Monster Blue Catfish Smashes Georgia Record

Georgia has joined the triple-digit club for record blue catfish, and it came in a big way.

Tim Trone’s 110-pound, 6-ounce blue catfish, caught Oct. 17 up river from Lake Eufaula, eclipsed the previous record by a whopping 17 pounds, according to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources' Wildlife Resources Division. The previous record of 93 pounds was caught in 2017 on the Altamaha River in southeast Georgia.

Trone, of Havana, Fla., caught the monster in a Chatt Katt catfishing tournament based at the Chattahoochee River impoundment on the Georgia-Alabama border. The famed bass-fishing lake also is known as Walter F. George Reservoir in Georgia.

Trone caught the fish up river from Florence Marina State Park near Omaha, Ga. The fish measured 58 inches long, and had a 42 inch girth. Trone used cut bream as bait.

The current world-record blue catfish recognized by the International Game Fish Association is a 143-pounder caught in June 2011 on Kerr Lake, Va.

"Georgia has such great fishing opportunities, and we love to hear about this kind of exciting news," Thom Litts, Chief of Fisheries for the Wildlife Resources Division, said in a news release. "This is our first state record since last April, and I hope it encourages all anglers to get outdoors and Go Fish Georgia!"

Blue catfish are common in Georgia waters; fish weighing up to 20 pound are typical in the state.

For more info in Georgia state fishing records, including rules and applications, can be found here.

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