Panhandle man reels in record catfish
CARYVILLE - A 64-pound blue catfish caught in the Choctawhatchee River is the largest ever reported in Florida, a biologist confirmed this week.
The record belongs to James Mitchell, 64, a longtime Washington County fisherman whose age matches the fish's weight.
Mitchell made the catch at about sundown Monday at one of his favorite spots near Caryville, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. He told officials he needed help from his son and grandson to pull the catfish into his boat.
He was worn out after a 10-minute fight to reel it in, he said later.
FWC fishery biologist Chris Paxton, who weighed the catfish on a certified scale in Bonifay, said it was the largest catfish he'd seen in Florida, although not as big as some in aquariums or native Midwestern waters.
It was 53½ inches long and actually weighed 64 pounds, 8 ounces, Paxton said. That's 3 pounds heavier than the previous record, a fish caught in the Little Escambia Creek north of Pensacola.
Mitchell, who is disabled but still fishes regularly, caught the catfish on a 6-foot, hand-sized bluegill rod and bait-caster reel loaded with 50-pound-test line.
His bait was bream, which he said he catches using either a fly rod or cane pole.
"The bigger the bream, the better," Mitchell said of the bait.
Over the past two months, Mitchell said he's caught two other big catfish, between 40 and 42 pounds each, on the same stretch of the Choctawhatchee.
Blue catfish are found primarily in the Mississippi River and its tributaries, but some have been introduced farther south. Experts aren't sure how they came to Florida.
The world record for a blue catfish is 124 pounds, caught in 2005 on the Mississippi River.