After 35 years, Pennsylvania has a new state record channel catfishBrian Whipkey, The
The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) confirmed Oct. 21 that a 35-year-old record for channel catfish has been broken.
David Taylor Jr., 44, of Munhall in Allegheny County, caught a 36.2-pound channel catfish in the Allegheny River below the Highland Park Lock and Dam, near Sixmile Island in Sharpsburg. The fish is 42 inches long and has a girth that spans 26 inches around.
The fish beat the previous record by 9 ounces. That mark was set in 1991 by by Austine E. Roth III of Bowmanstown. He reeled in a 35-pound, 3-ounce fish from the Lehigh Canal in Northampton County.
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Waterways Conservation Officer Abigail Luteri monitored the official weighing of the fish Oct. 4 at Goodman’s Bait and Tackle in Ford City and confirmed the weight.
Both Luteri and Taylor filled out the appropriate documentation for the fish to be reviewed by the PFBC for the state record.
He caught the fish on a piece of cut mooneye, a fish that he caught earlier in the river. He was participating in the Tri-State Hawg Hunters tournament with his friend, Alex Atkinson, of Rillton (Sewickley Township), Westmoreland County, when the heavy fish took his bait.
The fish was released back into the Allegheny River for another angler to enjoy.
When he received the official word this week from the PFBC, he said, "to be honest, I was speechless."
He's been fishing for decades and never thought he would catch a state record. "It's a dream come true. I'm excited, but at the same time I'm speechless," he said in an Oct. 21 telephone interview.
With the advance reporting on his fish being considered for the record, he said he's been receiving good feedback and congratulations on his catch. "I'm already being stopped in public. People are recognizing me from the picture. I'm very thankful for this opportunity to have this happen."
He's hoping this new record inspires young people to take up the sport and as he likes to help children catch fish whenever he can. "I hope it triggers that young little boy and little girl to fish in the future," he said.
“Everything worked out in the end, and it feels incredible,” Taylor said in the agency’s announcement of the new record. “I want to thank my friend, Alex, the bait shops, and Officer Luteri for their help. Honestly, I’ve always dreamed of catching a state record, but I thought it would be a flathead catfish because we catch so many big ones out here in Pittsburgh. So, to catch a channel catfish that size? That just doesn’t happen. It just goes to show, you never know what’s on the other side of that hook. It could be just another fish, or it could be life changing. My advice to other anglers is to pay attention to your tackle and have confidence in your gear. Always make sure your line is strong and hooks are sharp for a moment like this.”
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In an Oct. 7 interview, he said “If anything happens from this being recognized as a state record catfish, I’d like to bring back something to the community. If this can promote kids to go fishing, I would love to do that.
“If they can say the state record holder is going to be at a tournament and it can draw some people in to possibly see pictures and meet me, if I can get a fishing rod into a kid’s hands, that makes everything worthwhile and makes this a success,” he said. He's also planning to have a replica mount to preserve the memory of that evening.
Brian Whipkey is the outdoors columnist for USA TODAY Network sites in Pennsylvania. Contact him at bwhipkey@usatodayco.com and sign up for our weekly Go Outdoors PA newsletter email on this website's homepage under your login name. Follow him on Facebook @whipkeyoutdoors.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: After 35 years, Pennsylvania has a new state record channel catfish
Source: Nature