105-pound blue sets North Carolina state record
The biggest catfish I’ve ever laid my eyes on went about 35 pounds, and it looked freakish. But it can’t hold a candle to two blue catfish a North Carolina angler landed in on consecutive days — setting a state record with each catch.
The first catfish was caught Dec. 20 and weighed 91 pounds, with yesterday’s monster blue coming in at 105 pounds.
The incredible run came at North Carolina’s Lake Gaston, and the angler was guide Zakk Royce.
“The fish just would not fit in my landing net,” Royce said of the 105-pounder. “We had to reach in and put our arms under the fish and lift it in. It was a really nervous moment because of all the things that could go wrong.
“But we got him in and gave each other high fives. There were even some people on their dock cheering for us.”
Both fish — which were released after being officially weighed — easily exceeded the current state-record blue catfish, an 89-pounder caught by Eric Fincher from Basin Lake in 2006.
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