Every angler’s dream.
Everyone knows that a good fishing story often requires a bit of exaggeration. You might add a little bit of fluff when you tell the story of how you reeled it in. When you spread out your arms to show large the fish was once you landed it, you may add a couple of extra inches on both sides. It’s just what fishermen do.
That being said, there’s no exaggerating necessary with this blue catfish that was caught by a man by the name of Justin Hodge.
Back in February, the Florida man was fishing on the Suwannee River when he set his hook and immediately recognized that something big was on the line. He may not have known it was state record worthy, but the fight that the fish put up let him know that it was sizable.
Once he got the fish out of the water, Hodge identified it as a blue catfish, and a big one at that. The angler knew that he’d want to get an official weight on the fish, and now a couple of months later, he’s very glad that he did so. When he caught the fish a couple of months ago, he went ahead and posted multiple pictures of it, and described it as a state record:
“New State Record Blue from a river near you! Thankful for a great catch! Coming at 48.5 inches long, 36.75 inches in girth and officially weighed at 73.6 pounds.”
What a beast.
Though Hodge described it as a state record in February, it was only recently that the state of Florida officially recognized the blue catfish as a record breaker. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission shared a photo of Hodge holding up his 73.6 pound monster and confirmed that the blue catfish beat the previous record holder by over four pounds:
“Just another day on the water (oh, and a record-breaking blue catfish)! Congratulations Justin Hodge, for reeling in the new state record blue catfish from the Suwannee River! Weighing in at 73.6 pounds, this recent catch surpassed the previous record of 69.5 pounds set in 2015.”
Just so everyone knows, that fish is over four feet long. Hard to imagine reeling something in that large.
And the previous state record holder – which was set when an angler reeled in a 69.5-pound blue catfish from the Choctawhatchee River – is nothing to sneeze at either. It’s just that Justin Hodge came along with his blue catfish catch in February and shattered it (shattered might be a strong word, but four pounds is a big difference in state record books).
You might also be wondering why it took so long to officially announce Hodge’s catfish as a state record. A Florida Wildlife Commission employee has to witness the official weigh in of the fish on a certified scale, and they have to be the one to take measurements. After that, an FWC fisheries biologist must inspect the fish. It evidently took three months to check all of those boxes.
But now that they are checked, Justin Hodge is an official state record holder.
