121 pound catfish?

[Jeremy airjer W]

I recieved this e-mail this morning. What do you think?

For those of you who aren't Texans or, God forbid, Oklahomans, Lake Texoma, as the name implies, lies along the border of the two states.

This is a picture of a catfish that a guy recently caught at Lake Texoma. According to the news, he was fishing from the shore with a 20 pound test line.

When he realized what a huge fish he had caught, he stayed in the water with it and kept it close to shore with his hands.

He used his cell phone to call a friend and tell him to bring a scale. The friend got there and the scale topped out at 100 pounds.

They took it to the nearby Bait shop and weighed it there. It weighed 121 pounds! Luckily a Game Warden was there and called the Athens Freshwater Fisheries Center and asked them if they wanted the fish. They sent a 'live truck' to the site and brought the fish safely to Athens. They are getting it ready for the public to view. The paper said that it would be two to three weeks before they'd release into the public tank..

They estimated that the 121 pound catfish was about 27 years old!

[Stratosman]

That is a couple years old now, I think it was caught in France or somewhere besided the U.S.

[John19]

Anyone know what kind of catfish that is?

[htgeren]

Its a hoax email for sure. Its a wells cat, found in most of the european waters, definitely not in the u.s.

[hanson]

OK, here's the deal.

The story is true, the photo is way off the mark.

The new world record blue, nicknamed 'Splash' is still alive and swimming in an aquarium in Texas.

ATHENS, Texas — Call something a "big fish story" and everyone knows immediately it’s a tall tale.

Not in this case.

"Splash," the new world-record blue catfish (who weighed in at 121.5 pounds upon being caught) now resides at the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center in Athens.

On Jan. 16, 2004, dedicated big blue catfish angler Cody Mullennix of Howe was fishing alone from the bank of the Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge on Lake Texoma. Mullennix loves and respects big fish, and when he caught a 56-pounder, he released it and continued fishing.

That’s when the big fish now known as Splash took the bait, a three-inch shad. After a half-hour battle using a 14-foot surf rod spooled with 20-pound line, Mullennix wrestled the big fish onto a shallow ledge. He knew immediately the fish was not only his biggest catch ever but something special as well.

"There was something about it that grabbed hold of me," Mullennix said. "I gave it everything I could to get it over the ledge. I kept it out there in 10-12 inches of water and kept pouring water over it. I was too scared to put it on a stringer, or back out in deeper water."

Mullennix called a friend on his cell phone and asked him to bring a 100-pound-capacity scale. The fish bottomed it out, and Mullennix realized he probably had a new state record, so they loaded the fish into a pickup truck and took it to a bait shop that had a certified scale. The big blue weighed in at 121.5 pounds, not just a new state record but a new world record as well. (After reviewing x-rays of the fish to be sure it held no foreign objects, the International Game Fish Association certified Splash in May as the new world record blue catfish).

Word had spread quickly as the fish was being held in a minnow tank at the store, and a local game warden came by and suggested that Mullennix donate the fish to the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center. One phone call later, Lisa Griggs from TFFC was headed north with a fish-hauling truck, and a few hours later, the fish that was soon to be known as Splash had a new home.

After being held in an isolation tank for a few weeks, Splash was put on public display during a press conference attended by Mullennix, his family and friends, members of the press and many of her new fans. The 26,000-gallon aquarium where she now lives holds a number of fish of various species, but there’s no doubt that Splash is the "Big Fish" in this tank.

That fact is never more obvious than during the daily dive show, when a diver goes into the tank and hand-feeds the fish. Splash eats when she wants to, delicately taking a frozen smelt from the diver’s hand. When Splash approaches the diver, other fish make themselves scarce.

In the three months Splash has been in the tank, she has progressed from being a recluse hiding out in the back of the tank to a "curious cat" that likes to cruise close to the glass and check out visitors who’ve come to see her. She will actually swim up to the glass and look you in the eye. When a Fort Worth newspaper reporter visited recently, Splash appeared to belly up to the glass for an interview.

[riverbasher]

Check this out this excerpt from this site

http://www.river-runners.org/trips/naturecenter/

It is the Texas Fresh Water Fisheries Center which is operated by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. This center is just bursting with information on the diversity and beauty of the aquatic ecosystems in Texas. It has something of interest to everyone who is fascinated by water and the plants and animals that make up the aquatic world.

They've got big fish, little fish, alligators, birds, amphibians, and furry creatures, a total of 56 species on display in natural habitats!

They've got 300,000 gallons of aquariums and an interactive dive show. Yep, the diver guy in a full wet suit and air tank actually talks to you as he hand feeds chicken parts to the 121.5 pound Blue Catfish named Splash. She is the World's Record and was caught in Lake Texoma last year.

[Ice-9]

Here's another big catfish story. It's a little out of date, and I doubt Missouri will adjust its records to reflect the catch:

Well, the days went along, and the river went down between its banks again; and about the first thing we done was to bait one of the big hooks with a skinned rabbit and set it and catch a catfish that was as big as a man, being six foot two inches long, and weighed over two hundred pounds. We couldn't handle him, of course; he would a flung us into Illinois. We just set there and watched him rip and tear around till he drownded. We found a brass button in his stomach and a round ball, and lots of rubbage. We split the ball open with the hatchet, and there was a spool in it. Jim said he'd had it there a long time, to coat it over so and make a ball of it. It was as big a fish as was ever catched in the Mississippi, I reckon. Jim said he hadn't ever seen a bigger one. He would a been worth a good deal over at the village. They peddle out such a fish as that by the pound in the market- house there; everybody buys some of him; his meat's as white as snow and makes a good fry.

Ice

The picture doesn't look like a blue cat. It doesn't have a dorsal fin visible, and the eyes seem small. It's been a few years since I've caught one, but they don't look a lot different from big channel cats if I remember correctly.

[who are those guy]

Italian wels catfish:

fish was caught (and released) in Italy in the Po river

http://www.grupposiluro.it/

Go to pictures and see bunch more just like it

[fiskyknut]

Thats a Wells Catfish and it looks bigger than 121 pounds!

fiskyknut

[JollyT]

I want one of those catfish calendars from the italian site!!!

[JIGGIT]

To see more on this story and other true/false stories try www.snopes.com . In the search type catfish and go to the second story. while in the site check out any other story you maybe questioning. This is a pretty cool site.

[Bob_D]

All I know is, there is no way that is fitting up a 8" hole.