« Discussion Topic: What Would You Do With $8 Million? | Main | Discussion Topic: Should Schools Offer Hunter Training? »

January 31, 2008



A Record Week: Huge Striper, Largemouth, and Catfish

From The Roanoke Times:
Barnes, a 63-year-old Chesapeake, Va., telephone contractor, apparently shattered the state striper record with a 73-pound giant caught near the 4A Buoy off Cape Henry.

Barnes must yet apply for the record, and that application must be approved by the state record fish committee.

Clay Armstrong currently holds the record for a 68 pound, 1 ounce fish caught off False Cape in early 2006.

From The Washington Times:
On Saturday . . . Woodbine, Md., resident Justin Riley, [competing] in an Anglers Choice winter bass tournament on the tidal Potomac River with his father, Ed, . . . latch[ed] on to an 11-pound, 2.88-ounce largemouth.

By Monday, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources Fisheries dispatched biologists to the store to verify the weight of the bass and officially list it as a state record.

And from The Chattanoogan:
A TWRA Fisheries Biologist recently distributed this e-mail to his counterparts across the state.
"Attached are a couple of photos of a monster blue catfish caught near Greenville, Mississippi by an elderly man who let the fish go after his wife took the pictures. . . . [S]ome catfish anglers guessed it to be at least 150 pounds. It looks like 200 pounds to me. For sure it would have been a new world record."

Anyone know more about this catch?




Ive been catchin and been around big cats all my life and this looks like somehting new!If this is for real I want to know more.

alberta hunter

Thats a serious fish. its head looks about the size of the motor cover. congrats on releasing it but too bad they didnt get better pics etc.


I don't think it is real. You've got to be joking if you say you let a fish like that go. The boat doesn't look like it is owned by someone that doesn't know how to fish. Photoshopped, I think. No way I would put that one back in the water...

Sexy Man

Tht looks like the Fish From Grumpy old men... i dont think it's Photoshopped as for throwing it back maybe He is just a Humble old man who Doesn't really care about any records Thts wht it sounds like to me his wife took the Pics so it sounds like he only cared if she knew and if noybody else does thn it doest really matter.... If my memory serves me right i belive in the movie he threw the fish back as well but i could be wrong


Lhe fish in grumpier old men was a flathead this is a blue cat. like I said Ive seen big catfish but this is something different.

Sexy Man

Thank you for That Greg i Haven't seen tht movie in So long Honestly i just knew it was A catfish i didnt know wht Kind

jon boute

nick wat do you mean the bout doesnt look like it owned by someone who knows how to fish its just a john bout with a beer in the back round.... cat fish hunter??

jon boute

plus he had to release it how would you get a hog like that into the bout??


Man there aint no tellin how old that fish is. A john boat is how you fish for those big fish. guys Im tellin ya I have seen catfish pushin 100 lbs and have seen one 100lbs (Jewel Copeland, blue cat TN river below KY dam)circa late 70 early 80s? this fish is something altogether bigger. dont know how I can be more clear.


in fact i think i see his line and swivel hanging down towards the water, it couldnt have been photoshoped, no one could get that kinda detail

I cach em like dat all the tim in my pond out baxck i tell you wat
was is wife on anuther bout

Roy Martin

If the were on the water I wanna know where she was standing when she took the picture. From that angle she would have been in another boat. My question is why wouldn'tshe have been in the boat with her husband?

Anyway, I'm hoping that this is a real picture. Gives hope to the rest of us out there that fish like this really do exist outside of our dreams.


Not only can you see the swivel but if you look towards the back you can see part of it (tail, body I don't know) under the water. I agree there is no way it could be photo shopped. Besides there is no doubt in my mind when there are catfish that big and bigger. There are reports of people drowning in semi-small lakes that when the divers go down not only can they not find the body but they refuse to go back down because of the huge catfish in the lake. Happened here in Kansas. My father was a volunteer with the fire department when it happened, he didn't dive that day but he knew the guy who did and he said the guy turned a shade of white he had never seen before.

Chad Love

I can hear the creaking bones of urban legend begining to stir...

As for the pic, who knows as to its veracity but I see no biological reason to doubt the possibility of blues that large.

One hundred plus-pound blues are well-documented (anyone know the all-tackle record? 124 pounds or so?) and I'm sure there are larger ones out there.


Well if his wife was in another boat, that means there were more people probably. I would definitely find a way to get that fish in the boat. Maybe one day when I'm as old as this guy, I'll see some point in letting a record fish go. There have been reports of huge blues caught in the Mississippi since colonial times, so I don't doubt that there are fish that big. The points brought up make me want to change my mind, but I'm not sure. I guess I'm just jealous I can't catch blues like that.

Sexy Man

My only question is where are the rest of the Pics Can we please get them on the site i would live to see more of this Fish


the diver story actually started in north carolina at blewett falls lake when a plane crashed in the lake near the dam in 1992, now it is a serious urban legend, blues have only been in that lake since 1966, so i dont believe the story


There are stories like that for every lake. In Lake Murray (SC), divers have said they saw huge catfish and sturgeon. Someone just recently caught a 90 something pound blue out of there, so it's possible there are more that are bigger.

Jerky joe

That is either a realllyyy big catfish or just a large headed catfish and he didn't want us to see the rest orf the body.

Blue Ox

That is one big catfish.
I'd think twice before trying to noodle something like that!


I agree that maybe it was just so big that he didn't have any way to get it in the boat. Has nothing to do with humble. If he were humble, he would have just let it go and told the fish story without the pictures.

Search google for "All in General Outdoors"

That's an absolutely amazing fish!


I believe it is possible. And for all you doubters:

1. How many elderly men do you know who can lift a 150-200 pound slimy catfish into a jon boat?

2. Have you ever had a big (and I mean big) catfish in a boat? It's a mess. If one wants to wreck a boat and everything in it, invite a big catfish on board.

3. I am sure gramps did what was right in his mind as far as his personal ethics are concerned relative to trophy fish, catch/release and catch-n-cook.

4. I'll eat small cats and farm-raised cats - but you couldn't pay me to put a piece of a 150+ pound cat in my body. So - put it back.

5. If it was photo-shopped, then the editor is highly skilled to the point of extraordinary expertise in shading, reflection and light. Photoshoppers usually get busted on these features. I really think this is legit.

Congrats to the elderly fisherman in MS.


Brain wasting trivia on blue catfish in Ohio valley.

World record is 124 pounds, caught in Mississippi River on Illinois side, (not too far from Ohio River juncture).

Record in Ohio River is 104 pounds, caught on the Kentucky side.

Blue catfish had been classified as an endangered species in Ohio (until January 1, 2008). They are now allowed to be caught in Ohio and may be submitted for the record books.

Blue catfish used to be plentiful in Ohio River until construction of dams and locks interfered with habitat. Blues prefer big slow water, found in the lower reaches of the Ohio River.

Blue Ox

Info like that is NOT brain waste! lol!
It's cool stuff to know and pass around a campfire or over a few cold ones.


If any one could find some more info on this fish i sho would appreciate it. this fish could be the first in new age of catfishing!! Can ya tell I love me some catfish?

Our Blogs