# World Record Blue Catfish Likely Caught



## jsalkas (Feb 18, 2005)

I'm not a catfisherman (hard to get them consistently on a fly-rod), but I thought you guys might be interested in this:

http://www.suntimes.com/output/outdoors/cst-spt-bigfish24.html


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## flathunter (Apr 5, 2004)

Wow, sure would like to catch that thing!


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## atrkyhntr (May 31, 2004)

Yo, fish! It's a 124-pounder 

May 24, 2005

BY DALE BOWMAN 
It is the biggest fish story in Illinois history.

The battle between Tim Pruitt and a 124-pound blue catfish began below the Melvin Price Locks and Dam on the Mississippi River at Alton at about 11:30 p.m. Saturday.

"He was pulling and pulling,'' said Pruitt, who used mooneye as bait in heavy current. "Sometimes I can turn them. I had my finger on the spool [of the reel]. But I knew my 250 yards of line were about out. I finally got an anchor up.''

At that point, the fish dragged the boat with Pruitt, wife Carla and a friend half a mile downstream. Somewhere after midnight, they boated it.

"The live well would barely hold it,'' said Pruitt, 33, of Godfrey. "I didn't want to sit on the river all night with it.''

So they splashed water on the fish and went ashore. They rousted Dale St. Peters, an owner of St. Peters Hardware in Alton, at 1 a.m.

"You hear stories, but until you see it, you have no idea,'' St. Peters said. "I told my wife, 'You won't get that smile off their faces for two weeks.'''

The smiles lit up when the fish was weighed on a propane scale at 124 pounds and was witnessed by St. Peters and a conservation police officer. At about 6 a.m. Sunday, they found Rob Maher, commercial fisheries biologist for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

"It took three of the guys to lift the thing up,'' Maher said.

By 10 a.m., Maher certified it as a blue catfish (Ictalurus furcatus) with a length of 58 inches and a girth of 44 inches. It is the heaviest verified fish caught in Illinois and a state record for blue catfish.

It should be approved as the world-record blue catfish after the paperwork is submitted and processed by the International Game Fish Association. The standing world-record blue (121-1/2 pounds) was caught by Cody Mullennix from Lake Texoma in Texas on Jan. 16, 2004. Lindsay Sample caught the former state-record blue (85 pounds) on the Mississippi in Alexander County on Feb. 22, 2000.

"Fish-wise, this is the biggest story we ever had,'' said Mike Conlin, director of resource conservation and wildlife for the IDNR. "Fish like that, can you imagine the stories they could tell of the Mississippi, the travels and travails.''

After being kept alive in aerated tanks, Pruitt's blue was picked up Monday and shipped to Cabela's for display in Kansas City, Mo. It should be returned to the Mississippi this summer.


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## Cat Mazter (May 20, 2005)

Thats awsome that he caught it, I couldnt imagine catching a fish like that. Thats Huge !! :B Congrats to him !


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## catking (Apr 5, 2004)

Excellent fish !!! ......THE CATKING !!!


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## truck (Apr 12, 2004)

I hope to catch one half that size someday


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## bkr43050 (Apr 5, 2004)

truck said:


> I hope to catch one half that size someday


 Better yet, I hope to catch ONE someday. Not being around the Ohio River I have never gotten the opportunity to get one. That there is one heckuva treat. He better enjoy his time at the top because the record does not seem to last very long each time. The last guy had it for a little over a year.


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## Doctor (Apr 5, 2004)

Nice fish looks like they have him standing on scales to weight it, can't imagine how he is holding it, Lynns was 88# and this fish is 36# heavier.


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## mrfishohio (Apr 5, 2004)

Great story....(I caught one 1/2 that size *LOL*) 
What a difference 8" makes !!!


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## atrkyhntr (May 31, 2004)

WOW look at it close...
He is not even leaning back to hold it he is using just his arms!!!
And yes he is on the scale...


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## Fishinfreak (Oct 12, 2004)

Heres some more on the beast.http://www.pjstar.com/stories/052405/JEF_B6GIC2EH.068.shtml


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## flathunter (Apr 5, 2004)

I wonder how old that fish was????


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## TIGHTLINER (Apr 7, 2004)

Awesome Fish! That's incredible! It even made AOL front page news.


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## bkr43050 (Apr 5, 2004)

Doctor said:


> Nice fish looks like they have him standing on scales to weight it, can't imagine how he is holding it, Lynns was 88# and this fish is 36# heavier.


 That is kind of funny you say that. The link that Jsalkas posted with the article starts like this:



> When he isn't fishing, Tim Pruitt spends much of his free time lifting weights. Late last Saturday, Pruitt combined both hobbies in record-setting fashion.


 I was wondering the same thing when I saw the picture. I thought to myself that the guy looked like he may be pretty stocky.


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## BuckeyeTom (Apr 6, 2004)

I could only imagine, the excitement of a fight like that!

Someone mentioned Lindsey Samples name. Dip and I won a free trip with him on the Mississippi, when we were at the Michigan Tournament last year. We need to use that sometime this year. Let's plan a vacation Dipster,lol. Sorta ironic, because we got to meet Cody Mullinex and his father up there and Cody said the thing he hated about catching the record was it messed up a good fishing spot,lol. I'm sure that Lock and Dam(where this blue was caught) is gonna be loaded with catters the rest of this year!

Good fishing everybody! Good to see the record broke a little closer to home. Now the only time we'll have to hear about Texas is when our Buckeyes show em how to play football this fall,lol!!!


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## flathunter (Apr 5, 2004)

Just read where this fish died in rout to Cabelas.


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## bkr43050 (Apr 5, 2004)

BuckeyeTom said:


> Sorta ironic, because we got to meet Cody Mullinex and his father up there and Cody said the thing he hated about catching the record was it messed up a good fishing spot,lol.


 That is completely different than the way he stated it in the In Fisherman article. He said he had no problem telling people where he caught it because there were probably at least 20 more spots in the same area just as good. Evidently he may have underestimated the number of people it would draw.


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## mrjbigfoot (Apr 19, 2005)

I read where the fish is still alive, it's being shipped to Cabela's in Kansas City & they're going to release it back into the Mississippi in August! Presuming it lives to August...


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## ajsgonefishin (Jan 18, 2005)

i was watching cold pizza on espn2 this morning.. the guy who caught the catfish was on there talking about it... he said that the fished died during transport to cabeals.. he said that they are taking measurements and stuff to make replicas for there stores.....


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## Fish-N-Fool (Apr 12, 2004)

I hate to hear that beast passed on knowing darn well it was in perfectly good health when landed - real shame!


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## captnroger (Apr 5, 2004)

Watched this on the Today show this morning. Theyhad about a 5 minute interview with the guy, including some video footage of him pulling the cat out of the boat and weighing it, and putting it in a holding tank. They estimated it's age at 30 years, and it died on the way to Cabelas. The way they were handling it in the video, it's easy to see why. They said Cabelas is going to make a latex mold of the fish for their stores.


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## truck (Apr 12, 2004)

What a bummer


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## midoh39 (May 8, 2005)

He got the record! That fish is a pig!


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## mrfishohio (Apr 5, 2004)

Too bad...


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## catking (Apr 5, 2004)

Yea thats really too bad. But like they said, when you take a monster that has lived in zero gravity it's whole life and try to transport it , the shock is simply too much.... what a shame..... CATKING aka :B


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## ARGEE (Apr 5, 2004)

He Must Be A Weightlifter....


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