Thanks to Mlive for this:
A fishing record that stood for 25 years in Mississippi has been bested, and the monstrous blue catfish was an astounding 36 pounds bigger than any previously caught in the state.
It weighed 131 pounds, according to the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks.
Eugene Cronley of Brandon, Mississippi, is the man who set the new record with an old fashioned rod and reel.
He caught it April 7, 2022 in the Mississippi River near Natchez, officials said.
Cronley called it “truly a fish of a lifetime” and confessed it took 40 minutes to reel in the powerful catch.
His bait was “skipjack herring,” the state said.
“The fish shattered the previous rod and reel record of 95 lbs. caught by Dakota Hinson in 2009 and is larger than the trophy record blue catfish of 101 lbs. caught by the team of Freddie Parker and Brad Smith in 1997,” the wildlife department noted.
“Interestingly, both of those fish were also caught from the Mississippi River near Natchez.”
Blue catfish can live up to 25 years, which means the record fish may have been born the same year the previous record was set.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries reports the biggest known blue catfish was 143 pounds, “caught in an inland lake on the Virginia–North Carolina border.”
