eat. We were drifting through, and every time we’d drift across it, we would catch one a little bigger.”

The record-setting catfish was kept in a live well overnight and weighed the next day. A state biologist certified the weight before Churchwell released the fish.

The 44-pound blue catfish was caught on live shad by Arturo Medina, who had been fishing for striped bass. The catch narrowly broke the Allatoona Lake record set in 2017.

Medina, who also released his fish, held the record for 17 days.

–Images show Aaron Churchwell (first and third), Tim Trone (second) and Arturo Medina with their giant blue catfish catches

Politician’s most popular Facebook post in years: Teen’s huge catfish

A 13-year-old boy caught the biggest fish of his life, and became a huge hit in a Facebook post by a politician in South Carolina.

A 13-year-old boy caught the biggest fish of his life, a catfish weighing an estimated 36 pounds, and became a big hit in a Facebook post by a politician in South Carolina.

Landon Anthony of Clover caught the catfish while fishing with his grandfather recently on Lake Wylie, according to The Charlotte Observer.

Anthony’s mother, Jennifer Hullett, told the Observer her son threw back the behemoth catfish, knowing a fish that size doesn’t taste as good as smaller ones.

A photo of the fish was posted on a Clover neighborhood site last week and caught the eye of Allison Love, who represents Clover and Lake Wylie on the York County Council, District 2.

Love, who appears to post many topics related to her district, posted the photo on her Facebook page and wrote, “Swimming with the…catfish. Wow! 13-year-old Landon Anthony reeled this in from the depths of Lake Wylie. 36 lbs. I will think about this every time I get in my inner tube from now on. Impressive Landon!”

Others thought so too. The post generated 217 comments and it was shared at least 1,000 times, far more than any other recent posts made by Love.

“It’s been the most popular post on my page in 3½ years,” Love told the Observer on Saturday.

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As a young boy, Anthony was taught how to fish by his father, Johnny Anthony, and they also enjoyed hunting together, Hullett told the Observer. Sadly, Johnny died in a car accident in 2016. Now, Landon fishes with his grandparents and an uncle.

By the looks of things, it appears Landon was taught well.

Commenters on Facebook actually thought the catfish was bigger than the estimate.

“This one looks to be about 50 [pounds]. Amazing that a 13-year-old had the strength to pull this guy in.”

“That looks waaaaaay bigger than 36 lbs.”

“Looks bigger than 36 lbs. Nice catch.”

A nice catch, indeed.

Photo courtesy of Landon Anthony and Jennifer Hullett.

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112-pound blue catfish truly a landmark catch

Wade Kaminski on Friday reeled from the Mississippi River “the fish of a lifetime,” a 5-foot-long blue catfish that weighed 112 pounds.

“This is the one I’ve been chasing my whole life,” Kaminski, who is from St. Charles, Mo., told NBC affiliate KSDK.

He joins a small number of anglers to have landed blue catfish topping 100 pounds. (The Missouri state record is 130 pounds; the world record is a 143-pound blue catfish caught in Virginia’s Kerr Lake in 2011.)

Kaminski told For The Win Outdoors that a longtime goal has been to surpass the 100-pound mark. “Prior to Friday my biggest blue cat was 90 pounds and I knew right away that this fish was much larger,” he said.

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The images, with the 630-foot St. Louis Gateway Arch in the background, certainly show a fish with substantial girth.

Kaminski and Jake Derhake were drift-fishing with skipjack herring as bait when the giant catfish struck at a depth of 30 feet. The battle, on 80-pound-test braided line, lasted about eight minutes.

Their scale topped out at 100 pounds so Kaminski and Derhake motored to a St. Louis guide who was fishing near the Arch and used his scale to obtain an official weight.

The catfish was kept in an aerated live well during transit and released after it was immortalized in photos.

“We want these fish to be around for the next generations or maybe in a couple years to catch this fish again and get the same enjoyment we got today,” Kaminski told KSDK.

–Images courtesy of Wade Kaminski

Angler ‘gathering thoughts’ lands 103-pound catfish

A Tennessee angler who could not find a friend to fish with last Saturday caught one of the largest blue catfish ever caught in the state.

A Tennessee angler who could not find a friend to fish with last Saturday night reeled in one of the largest blue catfish ever caught in the state.

David Anderson’s catch of a 103-pound blue catfish, on a tributary to Nickajack Lake, places him among a small number of anglers around the country who have landed catfish topping 100 pounds.

The catch was only nine pounds shy of the Tennessee record, a 112-pound blue catfish caught on the Cumberland River in June 1998.

The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, which announced Anderson’s catch on Wednesday, stated that he used a nightcrawler as bait and caught the behemoth from the bank of Suck Creek after an hourlong fight on 12-pound monofilament.

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Anderson kept the catfish alive until a friend arrived with a scale early Sunday, then released it back into the creek.

Apparently, he didn’t mind fishing alone or missing out on the state record. He told the TWRA: “Fishing is more than catching for me. It’s my church. It’s my go-to place. It’s my getaway, where I gather my thoughts.”

As he walked the creek’s bank his thoughts were on the estimated 60-pound catfish that he lost when his line broke over Memorial Day weekend.

He hooked the 103-pound catfish just before midnight Saturday. His rod had been lodged securely in the rocks. “It didn’t bump or tug, but literally was jerked out,” Anderson said. “I grabbed it, leaned back and let the drag out.”

Some of his friends watched and joked with him via Facebook Live. “Just pull the fish in,” one of them said.

Anderson said he felt a huge sense of relief when, after reeling the fish close to the bank, it rolled so smoothly into his net.

However, the net broke as he tried hauling the fish into shallow water. “I was not going to let this fish get away after the fight, and I gathered both net and fish and took them to the bank,” he said.

He secured the fish with a rope, thinking it could beat the state record, and waited for a friend to arrive with the scale. “At this point, I just wanted to let it go,” he said. “You just don’t see them this big and I was concerned.”

The catfish was set free within minutes after it was weighed.

Mike Jolly, a TWRA fisheries biologist, estimated the fish to be at least 25 years old.

For the sake of comparison, the International Gamefish Assn. lists as the all-tackle world record a 143-pound blue catfish caught on Kerr Lake in Virginia in 2011.

Monster catfish caught after wild boat chase

A Georgia angler received the surprise of a lifetime when a giant catfish devoured his striped bass lure and led him on a chaotic chase.

A Georgia angler received the surprise of a lifetime when a giant blue catfish devoured his striped bass lure and led him on a 300-yard, 35-minute chase.

Gene Fleming was fishing with his brother-in-law on Goat Rock Lake last Sunday when the unexpected bite occurred. Both anglers had baits on the bottom for catfish, while casting lures with lighter lines for striped bass.

Fleming was using only 8-pound-test line when the 63-pound catfish struck.

“I thought I had hooked the biggest striper I had ever hung,” Fleming, who is from nearby Phenix City, Ala., told Georgia Outdoor News. “When this fish came out of the creek and hit the main channel, he almost stripped me dry.”

There was almost no chance of landing the fish on such light line while anchored, so Billy Leffinghamwell, the brother-in-law, hurriedly pulled anchor and started to reel in the other lines while the catfish plowed down the Chattahoochee River. (Goat Rock Lake is on the river above Columbus.)

“He started reeling as we went, but we were dragging catfish rods behind us, and the catfish was pulling us down river,” Fleming said.

The anglers caught up to the catfish 25 minutes later.

“It took me about 25 minutes just to pull him up to the boat where I could see what he was and another 10 minutes where we could get just his head in the net,” Fleming told Georgia Outdoor News. “It took both of us to get him in the boat.”

The catfish, weighed at Lee’s Crossing Feed and Seed, measured 4 feet, 2 inches, and boasted a 36-inch girth.

For the sake of comparison, the all-tackle world record for blue catfish stands at 143 pounds. But that fish, caught in 2011 at Buggs Island, Va., was landed with 50-pound-test line.

–Image courtesy of Gene Fleming