Florida fisherman hooks state record with 70-pound catfish: 'I was in the right

[Graybeard]

https://www.foxnews.com/great-outdoors/florida-fisherman-hooks-state-record-70-pound-catfish

By Janine Puhak | Fox News

In the words of Florida fish and wildlife officials – “holy catfish!”

A lifelong fisherman smashed a Sunshine State record when he caught a massive catfish weighing nearly 70 pounds.

Lavon Nowling was out angling in the Yellow River when he recently reeled in a “monster” flathead catfish weighing 69.9 pounds and measuring 48.5 inches, with a girth of 38.25 inches, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) said in a statement and on Facebook.


Lavon Nowling with his impressive record-breaking flathead catfish catch. (Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission)


“Holy catfish!” officials exclaimed on Monday.

Nowling hooked his impressive catch on rod and reel, using live bait.

“I’ve caught some good ones before this fish, but none of them were more than 54 pounds,” the Santa Rosa County man explained. “I’ve been fishing since I was old enough to hold a pole and have been fishing on Yellow River as long as I can remember.”

The avid angler admitted that while he’s “been deep sea fishing to creek fishing,” he never anticipated reeling in a state record-breaker.

“That day I was fishing for channel catfish and can’t believe I caught a huge flathead,” Nowling said. “I was in the right place at the right time.”


The catch was certified by biologists at FWC’s Blackwater Hatchery near Holt, the fish and wildlife commission said. Nowling’s catfish beats the record set by Marvin Griffin in 2019, a 69.3-pound whopper that was also caught in the Yellow River.

According to the FWC, the flathead catfish, a nonnative species found throughout many Florida Panhandle river systems, are “more difficult” to catch than other catfish given their solitary lifestyle and preference for long, slow flowing rivers.

Jon Fury, FWC’s Director for the Division of Freshwater Fisheries Management, congratulated the angler for his exciting achievement.


“A state record catch is a once in a lifetime achievement for an angler,” Fury explained. “We are pleased to award this state record to Mr. Nowling.”

More information about the Florida’s game fish records program is available through the FWC.

Janine Puhak is an editor for Fox News Lifestyle.

[Bob Riebe]

Southern strains of fish grow faster than Northern strains of fish, at least when it comes to bass and walleyes.

Now I have never heard of strains of Flathead but I wonder how old that fish was.
Up here the record Flathead is 70 pounds caught at the extreme North range of that fish in the St. Croix River 50 years ago.
From what biologists say that Minn. fish had to be really , really old.
There is a way to age fish, which his often done nowadays, I wonder how old that fish was.

You Southern boys have bigger catfish than up North, but it seems the biggest are closer to the Mississippi River.