Fishermen like to brag about their catches, often over-exaggerating just how big a fish was that they managed to reel in.
But when one Texas kid tells his classmates that he caught a monster fish, he isn’t telling a tall tale.
In March 2019, Brayden Rogers joined his grandfather and brother for a guided day of fishing on Texas’ Lake Tawakoni.
Teri Littlejohn, one of the operators of the guide service that Brayden went fishing with, told FTW Outdoors how the middle schooler managed to land a catch that would soon be reported across the country. “The rod tip bent all the way to the water and the kid just started reeling,” Teri said.
When Brayden finally finished reeling in his catch, he and everyone else out on the lake were stunned to see he baited a monster catfish!
Teri’s guide service posted photos of Brayden’s impressive catch on its Facebook page. “It was so exciting just watching this young man Brayden hold this huge fish that is the New Pending Lake and State Blue Catfish Record JR,” the post read.
The fish tipped the scales at 67.1lbs, with the previous record-holding catfish caught by a junior angler weighing 66.2lbs.
It took a few days, but it was eventually confirmed that Brayden caught the new junior state record and junior lake record-holding catfish in Texas.
As for what happened to the catfish? Brayden got to choose, and he agreed to let the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department place the fish on public display at Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center. Now people can travel from all over to marvel at the catfish’s impressive size!
You can learn more about Brayden’s big catch and his choice to donate the fish to the TPWD by tuning in to the video below.That fish is almost as big as he is!