ALTON, Ill. — It sounds like the sort of tale Mark Twain might have
cooked up: A man fishing in the Mississippi River hauls in a blue
catfish roughly the size of a sixth-grader.
AP / Illinois Department of Natural Resources
In a photo from Tim Pruitt and provided by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Tim Pruitt, of Alton, Ill., holds a 124-pound blue catfish early Sunday morning that he hooked late Saturday on the Mississippi River near Alton.
But this is no fish story. Early Sunday, Tim Pruitt caught a 124-pound
blue catfish.
To get a sense of just how big that is, the state record holder was a
mere 85 pounds and the world record holder tipped the scales at 121
pounds, 8 ounces.
Now, Pruitt, whose fish has already been weighed in the presence of a
conservation police officer and measured by a biologist for the Illinois
Department of Natural Resources, is expected to submit documentation to
the International Game Fish Association so that it can be certified a
world record holder.
Once that is done, the catch should be approved as the world's largest
blue catfish, replacing the current champion that was caught Jan. 16,
2004, in Lake Texoma, Texas, said Becky Reynolds, a spokeswoman for the
association.
Pruitt's fish, measuring 58 inches long and 44 inches around, was
swimming below the Melvin Price Lock and Dam on the Mississippi River at
Alton on Saturday night when it grabbed Pruitt's line. The two struggled
for more than half an hour, and at one point the fish dragged the boat
carrying Pruitt, his wife and a friend before Pruitt could reel it in.
The fish has been kept alive and will be on display in a tank at the
Cabela's Outfitter store in Kansas City, Kan., according to the Illinois
Department of Natural Resources.
Pruitt, 33, of Godfrey, told the (Peoria) Journal Star's outdoors
columnist that he considered releasing the fish in the river but decided
to donate it to Cabela's "because I thought it might be neat to give
people a chance to see a fish that massive."
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