Young girl catches gigantic catfish

Wow.

According to the Daily Mail, young British angler Jessica Wanstall, 11, caught this 193-pound catfish while fishing on the River Ebro in Spain. Jessica weighs 84 pounds, prompting the Daily Mail article to call her a “tiddler among anglers.” Gotta love those Brits.

Anyway, the International Game Fish Association says Wanstall set a world record for a freshwater fish caught by an angler aged 16 and under.

Click here to read the story.

A catfish you’ve got to see

It’s not often a fish makes me feel better about my own gut, but this catfish is the exception.

The London Telegraph reports that Alan Melhuish caught this Wels catfish—the largest catfish ever caught in Spain. The Telegraph also said the fish weighed more than 16 stone, which means nothing to me. I guess the fish weighed 226 pounds and was more than 8 feet long. Click here to read the entire article.

After you read the article, memorize this picture. Because the first person who passes this fish off as a state record flathead from Carlyle Lake is going to have their e-mail privileges rescinded.

Big blue cats on the move

Seems like every other e-mail today featured a blue catfish. All the others were deer, but that’s to be expected. Actually, so are the blue cats. This is a good time of year to catch these whopper cats as they move up into coves to feed.

The first example of that comes from old buddy Paul Wolf of West Peoria, who caught the two following monsters last week while fishing a cove in the Lake of the Ozarks. He caught and released fish of 59 and 45 pounds off his dock.

Next up are the highlights of today’s electrofishing survey at Powerton Lake. This also counts as Flathead’s Picture of the Week. Biologist Wayne Herndon hoists two blue cats that were “abundant in the main lake intake channel.” Both fish were right at 25 pounds.

Finally, here’s a picture from Oct. 24, 2007 of Bob Stockstill from Mackinaw. He caught this 60-pound-plus blue cat at Greer’s Ferry in Arkansas.

Barbie rod record catfish

Here’s a good story from North Carolina. Personally, I always liked it when the kids were still fishing with their Tweety Bird and Scooby Doo rods. Those short rods were pretty easy to work with and the reels could crank. Better even than the current Spider Man rods which are longer and don’t have much backbone. But on to the real story.

Man uses Barbie fishing rod to make record catch

ELKIN, N.C. (AP)—David Hayes’ granddaughter just ask him to hold her Barbie rod and reel while she went to the bathroom.

He did. And seconds later he landed the state record channel catfish at 21 pounds, 1 ounce.

Alyssa’s father had bought the pink Barbie fishing rod for Christmas and she had caught a few bluegill before her grandfather hauled in the catfish.

The Winston-Salem Journal reported the catch Aug. 5 in eastern Wilkes County has been certified as a record by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission.

Hayes and his granddaughter have been fishing in the pond behind his house since she was big enough to hold a pole.

Hayes says his granddaughter worried he would break her rod. He landed the 21-pound fish on a 6-pound test line. It was 32 inches long, 2 inches longer than the rod.