Possible new world record blue?

[Gottheblues]

I don't think any weight has been verified yet

www.fox2ktvi.com

[kepone cats]

nothing happened when I clicked on it.

[Big Cat]

This has to be a fish story for all time--the one that "didn't" get away. It's a 124-pound catfish, which is a record catch for the Mississippi River. Tim Pruit of Alton landed the giant blue catfish Saturday night near the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. He says he had to fight the fish for about 40 minutes before he could get it in. He's been asked to donate the fish for display at either Cabela's Outfitters in Kansas City or Bass Pro Shops in Springfield

http://www.fox2ktvi.com/dynamic/images/stories/news/20050523-fish-large1.jpg


http://www.fox2ktvi.com/

[RANGER690]

Oh my!

[RANGER690]

Is it still alive?

[RKOCH]

Lets see if he will donate it to the James river.[grin]

[CATAHOLIC]

Looks like these records aren't holding long. The current World Record 121.5 caught in Texas isn't much over a year old. From the sounds of the article the wieght is verified by officials, so it won't be long till its certified.
The Dutch Gap area will produce a fish of this MAGNITUDE sooner then u think!!!!
Here is the article.

An Illinois man set a world record when he reeled in the big one at the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers over the weekend. It's the biggest blue catfish ever caught. Tim Pruitt caught the 124-pound fish with the help of his wife, Carla. It's believed to be at least a quarter of a century old. Their home video showed them fight with the fish for 40 minutes, even fighting a pinched nerve in his elbow. "Between the adrenalizne going and that excitement, it went away real quick. That's the best pain medicine there is." He caught the fish where the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers come together, and his secret for catching the big one is fairly simple. "Just put in your time on the water and be patient." It was so big, it broke his net. State authorities have verified it's the biggest one ever caught. Fred Cronin from the Department of Natural Resources said, "Since the Clean Water Act in the 1970s, the conditions are great to grow big catfish. The fish is being held in a tank at Beasley Fish in Grafton but it will spend the rest of it's life in a huge aquarium at a Kansas City outdoor sporting good's store. It will likely attract big crowds hook line and sinker. The 124-pound catfish measures 44 inches around and 58 inches in length. That's almost six feet long.

[RANGER690]

Alive! Now that is very cool.

[baylinercuddy]

Wow, I wonder how he kept it alive? That is a lot of fish for any type of livewell.

[striperjoe32]

not "ALL" catfishermen are boring ! [shy]

[wasabi]

Well done, Mr. Pruitt.

GTB - any idea how long Blues have been in the Mississippi?

[baylinercuddy]

I did a search on Google and found this 14 year old catching a 110 lb Blue on 6lb test line!

http://www.state.tn.us/twra/bluecat.html

That fish looks like a 110 lb bullhead!

[Katnip]

Blues are indigenous to the Mississippi watershed and have been there since the beginning of time, for all practical purposes.

[RANGER690]

So you are saying those blues don't have money and no place to live?

Also, when were blues put into the Mississippi?

Dayton

[Gottheblues]

katnip is right. most of the early stockings of blues around the country came from fish in the mississippi. There are documentations of blues caught in the 1800's from the Mississippi that were well over 200 lbs.

it is good to see that the fish is still alive....but it is in an aquarium and that means that it will probably not reproduce again. so in my opinion it is about the same as being dead. The good thing is that these massive fish that are in the aquariums will keep drawing public awareness to the sport of catfishing and hopefully this will lead to more states classifying them as gamefish.

[spin-a-bait]

Gottheblues originally wrote:
katnip is right. most of the early stockings of blues around the country came from fish in the mississippi. There are documentations of blues caught in the 1800's from the Mississippi that were well over 200 lbs.

it is good to see that the fish is still alive....but it is in an aquarium and that means that it will probably not reproduce again. so in my opinion it is about the same as being dead. The good thing is that these massive fish that are in the aquariums will keep drawing public awareness to the sport of catfishing and hopefully this will lead to more states classifying them as gamefish.


Yea then the pressure on these fish will probably double

[Gottheblues]

pressure might double but the up side is that catfish will be classified as a gamefish and thus tighter restrictions will be enforced. Most states don't have any creel limits. In Virginia you can keep a million if you want to. Look what's happening down in Santee. Commercial and recreation fishermen are raping that place. We are pretty lucky right now in Virginia to have most locals who practice catch and release on the big fish. But more and more out of state fishermen are coming here to fish everyday and a lot of them don't share our same thoughts on letting the big fish go. Plus, what's going to happen if the commercial guys switch back to catching trophy fish? They were killing tons of bigger fish last year before they lost their buyer and had to switch back to the smaller cats.

[striperjoe32]

not if you are still fishin' for em Spin !

Brutal dude.......................[wink]

Can I go fishing with you this weekend and you take me to all Petey's favorite spots that Ranger has not told me about yet?[wink]

[tank3544]

wow .. well that's kinda big huh?

won't be long til the james holds the world reco..... oh wait diesel spill .. nevermind

[spin-a-bait]

striperjoe32 originally wrote:
not if you are still fishin' for em Spin !

Brutal dude.......................[wink]

Can I go fishing with you this weekend and you take me to all Petey's favorite spots that Ranger has not told me about yet?[wink]


Well actually I dont catch any fish...& the few fish I do catch are in GTB's holes but trust me he didn't tell me about them,I find them myself but I am not allowed to reel them in cause Katie gets mad[grin][grin]But yall better watch out because I think she is fishing the next JRCC tourney with me[excited]

[CATAHOLIC]

I talked to the Game warden that is doing alot of the research on James blue cats last month and he said that as far as he knew next year there will be a two fish over thirty limit per person. It may help limit the comms but you'll still have 1000 first timers catching the biggest they have ever caught and taking the home to let them rot showing them off!!!! The limit should be none, C&R only over 30 IMO. Other states are doing it with great success, but we wont see it until they are considered a game species and the VDGIF can make a bigger profit from the commodity.
The current world record was kept at the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center aquarium and was suppose to be released back early this year to Lake Texoma where it was caught.[grin]

[Gottheblues]

I heard that the Texhoma fish will probably stay in the aquarium b/c of record crowds. I hope it eventually gets released. I also heard about the 2 fish limit. I thought it was going to be put in this year but wasn't.

Hey Spin....seeing someone in a hole and then marking it with your depth finder is not the same thing as finding it yourself....haha

[RANGER690]

Chris, isn't that what you did to get started guiding?

I remember a few years ago, when I was doing my river cleanup work. I would ride around and see people fishing. When they left, I would cruise over to make sure they picked up all there trash and extinguished the camp fire. I only had my finder and GPS on for navigational/safety reasons![wink]

By the way, who was the sneaky GPS marking dude that was referred to in the magazine article?

Dayton

[Big Cat]

But yall better watch out because I think she is fishing the next JRCC tourney with me

Heard that before. I'll believe it when I see it.

[RANGER690]

Hey Scott, we don't currently have a bass tournament on the schedule do we? HahhahahahahahaHardyHarHar!

Dayton[excited]

[Gottheblues]

Dayton, I'm just glad I don't have a daughter b/c Spin would be all over her.[excited]

This pending new world record fish also eclipsed the old Illinois state record by almost 40 lbs! I read where the old record was 85 lbs. That means the next world record will come from Virginia! That fish had a girth of 44 inches.....what a hog.

[Snakeman]

He donated the live fish to Cabela's to display in a 55,000 aquarium in one of their stores...

[bottomline]

Hey Spin....seeing someone in a hole and then marking it with your depth finder is not the same thing as finding it yourself....haha


Good one GTB's!
[grin]
That guy will probally never have to spend another dime on fishing...................until the record is broken again, of course. Who know's, the way records are being broken these days, it might not take long.

[spin-a-bait]

Big Cat originally wrote:
But yall better watch out because I think she is fishing the next JRCC tourney with me

Heard that before. I'll believe it when I see it.


when did I say that I was going to bring her before??

[spin-a-bait]

RANGER690 originally wrote:
Hey Scott, we don't currently have a bass tournament on the schedule do we? HahhahahahahahaHardyHarHar!

Dayton[excited]


good one Dayton[grin]

[kepone cats]

VA will hold the world record. Wait and see.

[Big Cat]

posted on 15-Apr-2005 11:21:33 AM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So who is planning on coming to the Next Tournament April 23rd.

It is a Blue/Flathead Tournament.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


spin-a-bait


ME!!

[NightTrain]

The big girl died during transport.[sad]

[RKOCH]

Well thats too bad fillets now and alot of breader.

[RANGER690]

What big girl died? You are not talking about the 124 new record are you?

Dayton

[wasabi]

Yes, it appeared to die in transit on the way to Cabelas.

http://dnr.state.il.us/pubaffairs/2005/May/Catfish.htm

[kepone cats]

[sad][sad][sad][sad][sad][sad][sad][sad][sad][sad][sad][sad]
White man came across the sea, brought his pain and misery.

[RANGER690]

Kepone type, cause mass confusion.[sad]

[bigcatdaddy]

heard the fish died today on its way to KC. can anyone confirm?

[CATAHOLIC]

Its still all about the $$. Its a shame Cabela's is going to lose all that Revenue from visitors. (Yea right)
That fish would still be swim'n / Breed'n / Pass'n on those gene's if only they would have Catch, Certify, then release. I do understand that there is always circumstances that will end up fatal for the fish, but not after you have kept it alive for days. Stress is a terrible thing. [grin]

[kepone cats]

DAYTON... I think we should honor the passing of the 124 pound world record catfish with a little COW BELL. As the cowbell is struck lets just imagine the fish swimming around through the River of Life amongst the large gold nuggets, diamonds and pearls.

[angel][angel][angel][angel][angel][angel][angel][angel][angel][angel]

-Kepone[grin]

[RANGER690]

I like that. Will Do!

[Gottheblues]

Cataholic.....I couldn't have said it any better.

Richmond's local aquarium at the Maymont Nature Center has had similar problems with keeping catfish alive from the water to the aquarium. The first big blue they had(50 pounder) died soon after it was placed in their aquarium. They told me that they have had the most problems with flatheads. They have had a few die on them. They had one flathead which wouldn't eat for a few months after it was relocated from the James to Maymont. And all of these fish were handled with great care during the whole process(from the original catching to transporting to their aquarium). They currently have about a 50 pound blue and a flathead that I'm guessing is anywhere from 25-30 lbs. The blue moves all around the tank but the flathead always lays horizontal in a hollowed out tree. I highly recommend going to the Maymont Aquarium to see all of the fish....watching the otters play is probably the best part.

[earlyriser]

Watching the otter play? I see what you do on your free time Chris.

[Gottheblues]

I don't have much of a life Early.lol

[DZLPWR]

About the 2 fish per person over 30lbs...............Who in the world would want to keep a cat. over 30lbs, from the James river????

[RANGER690]

Maybe limit the commercial guys. Do a search here. They take a lot of fish each day.

Dayton

[Quadman]

I like to play with my otter too![grin]