iStockphoto / fotoguy22 / MyFWC
It’s official, there is a new Florida state fishing record for the blue catfish species. This comes after angler Justin Hodge caught the record-setting catfish on the Suwannee River earlier this year and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission just certified the record.
Once the fish was weighed on a certified scale, it clocked in at a record-setting 73.6-pounds. That makes it one of the largest freshwater fish ever caught here in my home state of Florida.
New Florida State Fishing Record 73.6-Pound Blue Catfish Caught
For context, the largest state freshwater fishing record here in Florida is the Alligator Gar species. The record for Alligator Gar sits at 123-pounds even.
That is the only freshwater fishing record in Florida that is heavier than this new record for blue catfish. And while there have certainly been other alligator gar caught that weight more than this catfish, the new state record only sits behind the Alligator Gar.
Florida‘s state fishing record for flathead catfish is not far behind the new blue catfish record. The flathead record sits at 69.9 pounds and that fish was caught by angler Lavon Nowling on the Yellow River in August 2020. But close only matters in horseshoes and hand grenades, right?
Let’s check out this new state record fish:
The Suwannee River where this fish was caught runs upwards of 266 miles Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia to the Gulf. It has over 50 freshwater springs throughout the river making it a vibrant ecosystem for freshwater species in the region.
Biggest Blues Ever Caught?
For context, the largest blue catfish ever landed and the IGFA all-tackle fishing world record for the species is a 143 pound, 0 oz fish. That was caught on June 18, 2011 by angler Richard Nicholas Anderson while fishing Kerr Lake in Buggs Island, Virginia.
The species is found abundantly throughout the Southeastern United States with a primary concentration around the Mississippi River Valley region. Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi, all of these states have robust populations of blue catfish.
Yet even though the catfish subspecies is native to that region, they can be found/caught in parts of Southern California, Idaho, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and most of the Eastern Seaboard south of New York.
In April of last year, a 15-year-old girl in Ohio landed a 101.11-pound blue catfish in Ohio, a new state fishing record there. In March of last year, a 9-year-old boy in Texas caught a 51.5-pound blue that weighed more than he does.
Those are incredible youth angler catches! But those fish pale in comparison to this one: a 131-pound blue catfish caught in Mississippi back in 2022.
What is the largest blue catfish you have ever caught? Let me know in the all-new comments section below on BroBible!