sponsored by
Zeiner's Angler Supply
The Kansas Angler Online
and Swim Tail Lures |
State record Blue
Cat caught at Lake Texoma
 November 19,
2004 - A Madill man caught a 98-pound blue catfish Nov. 11 on
Lake Texoma, breaking the previous state record by more than
10 pounds.
BJ Nabors, who was only on his
second catfishing trip with his father-in-law and two other anglers,
caught the record fish around 8 p.m. while fishing from the bank
with whole shad.
"I enjoy fishing for bass
and crappie, but hadn't gone catfishing much," said Nabors.
"I guess you could say I was just along for the ride. I'm
sure I'll go back. I'm hooked now."
Nabors was using a 12-foot Eagle
Claw fishing pole and a Shakespeare spinning reel spooled with
20-pound test Stren. The angler wrestled with the fish for several
minutes before beaching it.
"I was holdin' on pretty
good," he said. "We actually had two fish on at once.
I held on for what seemed like forever, but it was probably only
10 or 15 minutes."
The 54 and 1/2-inch long fish
had a 39 and 1/2-inch girth and came from an area of Lake Texoma
locally known as "Murray 23," located in the Tishomingo
National Wildlife Refuge. The fishing hole is a noted blue catfish
hotspot, with the winter months being the primary time of year
when serious anglers pursue the large blue cats.
Oklahoma's previous blue catfish
record was set only last year, also in Lake Texoma. That fish
weighed in at a little over 87 pounds and was caught in March.
Nabors said that at first he wasn't aware the fish was a potential
state record.
"We had absolutely no clue
it was a state record," he said. "We had some 100-pound
scales and when it bottomed those out, we started looking for
some certified scales."
Fisheries personnel with the
Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation brought portable
certified scales to the lake and after verifying it as a state
record, transported the fish to a local fish hatchery. It has
since been transported to the Oklahoma Aquarium in Jenks where
it will be displayed following a brief quarantine.
Fishing News Archives
Back to
Zeiner's Angler Supply | Kansas
Angler Online |
Swim Tail Lures
|