Kristen Powell Parker / Facebook
A 15-year-old girl in Ohio just worked her way into the state fishing record book when she landed a 101.11 pound blue catfish while fishing on the Ohio River.
Jaylynn Parker was fishing with her dad and his friend on the Ohio River earlier this month when she caught the fish of a lifetime. Because not only is her 101.11-pound blue catfish a new state fishing record in Ohio, it is the largest fish EVER caught in the Buckeye State. I want to send a big shout out to BroBible reader Bryan Panzero for bringing this amazing catch to my attention.
The previous Ohio state fishing record for blue catfish was a 96-pound fish caught on the Ohio River by angler Chris Rolph back in 2009. Until recently, that was the heaviest fish to ever be caught in Ohio. Only the flathead catfish record came anywhere close at 76.5 pounds according to the record book that is maintained by the Outdoor Writers of Ohio.
Her family announced the record-setting catch on Facebook when her mother posted about it back on April 8th, announcing that her daughter had officially landed the new state of Ohio record for blue catfish.
The gallery of images and videos on Facebook show her weighing the blue catfish on a certified scale, one of the requirements for certifying any fishing record related to weight.
In the photos, 15yo Jaylynn Parker is crouched down over the fish and it looks like it’s darn near larage enough to swallow her if it wanted to:
Kristen Powell Parker / Facebook
Her record-setting catch wasn’t without controversy. Some Ohio anglers are arguing that her 101-pound blue catfish shouldn’t be part of the Overall Category because she and her family were jug fishing.
In the state of Ohio, however, jug fishing is treated like rod-and-reel fishing when it comes to state fishing records. So the controversy is really more people wanting the state to alter its record keeping and nothing to do with her verified state fishing record.
According to Fox News 8, after being weighed on a certified scale and measured, ‘Bob the Blue Cat’ as Jaylynn named it, was released back into the Ohio River to keep on being the biggest fish around!