Talk about a damn RIVER MONSTER.
According to Outdoor Life, a massive blue catfish caught on April 7th has officially obliterated the Mississippi rod-and-reel state record for catfish…. and any method of catch for that matter.
The lucky fisherman was Eugene Cronley of Brandon, who caught the fish in the lower Mississippi river near Natchez.
The Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks confirmed the record weight of 131 pounds on April 11th, beating the previous rod-and-reel record catch of 95 pounds, by over 30 pounds.
The blue catfish caught by any means state record was 101 pounds, and Cronley’s fat cat shattered that too.
Using a skipjack herring for bait, it reportedly took Cronley about 40 minutes to reel in this behemoth. In pictures, you can see the catfish covers practically the whole tailgate of the full-sized pickup truck it was placed in.
The all-time International Game Fish Association blue catfish record is 143-pounds, caught by Richard Anderson in 2011 on Kerr Lake on Buggs Island, Virginia.
And Cronley was pretty damn close… check out the size of this beast.
