Record bluecat!

[vern]

This cat is a monster!

http://espn.go.com/outdoors/fishing/s/f_fea_cat_blue_record_121-8_Burkhead.html

[DARK30]

What dreams are made of! If I were given the chance to catch either a huge Blue or a huge Flat it would be a tough call. I would have to stick with the Flathead though.

Vern, Hope all is well...Say Hi to Joe.

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cast,cast,cast,cast......

[Flashman]

Just saw that this morning and was going to post it here myself. Man, I can only imagine what that thing would feel like on the end of a rod. It makes wish for warmer days, mesquitos and the sound of the clicker buzzing away.

[Matt Johnson]

Incredible fish!

121 pounds 8 ounces...

Good Fishin,
Matt Johnson

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[vern]

Hey Dark, all is well here thanks! Just wish I could fish more & work less. Good luck on the Cumberland River. Can't wait to hear the report. We've been talking about taking a winter bluecat trip sometime too. Maybe next year. I'd be happy with a fish 1/4 of that size. Vern

[Doop]

Hey guys,
I live about 30 minutes south of Lake Texoma and have the picture from the newspaper of that blue cat....if anyone is interested I can email it to you.
Just let me know...
[email protected]

[DARK30]

Hey Doop, It would be fun to read the story too. Do you know if the newspaper has a HSOforum?

Hows the catfishing in general down there? I lived in San Angelo when I was a kid. Caught lots of fish in the Concho River but never any real big ones.

WET NETS!

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cast,cast,cast,cast......

[Doop]

I have a picture of the guy who caught it and another guy holding it out of the water...you can see how long this pig is....it's amazing! The pic I have doesn't have much of a story with it....but does have some funny comparisons with the guy who caught it and the catfish. If you're interested I can send it to you. I live about 30 minutes south of Texoma....honestly haven't gotten much fishing done...been very busy coaching football, track, and cross country. Hopefully once the weather warms up, I'll get out a little more.

Doop

[Doop]

Oh....the name of the newspaper is the Sherman Herald Democrat

Good Luck!

[DARK30]

Found it...Heres a story from their local paper.

BY LYNN BURKHEAD

HERALD DEMOCRAT

Mention Lake Texoma in most angling circles and you'll find out that the local body of water enjoys a sterling reputation as one of the nation's premiere spots to catch a freshwater striped bass.

That became apparent on Friday when 27-year old Howe angler Cody Mullennix hooked, battled, and landed a 60-inch long blue catfish weighing 121-pounds, eight-ounces while he fished from the bank on the Texas side of Lake Texoma.

Landed on a 14-foot Shakespeare rod coupled with a Jarvis Walker reel that was spooled with 20-pound test Offshore Angler Tightline monofilament, Mullennix's 20-minute battle produced not only an apparent overall Texas state record for the species, but also a possible International Game Fish Association (IGFA) line-class world record.

Pending final record certification procedures, the blue catfish appears destined to break the current Texas rod-and-reel mark set in March 2000 when Reyes Martinez landed a 100-pound blue cat measuring 54-inches in length.

The Mullennix catfish will also apparently break the Texas unrestricted state record for the species, topping the 59-inch long, 116-pound blue catfish landed from a trotline in April 1985 by C.D. Martindale.

A check of the 2003 IGFA world-record book shows that the Mullennix fish may also be the apparent world record blue cat in the 10 kg (20-pound) line class, topping the 109-pound, four-ounce blue cat caught by George A. Lijewski in March 1991 on South Carolina's Cooper River.

Since that South Carolina blue catfish is also the heaviest weight listed in any of the IGFA's 11-line class categories for the species, it would also appear that the Mullennix catfish is also the largest blue cat ever landed anywhere in the world on a rod-and-reel.

That's when the even bigger world-class catfish took the angler's offering of a three-inch dead shad on an 8/0 Gamakatsu circle hook and made Mullennix's outing a historic day of fishing.

"About 20 to 30 minutes later (after the landing the other big blue catfish), my other rod and reel went down," Mullennix said. "I grabbed it and knew I had another good fight, that I had hooked another good fish."

That was obviously an understatement.

After the 20-minute battle, Mullennix know he needed reinforcements when he finally landed the giant catfish. He quickly summoned his longtime angling buddy Jason Holbrook for some help.

(Editor's note: If that name sounds familiar, it should since Holbrook landed a then state-record rod-and-reel blue catfish in 1993 with he pulled an 82.5 pound blue catfish from Lake Texoma.)

"I was out there by myself and we didn't have any scales beside a 50-pound set," Mullennix said. "Jason brought (out) a 100-pound set of scales. This fish bottomed those scales (out) before we ever even got the fish off the ground."

After taking the fish to the "Tackle Box" to get an accurate weight, a crowd of camera-toting onlookers quickly gathered as news of the fish spread.

That group included TPWD Game Warden Dale Moses, who later quipped "Don't skinny dip in Texoma!"

Later on Friday, a crew from the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center in Athens showed up to transport the fish back to the TPWD facility where it will be put on display at the TFFC's popular aquarium.

"It's still alive," Mullennix said on Saturday evening. "I talked to them this morning. They said the fish was doing ok and they thought it would make it. It'll be there on display."

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cast,cast,cast,cast......

[Steve Foss]

All those channels in the teens and 20s I've caught over the years would make BAIT for that giant fish.

Fish of a lifetime, for sure.

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"Worry less, fish more."
Steve Foss
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[Timdogg]

That is a giant fish. I am lucky enough to go fishing for a day on Santee Cooper in March, so maybe in a month you guys will see me in all the papers with a new world record blue .