Posted on 05/25/2005 9:06:43 PM PDT by Land_of_Lincoln_John
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) A record 124-pound blue catfish caught earlier this week by an Illinois man fishing in the Mississippi River died on its way to the Cabela's Outfitter store where it was to go on display.
Tim Pruitt, 33, of Godfrey, Ill., caught the world-record blue catfish early Sunday near Alton.
The fish, measuring 58 inches long and 44 inches around, was kept alive and was to be displayed in a tank at Cabela's in Kansas City, Kan., but it died en route to the store.
``We're baffled by this,'' Fred Cronin, a fisheries biologist for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, told The Kansas City Star. ``We took a lot of precautions to see that the fish was comfortable.
``But we're talking about a fish that was very old, very heavy,'' he said. ``The stress of being transported like that could have been too much.''
"Is the fish gonna be ok, Uncle Lar?"
"No, I'm afraid not, Little Tommy...."
Yup.
whup up the beer batter and fire up the pan.
Who's got the "just damn" ping?
Oh man, I loved Larry Lujack. Those were the days, I tell you. Super 'CFL; the Big 89! The golden era of Chi town radio.
Kept it out of water too long -- weighing and measuring it -- showing it off -- and taking braggin' photos...
well, if it was blue it was most likely filled with freon ... some dang business musta thrown their old refrigerator or air conditioner into the river
(``But we're talking about a fish that was very old, very heavy,'' he said.)
Please, no pictures of the crazy aunt in the attic.
If he was caught on Sunday, what did they do with him up till now? Did it take that long to try to transport him to KC?
Where is Free Trapper, this would be right up his alley but he has not posted since december, anyone know?
In Oklahoma scuba diver's are always telling stories regarding the HUGE catfish they've seen at the bases of some of the local dams in deep water.A lady from IDABEL told me last week that she personally saw a MONSTROUS CATFISH in Broken Bow Lake that SCARED her.She weighs about 110 lbs and she thought it looked large enough to eat her.
You'll need a pony keg to make that much batter.
You will need more than a frying pan for that one. The irony here is I had a catfish fillet for supper. Go figure.
I have had 50 LB. trot line weight drug a hundred feet or more before they straightened out the 6/0 stainles hook.
Well, there's just one thing left to do...
Road trip to Stroud's!
About how old would such a fish be?
Little Tommy is my uncle. He is back in Chicago. JFYI
I don't know, but catch and release was obviously the right thing to do. Take a quick picture and turn it loose. As a registered coonasss, one step below redneck, even I know this thing was special. (It would have tasted like sh*t too. A cat over about 4 pounds is no good.)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.