New MO Catfish Record

This thing is huge!

Florissant man catches record-setting catfish in Missouri River

thats a huuuuuuuuuuge cat.

DAMN! Sureis purty!

Click here for more pics

WOW!

holey moley; what a beast
cant wait to hear the rest of the story – like gear, bait, area fishing, etc.

That’s one DEAD catfish, gone to waste and never to breed again.

Congrats on the guy for catching it, I just wish people would be a bit more conservation minded. It makes it hard to be too jazzed about it when he killed it for the sole purpose of short-lived glory and a skin mount on his wall.

I guess it’s a good thing that blues are doing well in most of their range…

I would keep a record fish anytime.

I guess that’s why we have the saying “to each his own”, right?

Sometimes the only real option is to agree to disagree. I’d rather take the pics and have the fish in the water to catch again. Like the guy in the article said, records are made to be broken… which means other than the mount, you’re not gonna have a record forever anyway.

And graphite mounts don’t suck the best of the best out of the gene pool.

But again, just me. It’s something I feel passionate about for myself and those in my boat, but if it’s a keepable fish within the legal limits and all that, who am I to try to tell anyone what to do? Seriously, it just makes me sad to see all those robust, healthy genes pulled out of the breeding stock in the region.

That fished has spawned many times already – passing those genes on. Remember that when the fish was young and spawned, it passed on the SAME genes as when it was big and spawned ……

If everybody killed EVERY state record fish they caught in their ENTIRE lives, very few people would ever kill a single fish. Good for the guy!!!!

T

Generally a fish that old is past its breeding prime anyway. I release 99 percent of the cats I catch. I don’t think anyone should take issue with this guy keeping that fish. As long as it is legal to do so. I know guys that put out trot lines and commercially sell their cats a hundred at a time. this dude did it with a hook and line. Cut him some slack.

Finally a use for Asian Carp!

video

Quick question: How old is a 130# catfish??

Quick question2: Can you still have a record if you return the fish??

I thought about it and I’d have returned the fish.
1. graphite is good enuf.
2. any breeding it does will be a help.
3. i don’t have much wall space left.

I killed a lot of fish when i was young. don’t do it any more on anything that’s wild caught. on P&T, ok, not a problem, but wild caught, put it back. It sure wasn’t an eater, especially in the SL area…

I think you can record a state record and return it to where you caught it. The problem of course is keeping it alive while getting it to a certified scale and having the proper authorities present to certify it.

I agree with the any breeding part, especially when the overwhelming majority of eggs and fry never make it to maturity. Any uptick in the percentage is better than nothing.

From MN DNR:

Quote:

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If you catch a fish that you think could be a record, follow these steps:

* Weigh the fish on a state-certified scale (found at most bait shops and butcher shops), witnessed by two observers.
* Take the fish to a DNR fisheries office for positive identification and a state record fish application.
* Complete the State Record Fish submission form Adobe Acrobat Reader is required to download this file. and send it along with a clear, full-length photo of your fish to the address listed on the form.

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Guess you have to put a chest freezer with ice water onto the boat trailer before you go thru all that…

Glad my only chance would be a salmon that i can kill…

Stu, you would have to have hauled the water to the river with you under the new MN bait tank/drain plug rule. If they catch you driving around with Mississippi River water in a stock tank, you’re screwed.

Sometimes being in MN is a bit irritating.

That is one large beast

I don’t see anything wrong with keeping a potential new record.

I also don’t think that catch and release is all that big of a concern in most of the states south of here.
Noodling…trot lines…jugs…and others

As for MN regulations…Thats a great point Jared

You damm near have to have attourney here in MN to understand all the game and fish laws.

Story on WCCO

Quote:

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I also don’t think that catch and release is all that big of a concern in most of the states south of here.
Noodling…trot lines…jugs…and others

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…and that’s just a few examples of names of their bars.