The sunfish weighed an impressive 2 pounds, 1 ounce and it defeated previous record holder Ronald Stanley’s 1 pound, 12 ounce fish caught in Big Swamp, on May 29, 1983. Maxton resident Alphonso Jackson, 43, broke a 36-year-old freshwater fish state record when he caught a huge redbreast sunfish in Wagram, 100 miles east of Charlotte. state record blue catfish” first appeared on North Carolina fisherman’s avid angling earned him the coveted title of state record holder on June 10. The post “ Four Oaks angler catches new N.C. And that was a huge relief to me, watching it swim off,” he said. But we got it back in the water and in just a few minutes, it swam off on its own. After what that fish went through, I just didn’t know if it was going to happen. “That meant so much to me to see it swim off. Baker could scarcely put into words how happy he was to see it swim off. He and Clifton drove the fish back to the Roanoke where they watched it swim away, seemingly no worse for the wear. Sweet relief as the fish swims offīaker said the most important moment of the whole trip took place after Ricks certified the catch. Nick Anderson’s Virginia 143-pound blue from Kerr Lake/Buggs Island in 2011 and Greg Bemal’s Missouri 130-pound blue from the Missouri River in 2010 are the only two blue cat state records in the nation bigger than Baker’s. Everything checked out, and everyone congratulated Baker on the catch.Īside from being the North Carolina state record, Baker’s fish is the third largest blue catfish state record ever caught on rod and reel in the United States. NORTH CAROLINA FRESHWATER FISH HOW TODwayne is really knowledgeable about what to do in situations like this and how to keep a fish alive.”Īt 5:30 a.m., NCWRC fisheries biologist Ben Ricks showed up to certify the catch as the new state record. That just made it dark in the tank to put less stress on the fish,” he said. And he also suggested we close the lid, which I hadn’t thought of. Luckily, Dwayne Bevell, the owner of EZ Bait and Tackle, got there and got more oxygen lines running in the tank. But it wasn’t doing too good in the tank. Third-largest state record catfish caught in the United States Right away, Baker was worried about the fish. They made the drive and put the fish in the tank around 1 a.m. But they were almost two hours away from the store. They knew the folks at EZ Bait and Tackle in Goldsboro, N.C., had two things they needed right then - a large oxygenated tank and a certified scale. We weighed it again on that scale and then we felt like we needed to get to a certified scale,” said Baker. A friend brought us a big tank that we could keep the fish alive in, and he had a bigger scale. But once we got that big one in the boat and it bottomed out my 110-pound scale, we had a feeling it might be a new state record. But when they got the big fish in the boat around 9:30, they changed plans. They planned to make a whole night of it though, starting the trip around 6 p.m. Before the big catfish hit, they caught several other fish ranging between 30 and 51 pounds. They were simply hoping to catch some eating-size catfish for another friend. The night didn’t begin as a record-breaking quest. And with everything they had, the two anglers lifted the fish into the boat. Once Baker got the fish within range, Clifton got the head of the fish in their net. It crossed the river, left to right, a total of six times,” he said. So we immediately knew it was a good fish. It slammed it, and it was rocking and rolling, pulling drag right off to start with. “We knew from the get go based on the way we have our drags set. He knew right away it was going to be an exceptional fish. And it wasn’t just him reeling dead weight. Once the big catfish hit, Baker said the fight took a solid 15 to 20 minutes. He was fishing with his friend Justin Clifton, one of the designers of the Mad Katz rod. He was using an 9/0 Charlie Brown hook baited with a whole 3-inch gizzard shad. NORTH CAROLINA FRESHWATER FISH PROBaker caught the fish on a Mad Katz Orange Catfish Down medium-heavy fishing rod coupled with a Penn Fathom 20 reel, and 40-pound test Berkley Pro Spectrum line with a 100-pound leader.
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