A man in Mississippi caught a huge catfish with his rod with which he set a new record in the state.
The Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fish and Parks said Eugene Cronley, of Brandon, caught the 131-pound (59.4-kilogram) fish on April 7 in the Mississippi River near Natchez.
“I’ve been fishing for catfish all my life and never dreamed of anything like this,” Cronley told the Clarion Ledger newspaper.
He claimed to have used a rod and reel and a herring as bait.
The department said the Cronley catfish outscored the previous one caught in the same way, a 95-pound (43.1-kilogram) catfish, in 2009. It also outscored the 101-pound (45.8-kilogram) blue catfish caught by a team of two people in 1997. Both fish were also caught in the Mississippi River near Natchez.
The world record for a blue catfish caught was broken in 2011 by a whopping 143-pound (64.9-kilogram) specimen pulled from Lake Virginia, according to the International Sport Fishing Association.
Cronley said his fish was 1.40 meters long (56.6 inches) and had a girth of 1.04 meters (41 inches) at its widest.
“He’s a monster,” Cronley said.