The streak continues with a brand new heaviest blue cat caught from the Ohio River
Michael John Drake with the brand new state-record blue cat. {Photograph} courtesy West Virginia DNR
With lower than a month left in 2023, West Virginia angler Michael John Drake was in a position to maintain the annual record-breaking streak alive in his house state. On Dec. 8, Drake caught a 69.45-pound blue catfish that broke the state document. His catch marks the fourth consecutive yr the document has been damaged, in response to the West Virginia Department of Natural Resources.
Drake, who lives in St. Albans, caught the large blue on a bit of minimize shad. He was fishing from his boat on the Ohio River close to Gallipollis, in a spot often known as the R.C. Boyd Pool. Different particulars behind the record-breaking catch are sparse, and Drake didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.
The WVDNR defined in a information launch that Drake launched the fish after it was verified and measured by the company’s hatchery supervisor, Ryan Bosserman. Not like another states, West Virginia’s fishing data guide accommodates each length- and weight-based data for blue catfish. (Launched fish are eligible for both class so long as they’re weighed on a licensed scale and checked out by a DNR fisheries biologist beforehand.) And up till Drake’s catch earlier this month, both records belonged to Steven Price, who pulled a 50.7-inch, 67.22-pound blue catfish from the Kanawha River on Could 25, 2022.
In line with Bosserman’s measurements, Drake’s catfish measured 50.51 inches lengthy and weighed 69.45 kilos — which is greater than two kilos heavier than Value’s fish however only a hair shorter. So, whereas Drake’s fish units a brand new weight document, Value’s 50.7-inch Kanawha River fish will maintain its place because the longest blue cat within the state’s document guide. As for the latest, four-year scorching streak, it’s not instantly clear why so many document blue cats have been caught since 2020. The fish are native to the Ohio River watershed, which incorporates the Kanawha.
Learn Subsequent: How to Catch Catfish in Winter
Whereas a number of anglers assume that the one data damaged throughout the wintertime are caught by means of the ice, the colder months generally is a nice time to chase big blue catfish on large, open-water rivers. As OL’s Fishing Editor Joe Cermele identified in a recent column, colder water temps can truly make trophy blues extra predictable as they gravitate to sure areas and proceed to feed closely by means of the winter. When you dial in these spots, the subsequent record-breaking catfish could possibly be only one forged away.
