Man Catches 121-Pound Catfish, May Be Biggest Ever Caught In Texas...

[Sarge]

Newspaper: Man Catches 121-Pound Catfish

POSTED: 2:55 p.m. EST January 20, 2004
UPDATED: 3:34 p.m. EST January 20, 2004

STRANGE PHOTOS: Weird News In Pictures

SHERMAN, Texas -- It's a whale of a tale, and an angler produced a 121-pound catfish to back it up.



CLICK FOR LARGER PHOTO
Cody Mullennix, 27, of Howe, was fishing from a bank on the Texas side of Lake Texoma Friday when his rod and reel went down, the Herald Democrat (Sherman-Denison) reported in Monday editions.

After a 20-minute struggle, he was able to land the 60-inch long blue catfish. He needed help from longtime angling buddy Jason Holbrook to weigh the fish.

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

Officials say it's one of the largest caught in Texas.

After getting an accurate weight of the fish, the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center in Athens transported the fish back to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department facility to be put on display.

[Sarge]

I didn't know fresh water fish got that big..

[Little Texan]

That's nothing. My dad used to run trot lines at Cedar Creek Lake (up close to Dallas) back in the 80's, and he routinely caught Catfish that big on his lines, sometimes two or three at a time. The reason he's not in the record book is because the way he was doing it is illegal... he was snagging them. The way it works is you rig up a trot line with a shitload of these big hooks, and you file each hook razor sharp, then set out the line in a creek. What happens is the Catfish run into the lines and get tangled up in the hooks, and those ultra sharp hooks do their work and you got'em. I'll bet my dad brought home better than 50 Catfish that size when I was a kid, and 50 more that were slightly smaller than that one in the picture above. I'm not just making this shit up, either. I have proof in pictures to back up my claim. Maybe I'll post one to give you some idea.

[Little Texan]

We used to call those Oppaloosa Catfish... they are a breed of Catfish that grows to a very large size (obviously), so that's not just some freak Catfish with a hormonal problem that just happened to get really big... all those fish get big. Channel Cats don't get near that big, but if someone caught one that big, then it would be news.

[Little Texan]

I don't know how many he caught, but he ran lines for about three years back in the mid 80's, and he came home with about two or three every trip. He weighed all of them, took pictures, and put them in a photo album with the weight for each one. The problem is the scale he was using only went to about 75 pounds (we didn't realize that until a few years later), so alot of those fish he was weighing could have (and probably were) in excess of 100 pounds. I'll find a picture of the biggest one he caught and post a picture here soon.

[Little Texan]

I guarantee my dad caught one bigger than that one in the picture.

[Dave's PA Rental]

I saw a special on TV once about "noodeling" for catfish. Anyone else heard of that? What happens is these hillbillys go wading into rivers along the banks...they feel under the water with their hands for holes and other places for big cats to hide...then when they feel a fish, they jam their HANDS down the fish's throat, and pull it out of the water. Swear to GOD!!!

Guys would pull their hands out of the water and they would be bloody stumps from getting cut on the fish's gills or spines...

[Dave's PA Rental]

Also, I think that there is a species of fresh water fish in some rivers in China that can grow to over 300 pounds...forget the name.

[Little Texan]

OK, I have Catfish breeds mixed up. The one in the picture probably is a record for the breed that it is, a Blue Catfish. The ones my dad was catching were Yellow or Flathead Catfish, which usually get bigger than the Blue's. I'll still scan a picture and post one if I get time.

http://www.whiskerkitty.com/Media/leviathonofthelake.html

[Little Texan]

Originally posted by Daves PA rental
Also, I think that there is a species of fresh water fish in some rivers in China that can grow to over 300 pounds...forget the name.

I think what you're referring to is a breed of Carp.

[Igosplut]

Get some hand grenades and show 'em how to REALLY fish Sarge.....

[rustoffa]

Some lady ran her car off the edge of the lake lanier dam here some years back,needless to say the water gets deep there.The divers responsible for hooking the car for extraction said they caught glimpses of cats down there that scared the shit out of em'.Here's a noodling link,Discovery had this on awhile back....fucking freaks!

okie noodling