Posted on 12/02/2016 8:47:10 PM PST by nickcarraway
It was hook, line and sinker — literally — for a man who went out fishing over Thanksgiving.
Equipped with only a small rod, Wilmington, North Carolina, resident Riahn Brewington struggled as he tried to pull out a fish from Cape Fear River last week.
He caught a catfish, but not just any catfish: a giant catfish that weighed more than 112 pounds.
The bloated fish was bigger than the top half of Brewington’s body.
Brewington couldn’t believe his eyes, and neither could his friends when the fisherman posted his prized catch on Facebook.
“Holy Catfish!!!” one Facebook user exclaimed.
“Is this real life??” another asked.
The North Carolina man assured them that the fish was all too real. It was obvious to many that the fish was a clear candidate for a state record holder, but unfortunately the fish fell a few pounds short.
According to the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, the record holder for biggest catfish is a blue catfish, weighing in at 117 pounds, 8 ounces, caught on June 11.
But Brewington doesn’t consider the catch a loss. He released the massive creature in hopes of catching a bigger version of him again someday.
“This was huge and Riahn Brewington released him to fight again,” said friend and fellow fisherman Dean Hall, who witnessed Brewington’s epic catch in person.
Most people make the misatke of cleaning the belly flap as meat to fry, it is full of fat and toxins, best not to mess with that, especially on the big ones. Tail and back meat but you still have to cut out that blood line.
Put them in a big live well with clean water and feed them cornmeal for a week, that’ll flush the nasty out of them.
That was about a 60 pounder.
Caught a fish while fishing. Amazing! Who’da thunk it?
Thank God I’m an agnostic and don’t have religiously mandated dietary restrictions!
you may be a agnostic but a catfish is NOT a fish
Yeah, if we can keep them alive for the long drive home, that is the other good option. Otherwise, we soak the fillets in buttermilk before we fry them. We usually end up cleaning them where we're fishing and put the fillets on ice.
CGato
I stuck pretty much to pan size channels. Largest I caught was about ten pounds.
One hard lesson I learned—keep the webbing between your thumb and Mr. Pointer away from the pectoral spines.
correct but i wouldn’t really call them fish for eating
better catch & release
What do you mean a catfish is not a fish???
I had a secretary who insisted catfish were unclean according to Leviticus because they had skin instead of scales.
I couldn’t get her to eat an avacado because it was green. Where in Leviticracks are avacados prohibited?
And don’t drop them on your foot if wearing sandals or barefooted.
Scale-less fish are the least troublesome dietary law in Kashrut there is to follow in my book. My real sorrow is that Porterhouse and NY Strip beef steaks aren’t allowed. Ribeyes are OK, so at least there’s that.
Yeah, yeah, don’t ask. Rules are rules. It’s my burden, not yours. :)
Ah yes, Milorganite. Since 1926. Shipped all over the country including the West Coast.
Ever hear them squeak? Usually the small ones. I figured I was in Grimms fairy tale, it was begging for its life and threw them back.
“While fishing”
DOG BITES MAN
fish from 1950’s caught in trinity river
1963 South Louisiana, Lafourche Parish, Cut Off,Louisiana.
We caught a 60 pound yellow tail catfish. It was caught back in the black bayous that were not muddy. We dressed the catfish steaks out and they were delectable with not a hint of muddy flavor.
The flavor of the fish is dependent on where you catch it. This same catfish if caught in a muddy river would have tasted a bit muddy but would have still been good eating.
ps
The swamps of South Louisiana are a paradise for a teenager that loves to hunt and fish if he has a mentor that will explain to him how the swamp works. There is little danger there if you know the swamp. If you do not understand the swamp it might kill you. Know where cottonmouths live and hunt and leave them alone as the same for alligators. Actually you can walk by a sunning alligator with safety. If you are in the water you might be consider prey and that is not good. If near an alligator nest beware, mama alligator might kill you.
My dear mentor Alsye Melacon took me under his wing when I was but 11 years old. We did the swamp on foot and by pirogue which is a dugout canoe. For a kid it was magic, frogs,fish, alligators etc. We brought them home and ate them. Alyse also knew what mushrooms were good and bad. We fried them along with whatever else we took from the swamp. I was never confident to pick my own mushrooms. The wrong ones will kill you. I was 11 and Alyse was 50 and not dead from mushrooms. I trusted his judgement.
I miss those magic times of my youth. The swamp is a beautiful mistress but a deadly mistress. One must not violate her rules least you come to harm.
Catfish with basketball caught in mouth.
Eh? Even if they are fully drained of blood?
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