March 15, apparently, is an outstanding day to try to land a giant blue catfish on the Ohio River in Kentucky.
On Tuesday, Michael Robinson and Terry Raymer teamed to catch and release a blue catfish that weighed 97 pounds while still in the net. (Robinson is pictured atop this post.)
Kentucky Afield, on Facebook, placed the weight of the “monstrous” catfish at 95 pounds, while Catfish NOW called it a 94-pounder and welcomed both anglers to the “90-pound club.”
But perhaps more impressive is that this marked the fourth consecutive March 15 that Raymer had been involved in the catch of a truly enormous blue catfish on the Ohio River.
Kentucky Afield explained, “Although a fish of this size is something anglers often only see in their dreams, Terry and his fishing buddies are no strangers to them. On March 15th the past four years in a row they have put a fish over 80 lb in the boat… Amazing!”
That’s mostly accurate.
Raymer provided the accompanying photo showing of all four March 15 catfish – from the 95-pounder caught Tuesday (top left) to the smallest, a 75-pounder caught by Raymer (bottom right). The others weighed 82 and 80 pounds.
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The fish were hooked at two of Raymer’s favorite spots near Louisville. “I think I might go fishing on the 15th again next year,” he joked.
Raymer told FTW Outdoors that the 95-pound catfish struck a piece of skipjack tuna, with Robinson at the rod.
“The fish swam straight to the boat like it didn’t know it was hooked, then got under the boat and peeled,” Raymer said. “It was about as hard a fight for five minutes at the boat as a blue can give, which was surprising considering the water was 45 degrees.”
The massive catfish was weighed, eventually, and released back into the river.
Said Raymer: “I was pretty excited to be part of Mike’s catch and I take a lot of satisfaction being able to put my friends on some trophies. They appreciate all the time I’ve put on the river and they soak it in like sponges.”
Blue catfish, native to the Mississippi, Missouri, and Ohio River basin systems (and introduced elsewhere in the U.S.), can be much heavier, although the absolute giants are rarely caught.
The world record, listed at 143 pounds, was set at Kerr Lake in Virginia in 2011.
