Christopher Halley can be seen smiling from ear to ear holding up Mississippi’s brand new record for the heaviest blue catfish caught in the state since 1997.
The fisherman caught the 104-pound blue catfish on Tuesday while on the Mississippi River near Natchez and he said he was using a trotline.
Mississippi’s Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks has officially updated its website by removing the trophy record blue catfish of 101-pounds caught back in 1997 by team fishermen Freddie Parker and Brad Smith to Christopher’s larger fish.
Also according to the official website, this is the second blue catfish record broken in Mississippi this year (2022).
On April 7, Eugene Cronley set a new state record using a rod and reel for catching a 131-pound blue catfish from the Mississippi River near Natchez, according to the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks.
According to the website, the state fishing records are categorized into three different divisions, rod and reel, trophy, and fly fishing. They show the species caught, its weight, the angler, their hometown, the location the fish was caught, the date, and divisions.
The heaviest fish ever caught in the state was a trophy 234-pound alligator gar caught out of the Yazoo River by R. Belk & R. Rippy on June 24, 2011.
You can visit the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks website here to see all the official records in the entire state.