26LB catfish

[freekforge]

Went fishin at about 1800 today wasn't catching much then all the sudden my pole bent in half. After a half hour fight I got this guy. 37 inches long 26 pounds. caught him at about 2000hrs on a night crawler. Line was 14lb test cant remember the hook size but i got a pic of the one i used. While reeling him in another pole got a bite and I had to reel in a decent sized carp too!

Me holding my awesome fish

my sister laying next to it for size comparison

the hook i used on him

 

[redpitbull44]

Good deal!
Congrats.

 

[Frosty]

Awesome cat! Looks like you'll be eating good tonight!

 

[freekforge]

Oh yeah! the neighbor showed me how he cleans them and they are are going to cook it up the way they cook em so I can learn better ways Im pretty excited. We got 9.8LB of meat off of him. It probably wouldn't be as exciting if i caught him on a heavier rod n reel setup every one said I played him just right on my lighter tackle. We had all the neighbors over last night taken pictures. Got talkin around some baitshops and stuff and its sounding like it may be the biggest out of that stretch of river this year.

 

[gregkl]

Oh yeah! the neighbor showed me how he cleans them and they are are going to cook it up the way they cook em so I can learn better ways Im pretty excited. We got 9.8LB of meat off of him. It probably wouldn't be as exciting if i caught him on a heavier rod n reel setup every one said I played him just right on my lighter tackle. We had all the neighbors over last night taken pictures. Got talkin around some baitshops and stuff and its sounding like it may be the biggest out of that stretch of river this year.

Did you use pliers to pull the skin off?

 

[freekforge]

Normally i peel the skin back with pliers but my neighbor showed me how he cuts the meat off then skins it I think I will stick to shucking the skin off first though. I had some today and it was amazing. I believe they said they soaked it in salt water overnight and then rubbed it down with a lime half and then covered it in adobo seasoning and then we grilled it my mouth is watering just talking about it. I am so glad I caught it and am also so glad I have neighbors willing to share their knowledge with me.

heres the cat and carp caught at the same time

 

[bigworm]

check out this cat 260lb catfish caught in Italy | Coarse Fishing News | Angling Times | Gofishing UK

 

[gregkl]

check out this cat 260lb catfish caught in Italy | Coarse Fishing News | Angling Times | Gofishing UK

Someone always has to "one up" a brother. LOL. That thing is one ugly looking 260lb fish!

 

[tetter]

Nice fish!

 

[kestersonj]

Very nice!

 

[Tydeeh22]

CPR man.. CPR. Anything over 10 pounds. Catch it. Photograph it. And release it. In 2 years it woulda been upwards of 35 pounds.

 

[freekforge]

Dang 260! this 26lber put up a fight i cant imagine 10x that. speaking of outdoing when my my mom saw the carp she jokingly said "my carp was bigger than that one" lol she can have the carp i'll keep my cat.

Normally I cpr everything except carp but he gave us almost 10 pounds of meat that day so I dont mind deviating from that.

I am going to go back to the river today and get a couple more cats for the freezer.

 

[freekforge]

Heres the rod n reel i used both were rated for 10lb

 

[mkgr22]

Congratulations, freekforge. I"ve been reading your posts on the "Who's ready to go fishing" thread all spring, and yoiu have made a lot of progress in learning to fish.
I'm glad you are having such good luck.

Just don't catch them all!!

 

[Dirtebiker]

CPR man.. CPR. Anything over 10 pounds. Catch it. Photograph it. And release it. In 2 years it woulda been upwards of 35 pounds.

There's plenty of big cats out there. As long as he eats it and doesn't let it go to waste, what's the problem? God didn't make fish to be photographed.

 

[.458socomhunter]

I would have probably kept it as well, depending what waterway it was out of and consumption advisory data. Nice one! As long as it didn't go to waste.

 

[EdC]

Nice job! Do your remember about how long it took you to land it?

 

[Tydeeh22]

There's plenty of big cats out there. As long as he eats it and doesn't let it go to waste, what's the problem? God didn't make fish to be photographed.

Not in my neck of the woods. I get 15 pounders regularly. But once a month will I get a 30.

these are most common.

those are the fun ones.

 

[freekforge]

Well about half of the meat has be ate so far feeding 8 people and the other half is froze until we get back next week and we are gonna get a turkey fryer out and cook up the rest. So it didnt go to waste even the remains were buried in next years garden.

It took about 25 or 30 minutes to land I didn't want to tighten the drag too much and lose him since i was using lighter tackle so I let him tire himself out. The line broke at the hook about a foot off the bank but i was able to get a hand in his mouth and the other in a gill. Everyone at the baith shop and all my neighbors said I should have never got him in with what I was using. No body could beleve i got him on a nightcrawler but the guys at the bait shop said that they are hitting worms hard this year.

I have caught 3 10lb cats in that spot before and dozens of smaller ones. The water is only about knee deep there.

 

[jmiller676]

Well about half of the meat has be ate so far feeding 8 people and the other half is froze until we get back next week and we are gonna get a turkey fryer out and cook up the rest. So it didnt go to waste even the remains were buried in next years garden.

It took about 25 or 30 minutes to land I didn't want to tighten the drag too much and lose him since i was using lighter tackle so I let him tire himself out. The line broke at the hook about a foot off the bank but i was able to get a hand in his mouth and the other in a gill. Everyone at the baith shop and all my neighbors said I should have never got him in with what I was using. No body could beleve i got him on a nightcrawler but the guys at the bait shop said that they are hitting worms hard this year.

I have caught 3 10lb cats in that spot before and dozens of smaller ones. The water is only about knee deep there.

Don't let anybody say you shouldn't have been able to catch him with the tackle you were using. Big fish are caught on light tackle everyday. You just have to fight them right and you did. Congrats!