Florida Angler Breaks State Blue Catfish File With 73-Pound Big From the Suwannee River

A Florida angler has formally landed himself within the file books after reeling in a large blue catfish from the Suwannee River.

Justin Hodge caught the 73.6-pound blue catfish in Dixie County, and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Fee has now licensed it as the brand new state file. The fish measured 48.75 inches lengthy with a girth of 36.75 inches, surpassing the earlier file of 69.5 kilos set in 2015 on the Choctawhatchee River.

Hodge, who grew up fishing the Suwannee along with his father and grandfather, had spent a number of days previous to the catch scouting the river’s deepest holes the old style method, utilizing an anchor to plumb depths slightly than counting on fashionable sonar. He returned along with his buddy Wyatt Allen, and the 2 spent the morning catching bream to make use of as bait.

The massive blue hit after a noon thunderstorm pushed them off the water and again out once more by late afternoon.

“I knew as soon as I hooked him,” Hodge stated. “I informed my buddy, ‘That is both a sturgeon or a catfish. No matter it’s, it’s massive.’”

After touchdown the fish, Hodge referred to as a good friend to deliver a scale to the boat ramp. An FWC officer arrived round midnight, and a licensed scale at a close-by seafood market confirmed the load at 73.6 kilos. A fisheries biologist inspected the catch the next morning and estimated the fish’s age at 55 to 60 years previous.

“We have been simply taking a look at him, shocked at what we’d caught,” Hodge stated.

The file was made official by FWC on the finish of February and publicly introduced in mid-Might. The prolonged timeline displays Florida’s strict verification course of, which requires an FWC worker to witness an official weigh-in on a licensed scale, adopted by a separate inspection by a fisheries biologist.

Blue catfish are native to the Mississippi, Missouri, and Ohio River basins and have been stocked for fishing in almost 20 states. They’re prized each for the problem they current on the road and for his or her worth as desk fare.

Hodge’s file fish now stands as the biggest blue catfish ever recorded within the Sunshine State.

Keith Lusher

Keith Lusher is an award-winning out of doors journalist who resides in Covington, Louisiana. He owns and operates NorthshoreFishingReport.com and writes a weekly out of doors column for the Slidell Unbiased Newspaper. He additionally writes for the St.Tammany Parish Tourism Fee’s VisitTheNorthshore.com. He’s the previous host of The Northshore Fishing Report Radio Present and is on the board of the Louisiana Out of doors Writers Affiliation. Keith contributes to quite a few publications each on-line and in print and prides himself on selling South Louisiana’s distinctive fishery. To contact Keith electronic mail: keithlusherjr@gmail.com